An Open Letter to My Community of Anusara Teachers
Dear Ones,
A beloved friend and collegue told me in a tired voice last night, “I feel cracked out.” It was the perfect way to describe what I, too, am feeling. I’ve been running on adrenaline, fumes, and my stubborn-never-say-die love for you and my students.That love fuels my gritty determination that we bind together.
We must make sure we pause to let this land, really land, and to–unfortunately–actually feel this.
If you have been feeling alone, and in the dark, as you wait for information–know that you are not alone. If you are angry or frustrated about not knowing where to take your concerns–you are not alone. If you don’t know to whom to turn for answers to your questions–you are not alone. If your world was rocked last Friday afternoon, if you feel betrayed, heartbroken, or even merely disappointed–you are not alone. If you are angry, you are not alone.
If you feel alone, you are not alone.
We must band together. Local Certified and Inspired Anusara teachers must connect with each other. Tonight I will be meeting via teleconference with my colleagues–and dear friends–in my local Tri-State area. You should meet with the local Certified and Inspired teachers in your area.
Yes–should. You should. Please.
There must be an absolute transparency of information. Anyone with firsthand information about the topics at hand should come forward. Anyone with concerns, or ideas about moving forward, should come forward. Are you willing to roll up your sleeves? Please, please come forward!
Currently, there is a vacuum of official leadership. What I mean by that is that nobody has yet been either appointed or elected to officially speak for the teachers. Do not assume it is covered. Do not assume you are powerless. Sitting back would be a mistake. Initiate conversation in your local community. You are as capable of being heard as anyone.
We must work together. With somewhere in the number of 1800 licensed teachers, clearly it is impossible to include every teacher on every email chain. We should create an ambassador system between various local kulas in order to keep each other apprised, so there is a fast, free flow of information.
We all love John. We all are grateful to him. We must also–all together–hold him accountable. We must decide–as a community–what it means to hold him accountable. There must be no circling of wagons. There must be no spin. We must not stand for it.
I have created a Facebook page for Certified and Inspired Anusara teachers. Please reach out and find it. Your voice is important. You matter.
Please don’t quit on us now. What we have is worth fighting for.
Also, I love you.
XO
Bernadette
Did you enjoy this article?
Sign up and stay in the loop with my latest posts and info!
There is great transformative power in liminality. Having recently completed the first module of the Anusara immersion, I am feeling that liminality. In response to the NY Times article on yoga injury, you recently wrote that yoga was about power. What should I do, that I am sitting on this powder keg of liminality? Can any of us liminal figures do more than sit right now? Should we?
Richard, you make such an excellent point. Thank you. Yes, this post is pertinent to ALL students of Anusara yoga. Students, too, should hug into your local community, and demand a transparent, free flow of information from teachers.
Couldn’t find the FB page as typed above. Will keep looking.
Hi Diana,
I can’t add anyone I’m not FB friends with. Please send me a FB request and message letting me know your licensing status (Certified or Inspired) and that you want to join the group. That goes to all Certified and Inspired teachers. XO
thank you, B. yes, this painful process is part of what is required. yes, we are full of love. yes, we will get through. thank you for working hard to keep this beautiful spirit alive. it is hearts like yours that make this organism we call the Anusara kula function. yes, yes, yes.
saprema
k
What about YTT folks? Can we join? It is a particularly strange time to be training to become an Anusara teacher. I am currently in Willow Street’s program, just started. I am so relieved and weepy when I read your posts. Thank you for all of it.
Om shanti,
Daisy
(email address is diff than my FB one….)
Seems fair enough to me. XO
Thank you so much for this, Bernie. I think we have a golden opportunity to handle this situation in a way that really shows the world what a sound method of yoga we have been practicing all these years. To really rehabilitate, grow, and change, to bring healing without demonizing, to maintain strong accountability and also allow for reintegration. To claim our brokenness in order to step into more wholeness. Thanks for being a leader in this. love, love, love
I am starting Immersion next week. Thank you for your voice, your time, your thoughts, your wisdom.
Ahimsa & Santosha!
Why are people so upset? Because John turned out to be human?
No, we are upset because we have an agreed upon ethical standard and meeting it is not optional.
Yes! This is the deal Bernadette. You nailed. You can’t write in your TT manual to not sleep with your students and then sleep with your students and not be held accountable. I am an Anusara student embarking on my TT with Sianna this coming week. I would like to join the group.
Beautiful, helpful, wise comments. Thank you. Thinking about the messiness of all this, and I’m wondering who would not in some way be John’s student so that he wouldn’t violate the ethical standard? Is he supposed to get involved only with any non-Anusara yogi?
Hi Bernadette! Thanks for the letter and thanks for being you! We haven’t officially met, but someday soon. I am an Anusara Inspired yoga teacher (4+ yrs now) in Boston. To my students, as any good teacher asks, how can I serve YOU in the best way? I think it’s to just keep rockin’ ir and learning and growing and expanding. This is really the best answer anyone can give.
You capture so many of my thoughts. I have been studying with John for over 11 years…Anusara has transformed my life and those of my students. Yet there must be accountability and remediation, or saying we are in an ethical system and a safe kula is meaningless. I sit this morning seeking equanimity.
Please include me in the Facebook page for teachers. I am Anusara-Inspired.
Thank you
Thank you so much Bernie for being a strong and powerful resource.
Much love- Joy
right on. didn’t see that you posted this on the new group but I think you should….
oh I see it now
Beautifully and powerfully written B. Although I’m not an Anusara teacher, I have so much respect for those who I’ve come to know and the community as a whole. xo
Bernie,
I’ve read your blogs for several years (intermittently, I admit) via Emma’s & Christina’s links. I’m grateful for your courage & outspoken stand regarding our issues in our kula. Thank you! Please add me on FB & to your mail list. I live in Castle Rock (a small town half way between Denver & Colorado Springs) & have been Anusara-Inspired for 2 years this month.
Hi,
I am an Anusara inspired teacher and would like to be on the facebook page for teachers.
Thanks for your beautiful writting and leadership.
Thanks for the kula.
Seems like a witch hunt to me… No pun intended.
As I would have expected, Bernie, you are stepping up into a leadership role among teachers. This presents such a great opportunity for Anusara teachers to practice the yoga of leadership in complex and chaotic seeming times (but really, what times aren’t?). I’m a huge fan of the open flow of information, and I think muscle energy is needed to find the right “banks for this river.” Inner spiral provides some great principles for how to structure an open and inclusive inquiry. Outer spiral grounds and provides the flame of passion and the determination to drive it forward. A broadly networked organically expanding web of interconnections across local sites of gathering creates the possibility for greater communication and innovation in thinking about what the role of the network of teachers is in helping the organization and us all to move forward. I would strongly encourage a reflection on how the UPA’s help guide this whole process. As I said last week, one of the roles of leadership, similar to the role of a good Anusara teacher, is to hold us all in this asana, to allow our fears and anger and sadness to emerge, to help us reflect on where we stand in relation to those, to guide us into better alignment (with the 3 A’s), to help us to breathe, to open to grace, to hold the pose, to cycle through the iterations of its contraction and expansion, and in doing shift to compassion, courage, and wonder, and ultimately, as we calm our thoughts and breath, to help us to release it back into Consciousness and move forward, to find joy and peace and love again. This is a great opportunity to put what Anusara is all about into practice “on the mat and off the mat.” You are a great person to help guide that opportunity. Be patient, go slowly, but engage 100%. Stand tall! We’re with you! Namaste.
While I am not an Anusura Yoga Certified or Inspired teacher, Anusura Yoga is the only Yoga that I have been taught …beginning with RaeLynn Rath’s and Janie Wright’s wonderful teaching / mentoring in Houston approx’ly 15yrs ago..consequently Anusara Yoga is what my students are learning from me. I am a Certified Yoga Instructor and taken many workshops with other Certified & Inspired Anusura instructors, continuing my Anusara Yoga Journey. A couple of the workshops taken were with John and for me, the workshops were an inspiring growth process in the assistance of my Yoga Journey and I felt that it was a blessing to be in the workshops with his instruction. I would like to be included in your email list and Facebook page. I am on Facebook, however do not know how to become interactive with the Anusara page of which you speak nor with your page. If it is possible for you to send something to my Facebook page to begin the process, it will be greatly appreciated. Eventually, I hope to become more computer literate, meanwhile all assistance is welcome.
Thank you.
wow. Thank you for stepping up the plate as a leader. I really admire your perspective and your call to the community.
Wow Bernie… You sound real upset, angry and ultimately hurt. Your voice is strong and you really want to encourage us all to use our voices. I feel your adrenaline!! I don’t know if you are aware but adrenaline is released when there is a fearful situation… To be able to stand up and fight the attacker or to flee… I have a couple of questions for you to consider, if you like, to help your processing with the community. How is fighting in this situation working for you? Who are you really fighting against? How are John’s unethical actions a problem for You? Xoxo…
I must say that I cannot agree with the point of view that other’s unethical actions are not a problem for others. In fact, the destructive nature of that kind of nihilism is exactly what the Mahabharata is all about.
Ain’t nothin’ wrong with fighting. Krishna’s pretty explicit about that.
Emma, that is such a fantastic point! Hareesh just taught us that story from the Mahabharata in our Anusara Immersion. I second your point.
I think you misread what I wrote about unethical behaviors being a problem for others… it is a question, not a point of view, directed to Bernie (and anybody else who would like to consider of course) since she is obviously very hurt and saddened, as many understandably are, by this difficult situation. The question is meant to internalize for clarity in the heart. Arjuna was always seeking clarity.
This is the best thing I have read all week. I agree that we must not allow for spin and we must not turn a blind eye. I agree that this must be taken seriously and that as a community, with strong teachers as leaders, we must decide what is right measure of accountability.
I am grateful to John for the practice and how it has changed my life. I am even more grateful for my teachers who bring me the teachings, everyday. For me, that will not change. I will continue to practice with my teachers and my beloved kula. But I do believe the leadership has to change.
An abuse of power has taken place here, and a serious violation of the Anusara code of ethics, but more importantly a violation of trust, of the Anusara teachers and the community as a whole. Nobody is beyond reproach. We can forgive as yogis, but that is not what this is about. This is about whether or not someone who abused a position of power, is suitable to continue being at the reins. My opinion is no.
Namaste <3
bernie, I want in on the call…please contact me to
love meesh
You’re the best Bernie. Thanks for lighting it up!
Olivia all the way from Australia (and feeling the shock waves)
xx
Drama, drama, drama. That is what a narcissistic personality creates. He is what he is. Personally, I ignore him, and love Anusara. Blessings
Oh my god thank you. Thank you thank you. Im tired of the “anusara gestapo” however vague that may be and whatever it is that we are afraid of. Im tired of being afraid to speak. Ill find that site but I have to say that I don’t necessarily trust my local kula. Just being honest.
OMG! It is SO refreshing to see you guys standing in your own light!!!!!!
I am an Ex-Anusara Certified Teacher. At the end of 2008 I was “kicked out” of Anusara because I mentioned wanting to learn about another yoga style (Yin) to a senior certified Anusara teacher in town. Without any further dialogue with me, the “senior” teacher reported the information directly to John. Yes, that was the word John used that I was “reported”! Blindsided! Next thing I knew I was no longer on the certification list and was told I had to start over in the certification process if I wanted to continue in Anusara and come back to him in a year!!! He was very disrespectful to me and said I had betrayed him. The workshop I was attending when he did this was ALL about betryal. Something’s just not RIGHT with all of this. Please, keep shinning the light!!!
Free,
Interesting comments. Does Friend borrow from other yoga disciplines, yet won’t let his teachers persue other yoga disciplines..??
Alone? In the dark? Please…I feel deeply connected to my inner light, my family and those I love and when I don’t, I take a deep breath and remember what is always inside me. Angry? Why? Because JF may be the same as half the male politicians in this county (Remember that Bill guy who used to be president?). I wouldn’t waste my energy being angry about something that I neither have control over nor affects my well being or the well being of my family. Heartbroken?? My goodness, so much drama. I was heartbroken when my father died and when my 4-year-old niece was diagnosed with Leukemia. As for what I should do….Please do not “should” on me. I start every day with an intention to NOT should on myself. I’m not interested in anyone’s personal life, I often find it boring and repetitive to talk about who is sleeping with whom. Don’t we get enough of that already? I was taught by some very wise teachers to neither deify nor demonize my teachers. Last time I checked, we are all the same, yes?
Kath; I agree with you 100%! I am affiliated with an Anusara Studio and went through my TT with Certified Anusara Teachers. My yoga practice changed drastically after going through the Immersion and I can not thank my teachers enough for what I was taught. It has truly brought light and more love into my life! But with that said, I could not help feeling that JF was placed on a very large thrown! It seems that first the money shows up, then the power, and next sex. As you said, he is a man, nothing more…why should we take HIS actions personally! I am the same person and will remain so. I will continue my Anusara practice with pride in MYSELF for what I have accomplished through my practice and the Anusara Teachers that have given me the tools to go as far as I have.
On the other hand, there are people like B that had a relationship with him as HER teacher, inspiration and friend. She put all of her trust, faith and time into his dreams and aspirations for the name of Anusara. That closeness can be compared to a marriage and now that marriage has been violated for her and several others. If my boss of 12 years told me that I HAD to act/be a certain way because that is how ALL of us have to be…only to find out all along HE was NOT doing what he taught, I’d be hurt, disappointed and extremely angry. Betrayed is a very good word.
You can not deny that JF has been a wonderful teacher and inspiration for many years and for thousands of people. Let’s continue with the UPA’s, the three A’s and our Kula’s, shining in our OWN love and light!!
This entry is amazing, and so reassuring. The community is just beautiful, and one of the things that brings me back to Anusara again and again. I too am beginning teacher training very soon, and appreciate having open, honest certified teachers speaking up and leading us through this time of change and transitions. It restores my belief that our ethical standards do mean something, that I am not alone in thinking they should mean something, and that our community will come out on the other side of this stronger than ever. Beautiful, beautiful.
As a recent new ‘graduate’ from Anusara I am certifiably inspired by the events of the past 7 days. I found that I took in & internalized more of the teachings during Immersion & TT than I could possibly have imagined prior to this point. I felt discouraged & alarmed for a day, then I consciously chose what’s real: I am a channel of Divine insight put here to help as many others as I can to find their way on this amazing journey. I get on the mat, despite physical limitations & injury & learn to adapt & heal, I practice Asana to further my mental & physical dexterity, I meditate to gain deeper insight and I teach, as often as I can to ignite this spark of self-referral & self-query in others. And above all: I chose to trust in the innate goodness of it all. All of us in the (Anusara) yoga community have this as our foundation. CHECK IT! It is okay for us to help & gently remind those who forget, even if it means over & over again.
Powerful Bernadette! Thank you… Friended you on FB and messaged you there also but unable to find the kula page. Anyone?
Thank you for putting this together. I am an inspired teacher in South Korea- and it can feel pretty lonely here sometimes since I’m one of very few Anusara teachers inSK. I feel rocked by all of this especially with so many senior teachers leaving the organization. But it doesn’t change the practice and how it has brought my life into focus. It doesnt change the passion with which I teach my students. It doesn’t change that everyday I try to say yes first and today I say yes to healing and forgiveness.
Thank you for this open, honest and heartfelt discussion. I am a student of Anusara yoga in the Bay Area and found your blog through a friend. It is a great reminder that this community is such a diverse, vibrant group. I am lucky to have found so many great teachers who are striving to practice, teach and live with integrity. Love and support to all of you as you find your voices in this difficult time.
Please link me to the Facebook site for teachers. I am inspired.
Blessings and strength.
Thank you for this letter. I have heard a lot of talk about “drama in Anusara” I am grateful for the certified teachers who have given me some clarity over the situation. One thing Adam BAllenger was telling the class is this is Anusara Yoga not John Friend yoga. Anusara yoga hasnt changed, everyone makes mistakes.
I always enjoy your blogs.
As someone outside of the anusara community, and not a fan of JF, yet love many anusara teacher’s, my question is……What can we, the yoga community as a whole, do to support our fellow yogi’s in need. Being outside of the Anusara Kula, many of us wish to open our hearts and extend a great big welcome to you. Your pain is our pain as we are all one. How can we come into a universal alignment of unity with in YOGA, minus all the division of styles and lineages. We are all spiritual beings living in a physical body with many different stories, yet thru the practice of yoga, YOGA, we find a common denominator, one of love, joy and unity.
Kimberly Hardick
Yoga Guide, mentor and student for life