An author, once aligned with liberal ideals, has shared her experience of how activist groups, like the one that targeted a yoga studio over an ICE sign, have destabilized Minneapolis and compelled her to leave.

Ann Bauer, a novelist, recounted in vivid detail how the city she once cherished fell into a vortex of politically-motivated turmoil.

In an essay published in the Free Press, Bauer illustrated how it has become commonplace for fervent far-left groups to publicly shame individuals for their beliefs.

Eventually, Bauer and her family chose to escape the escalating tensions. In late 2025, they relocated to Kentucky to establish a new publishing venture, Storyalíz, alongside her husband, John Gateley, in Covington.

The 59-year-old author expressed little surprise at a viral incident showing a group of confrontational individuals challenging staff at a CorePower Yoga studio in Northeast Minneapolis.

This altercation took place on February 1, following the yoga studio’s decision to remove a sign critical of ICE that an instructor had posted in the window.

Once customers learned that the instructor was quitting because the sign had been taken down, they stormed the lobby to give the women behind the front desk a piece of their minds.

The employees were berated for several minutes. Following the verbal attack, everyone in the class was suspended for 90 days. 

Ann Bauer is pictured with her husband John Gateley

A mass of yoga studio customers gathered in the lobby to confront the two women behind the desk for CorePower’s supposed lack of support for its anti-ICE instructors

The mob’s ringleader, Heather Anderson, was banned from the studio for life. 

Bauer used to attend that very CorePower. When footage from the encounter was shared online, her friends messaged her asking if she had seen it.

‘Oh, yeah, I’ve seen this,’ Bauer wrote in her Free Press essay. ‘Not this particular scene but several like it, and all the ones that led up to it.’

She and John moved from Boston to Minneapolis in 2014, she said. At first they were over the moon with their decision to move to where she grew up. 

‘The city was close to perfect, but there were paradoxes,’ she confessed. 

‘Mostly white communities talked nonstop about social justice, yet the Twin Cities had some of the for black residents – in terms of education, income, homeownership, and crime.’ 

She described the 2016 fatal shooting of Philando Castile, 31, at the hands of a police officer as a tipping point.  

Bauer said that she was outraged by his killing, but the aftermath made her ‘uncomfortable.’ 

Protestors clashed with police during a May 2020 protest in Minneapolis 

The two employees looked taken aback by the level of anger in the crowd at the yoga studio

Ultimately, she felt those around her were overly performative in their wokeness without contributing to any real system change. 

And she was chastised for her silence. 

Bauer said the city spiraled out of control again when Donald Trump was elected for his first term. 

She was admittedly not a fan of him, but she noticed it was pretty much all anyone could talk about. 

Bauer felt like even more of an outcast when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020. She spoke out against Governor Tim Waltz’s handling of the situation, school shutdowns and vaccine mandates. 

Working as a brand consultant at the time, she said that she lost all her clients because of her beliefs. 

George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020 brought even more unrest to the city, she said. 

She recalled the riots and looting that followed as ‘the city burned.’ 

The Cincinnati skyline is seen from the Roebling Bridge in Covington, Kentucky

Ann and John launched a publishing firm in Covington 

‘Those who crowed loudest about justice went home to private security teams,’ she asserted. 

Bauer returned to CorePower once Covid restrictions eased – but it was not the same studio she once regarded as a safe haven.

Instructors were bringing politics into the classes that were supposed be a peaceful break from the outside world. 

Bauer spoke to leadership about it, and they only used her concerns against her, she claimed.

Her instructors started giving her the cold shoulder and staffers gave her dirty looks when she came in for class. 

She moved to Kentucky a few months later, she said, describing the charming Covington area as politically ‘purple, leaning on the moderate side of blue.’ 

Covington is located directly on the Kentucky-Ohio border, offering stunning views of the Cincinnati skyline. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to CorePower for comment on Bauer’s claims.