This has been resolved in 0.1.39 and later versions of RVM. The behavior now only sources the .rvmrc file when you enter a projects directory tree for the first time. Subsequent cd s within that directory tree do not source the .rvmrc file. If you find yourself constantly jumping into and out of your projects directory tree, I would recommend using multiple terminals :)
One side benefit of this is you can now put more time-consuming actions, such as ensuring all your gems in your gemset are up to date, in .rvmrc to keep your project current without costing you time each time you cd.
To get the latest version of rvm, run:
rvm update --head
Once that is installed, all new shells will have the improved behaviour -- for existing shells that you don t want to close, you can run rvm reload to provide the new behaviour.
Cheers,
-Dennis