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John Friend (yogi)
John Friend(born 1959), born Clifford Friend, is an American yoga guru and creator of Anusara Yoga.
Friend began his yoga career teaching Ashtanga Yoga and then Iyengar Yoga. He practised the spiritual Siddha Yoga intensively for some years before founding Anusara in 1997. In 2012, allegations about mismanagement and sexual abuse were published, leading to Friend's resignation from Anusara. He went on to create a yoga system named Sridaiva, with an alignment methodology called Bowspring.
John Friend encountered yoga aged 8 in Youngstown, Ohio, when his mother, Ann Friend, read him stories of the supernatural powers of yogis. He started to study yoga philosophy with the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. He began asana practice by following Swami Satchidananda's book Integral Hatha Yoga.
At 17, Friend joined a Sufi group and took up sitting meditation. He also studied with Theosophical Society members. At age 19 he moved to Houston, Texas, where he studied hatha yoga. He began teaching yoga part-time while working as a financial analyst.
In Houston in 1984, Friend began practicing Ashtanga Yoga with David and Doug Swenson. In 1986, he quit his analyst job to work as a yoga teacher. Traveling in California, he encountered the Iyengar Yoga teacher Judith Lasater, and decided to attend an Iyengar Yoga convention in Boston. There, he met B.K.S. Iyengar, after which he focused his studies and practice mainly in Iyengar Yoga. In 1987, he studied Ashtanga under Pattabhi Jois. Between 1990 and 1995, he earned Iyengar's Introductory and Junior Intermediate teaching certificates and served on the Board of Directors for the Iyengar Yoga National Association. In 1989 he traveled to Ganeshpuri to Gurumayi Chidvilasananda's Siddha Yoga ashram; he practised Siddha Yoga for some months each year between 1991 and 2004. In 1997 he left Iyengar to found Anusara Yoga.
Friend set up Anusara in 1997 as a style of hatha yoga intended to combine what he called "Shiva-Shakti Tantra" and his own "Universal Principles of [bodily] Alignment". It grew to have some 1,000 trained yoga teachers and to be taught in 70 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia.
In February 2012, an anonymous tipster published accusations on jfexposed.com (short for "John Friend exposed"), which later appeared on the blog YogaDork. These allegations of mismanagement and abuse were later reported on at length in an article in The Washington Post. The four key accusations against Friend were:
Friend announced in March 2012 that he would step down from the leadership, while retaining the sole ownership, of Anusara Yoga to take a short leave of absence to consider his next steps in the yoga community.
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John Friend (yogi)
John Friend(born 1959), born Clifford Friend, is an American yoga guru and creator of Anusara Yoga.
Friend began his yoga career teaching Ashtanga Yoga and then Iyengar Yoga. He practised the spiritual Siddha Yoga intensively for some years before founding Anusara in 1997. In 2012, allegations about mismanagement and sexual abuse were published, leading to Friend's resignation from Anusara. He went on to create a yoga system named Sridaiva, with an alignment methodology called Bowspring.
John Friend encountered yoga aged 8 in Youngstown, Ohio, when his mother, Ann Friend, read him stories of the supernatural powers of yogis. He started to study yoga philosophy with the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. He began asana practice by following Swami Satchidananda's book Integral Hatha Yoga.
At 17, Friend joined a Sufi group and took up sitting meditation. He also studied with Theosophical Society members. At age 19 he moved to Houston, Texas, where he studied hatha yoga. He began teaching yoga part-time while working as a financial analyst.
In Houston in 1984, Friend began practicing Ashtanga Yoga with David and Doug Swenson. In 1986, he quit his analyst job to work as a yoga teacher. Traveling in California, he encountered the Iyengar Yoga teacher Judith Lasater, and decided to attend an Iyengar Yoga convention in Boston. There, he met B.K.S. Iyengar, after which he focused his studies and practice mainly in Iyengar Yoga. In 1987, he studied Ashtanga under Pattabhi Jois. Between 1990 and 1995, he earned Iyengar's Introductory and Junior Intermediate teaching certificates and served on the Board of Directors for the Iyengar Yoga National Association. In 1989 he traveled to Ganeshpuri to Gurumayi Chidvilasananda's Siddha Yoga ashram; he practised Siddha Yoga for some months each year between 1991 and 2004. In 1997 he left Iyengar to found Anusara Yoga.
Friend set up Anusara in 1997 as a style of hatha yoga intended to combine what he called "Shiva-Shakti Tantra" and his own "Universal Principles of [bodily] Alignment". It grew to have some 1,000 trained yoga teachers and to be taught in 70 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia.
In February 2012, an anonymous tipster published accusations on jfexposed.com (short for "John Friend exposed"), which later appeared on the blog YogaDork. These allegations of mismanagement and abuse were later reported on at length in an article in The Washington Post. The four key accusations against Friend were:
Friend announced in March 2012 that he would step down from the leadership, while retaining the sole ownership, of Anusara Yoga to take a short leave of absence to consider his next steps in the yoga community.
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