Anusara Yoga - Chapter 3

Anusara Yoga was founded by John Friend in 1997. John grew up in Ohio and later moved to Texas. It’s been reported that he sparked an interest in yoga as a teenager after finding library books on the subject. Prior to founding Anusara Yoga, he was a well-respected Iyengar Yoga teacher. Anusara Yoga was based around John’s five Universal Principles of Alignment and rooted in a Tantric philosophy of intrinsic goodness. Anusara is often translated as flowing with grace.

The first time I met John Friend was in 2008, about a year into taking Anusara Yoga classes. I had eagerly anticipated the big weekend workshop. The presenter stage was adorned with several statues, including a larger-than-life Nataraja deity and bouquets of fresh flowers and colorful silks. When John arrived on the stage, he was looking out at his audience of well over two hundred yoga students. His staff had made certain to meticulously place our yoga mats in straight, organized rows.

But before the poses, John had everyone gather in close. We sat cross legged and hung on his every word. I can’t recall that day’s story, but it was always of the same root. An everyday occurrence that knits to a larger parable whose intersection is woven with yogic philosophy. At the end we are empowered to express the sentiment through the yoga postures.

The nature of the large classes meant wall space was not available and so we often worked in pairs and John would stop class for a wow worthy demonstration. He’d help the elderly woman into a handstand, the heavy-set man into a full wheel backbend, and the awkward teen to a steady, poised tree pose. We all had nametags on our mats so John could individualize the instruction and call students by name as he walked throughout the rows. He had the charisma and awe of a cult leader.

My pervading thought was always I want to know more of what he knows, and I want to teach a yoga class like that — the expertise, the confidence, the goodness.

Towards that end, in 2008 I completed the Anusara Yoga Immersion and the next year I completed the Anusara Yoga Teacher Training. At completion of that training, I was at about 1000 cumulative hours of paid trainings and as many or more teaching hours. I was recognized as an Anusara-Inspired Yoga Teacher.

Intertwined in this timeline, I had continued as a student and substitute teacher with Capitol Hill Yoga. At that time the studio was owned by a collective of four women. The building that housed the studio was up for sale and their lease was being terminated. In lieu of finding a new location, at least two of the women decided this was a good time to close the chapter.

I had been running about town as a full-time yoga teacher for about a year when I heard this news. The idea of a single studio home was a dream. I was able to quickly connect with the two owners who had some interest in continuing the studio. We didn’t know each other outside of our shared connection of a neighborhood and Anusara Yoga.

Stacey and Marianna took a leap of faith bringing me in as the third studio co-owner. Together we re-opened Capitol Hill Yoga in March 2009 at 641 Pennsylvania Ave, SE — just six blocks from the U.S. Capitol.

The studio held about 25 classes a week and we firmly positioned ourselves as an Anusara Yoga studio. The Universal Principles of Alignment (Open to Grace, Muscular Energy, Inner Spiral, Outer Spiral, and Organic Energy) were stenciled along the wall. Students were handed a laminated card for ease to chant the Invocation to open and close classes.

Each class was 90 minutes long. To say that now is remarkable in and of itself. That studio built a community of people that would put away their distractions and roll out their yoga mat for an intensive 90-minute yoga class. A class with no easy button. As student and teacher, I was called outside my comfort zone every single time I stepped onto the yoga mat. And it was done with such grace. These are the very, very good memories of Anusara Yoga and Capitol Hill Yoga.

In that first year of business the three of us co-owners left our studio for a week and traveled around Ecuador with John Friend and about 20 other students. We stayed in beautiful resorts and hotels where each morning John would lead us through asana, pranayama, and meditation. During the day we would travel by bus to new places and sites. At night we would eat dinner as a group while John shared dharma teachings. The weekend he led asana workshops joined by folks from across South America. John had a trusted teacher translate to the primarily Spanish speaking students.

I was fully enamored with the experience and the ability to study more closely with John. Anusara Yoga was at the height of its popularity and reached broadly throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.

Looking back, I also see all the signs of a leader bound for destruction. John clearly had a few favorites that he would cozy to on the longer bus rides and he rarely if ever asked permission while giving physical adjustments. That was the pervasive yoga culture, but it was eerie watching it play out in closer quarters.

And yet it did not deter me. I grew up female and had worked in politics. Power differentials were commonplace.

Back home in Washington, D.C., I was compiling my teaching hours as an Anusara-Inspired Teacher and began plotting the stages towards full certification. There were lots of boxes to check to be a fully Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher.

Once I’d met all the basic requirements, the first major hurdle was passing a written exam testing one’s knowledge of yogic history, tantric philosophy, and the intricacies of the system of Anusara Yoga. I still have a printed copy of my exam — 40 typed pages front and back! Candidates were emailed the exam and had to send back within 7 days of receipt. I passed my exam in October 2010, one month prior to giving birth to my first child.

The next stage was to establish a local teacher mentor and have them approve a recorded class. I waited about a year after Stella’s birth to begin this phase. I worked back and forth on the recorded class with Suzie for several months before she approved me to move forward.

At that point I was passed to a national mentor and the whole recorded class scenario started again. Everything had to be spot on — the theme, physical instructions, sequence, weaving of yogic philosophy, storytelling, mood of the class, invocation, etc.

Getting that final approval from the national mentor was a grueling process — perhaps like giving the perfect Oscar worthy film performance. Anusara Yoga certainly had a best of the best air about themselves, and they loved to uphold how incredibly difficult it was to get that actual Certification stamp. Lots of months of back and forth later, in January 2012, I nailed my recorded class. I could feel it. I was going to be a fully Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher.

But before I got my stamp, the scandal hit. An Anusara Yoga employee came forward with evidence of business misdealing within the organization. At the same time, several female students reported that John Friend had spiritually manipulated and sexually abused them. He had formed a coven and was performing sexual healings. As wacky as it all sounded, I had no doubt it was all true. I’d kept looking for the good and turned a blind eye to John’s ego trappings and how that filtered down amongst the organization and some of its teachers.

Well that put an end to all that. The news hit on February 12, 2012. Two days later, I resigned my Inspired status with Anusara Yoga and we removed all signage and association from Capitol Hill Yoga. I never had the official Certification status. That still burns me. It was a heck of a lot of work and dedication.

Our community at the studio supported and uplifted our decision to leave Anusara Yoga, though I have students who still tell me they miss many elements of the practice style. Ten years removed I too miss some of the dynamics of the practice and the community, and yet it’s forever left me soured.

John Friend resigned from all positions within Anusara Yoga and after a few years with the style limping along mostly in Europe and South America, I’ve noticed a bit of resurgence lately in the United States. It’s now carried on through a teacher’s collective.

As my continued yoga journey will show (more chapters to come) I continued to seek out friends and teachers that had been a part of Anusara Yoga, but I’ve also continually pulled back anytime I felt myself too drawn into one yoga teacher or style. I just can’t go all in again.