Popular yoga instructor \u201cNamaSteve\u201d intensified his battle with the city of San Diego, filing a third lawsuit in a fight over free outdoor yoga.<\/p>\n
Steve Hubbard, also known as \u201cNamaSteve<\/a>,\u201d claimed park rangers intimidated and illegally ticketed him for holding free yoga classes<\/a> at the beach and his home, in a lawsuit filed June 22.<\/p>\n Hubbard is a fitness instructor who teaches donation-based outdoor yoga classes at Palisades Park in Pacific Beach.<\/p>\n \u201cNamaSteve\u201d is a popular yoga instructor in San Diego. NBC 7<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the California Morning Report newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalifornia’s top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n He teaches yoga at Palisades Park in Pacific Beach. NBC 7<\/p>\n He received three tickets in May of 2025, with two tickets coming at the beach and one ticket coming from his own backyard after he live-streamed a yoga class. <\/p>\n Hubbard claimed in his suit that he was intimidated into not exercising his first amendment rights, according to reporting from NBC7<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEven after the U.S. District Court ruled the city\u2019s ordinance prohibiting \u2018giving any lecture\u2019 in a city park violated the First Amendment, park rangers continued citing our client for this, including going to his home and citing him for teaching yoga online because it could be viewed in a park,\u201d said Hubbard\u2019s attorney Bryan Pease in a statement to Times of San Diego<\/a>.<\/p>\n San Diego began enforcing a revised municipal ordinance<\/a> in 2024 that targeted unpermitted commercial activity in parks, beaches, and public spaces. Under the regulation, groups of four or more people engaged in \u201cmassage, yoga, dog training, fitness classes\u201d need a permit in order to operate.<\/p>\n Images from his Instagram: @namasteveyoga namasteveyoga<\/p>\n Three lawsuits have been made against the city of San Diego by \u201cNamaSteve.\u201d NBC 7<\/p>\n As a result, Hubbard and another yoga teacher, Amy Baack, sued San Diego \u2013\u2013 their first lawsuit \u2013\u2013 for a preliminary injunction to stop the city from carrying out the bans, focusing on the argument of the First Amendment<\/a>.<\/p>\n While initially unsuccessful at the district court, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals<\/a> later granted the injunction stating that \u201cteaching yoga is protected speech by the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n The second lawsuit was also later filed in state court to directly attack the local rules. In that battle, city attorneys have served subpoenas on Hubbard\u2019s Venmo, bank statements and GPS location records of students who have donated to his classes.<\/p>\n The state court case is scheduled to take place in January 2027. <\/p>\n Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/p>\n California Post News: Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, X<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, WhatsApp<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t
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