A Minneapolis woman who helped lead a viral confrontation with staff at a CorePower Yoga studio over the removal of an anti-ICE sign says she has been permanently banned from the chain’s locations.
Heather Anderson filmed and posted video of the Feb. 1 incident at the Northeast Minneapolis yoga studio. The clip shows about a dozen women, yoga mats in hand, surrounding two employees behind the front desk after a Sunday class.
They accused the staff of complicity in federal immigration enforcement and demanded they publicly condemn Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the city.
Anderson alleged that CorePower Yoga was “silencing” some instructors who wanted to speak out about ICE and that a manager was told to remove an anti-ICE sign from the window of the Minneapolis location. “I wanted CorePower to understand that in Minneapolis, we were really going through it and we would like our yoga studio to support us in this moment,” Anderson said in a video posted to social media.
“I was mad, and I said some things,” she added.
According to Anderson, CorePower then sent her an email and revoked her membership, saying that she “aggressively confronted two of our employees using abusive and profane language, creating a threatening environment.”
NEW: The woman who filmed herself berating CorePower Yoga staffers for being "complicit" in ICE raids brags about leaving all the weights on the floor to make them pick up.
"I care about our neighbors and their experience!" the woman virtue-signalled.
The woman bragged about… https://t.co/S9kp1GnMTD pic.twitter.com/f4LlHNL07h
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 7, 2026
During the initial confrontation, a group of women berated multiple CorePower employees for being “silent,” saying, “We don’t want to chat, we want action.”
“Give us answers, let’s go … let’s hear it — why are you being silent?” Anderson says in the footage, addressing an employee identified as Delaney. “Let’s hear it, Delaney, loud and proud, baby. You want to say it, let’s f—king say it.”
Another participant added: “The fact that you guys are staying silent, that is complicit … People are being murdered and abducted and attacked here.”
In a follow-up video, Anderson admitted that she and others intentionally left weights scattered on the floor after class as a protest against corporate management.
“One of the people in the class said to me, ‘You know what? We shouldn’t put our weights away today, we should let corporate clean it up since they’re here to see how everything is,'” she said. “And that’s exactly what we did.”
Anderson is the executive director of the Advancing Equity Coalition, a left-wing nonprofit focused on “equity in Twin Cities public schools.” According to the organization’s most recent IRS Form 990 filing for 2024, she was paid over $100,000. She also appears to be the only staff member.
The coalition describes itself on its website as a “multiracial, multicultural network of families, students, educators, and community members united by a shared commitment to equity in Twin Cities public schools.”
“Together, we work to strengthen systems, elevate lived experience, and build an education environment where all students belong and succeed,” the website says.
CorePower Yoga has also posted on social media emphasizing its anti-ICE stance and saying it has “distributed approved ICE signage to our studios.”
Hayley Feland
Hayley Feland previously worked as a journalist with The Minnesota Sun, The Wisconsin Daily Star, and The College Fix. She is a Minnesota native with a passion for politics and journalism.
