Talking Shop with John Friend

Having practiced yoga for 27 years, this Texas-based yogi now teaches Anusara, his own style of hatha yoga that means "flowing with grace."

By Colleen Morton

Having practiced yoga for 27 years, John Friend teaches his own style of hatha yoga called Anusara, or "flowing with grace" yoga. We asked him about his philosophies and practice.

Yoga Journal: Tell us about a memorable moment in class.

John Friend: The first time I taught, I looked around and realized everyone was doing a different pose.

YJ: When and where did you first do yoga?

JF: When I was 5 years old, I would sit on this boulder on a little knoll in back of my parents' house in Chicago, contemplating the mystery of life. Looking back, I now consider that to be my first practice.

YJ: What is your yoga practice routine?

JF: Pranayama and then meditation, for 20 to 45 minutes, sometime before 8 a.m. Then asana practice in the early afternoon, for two or three hours.

YJ: Do you have a favorite asana?

JF: Handstand. It's a pose that plays on the threshold between steady self effort and playful freedom. In order to balance, you must be both softly receptive like water to the waverings in your body and integrated in your focus like a flame.

YJ: Do you have a favorite muscle?

JF: The psoas. It's critical for opening the pelvic and lower back area, which affects every other part of the body.

YJ: Is there a pose you initially struggled with but eventually came to love?

JF: Virabhadrasana III. I had such an aversion I'd subconsciously omit it from my practice. Then I started to use more of these principles of opening to grace. The image I use now is of a sail on my back. I puff up my kidney area and catch the winds of grace, and that creates a buoyancy to the pose. In the past, I'd use my arms and legs to pull myself up, and ended up looking like a poor imitation of the FTD florist.

YJ: Do you set goals for yourself in your practice?

JF: I used to set physical goals all the time—300 Sun Salutations in a row, eight-minute Handstands, or a 20-minute Urdhva Dhanurasana. Although I was able to achieve these goals, I realized that it didn't help me to be any nicer or kinder. Those physical goals aren't wrong—they cultivate will and steadfastness—but now my goal is more: Can I let the goodness of my heart really penetrate every part of my body?

YJ: If you could add a pose to the repertoire, what would it be?

JF: Adho Mukha Parivrtta Savasana, Downward-Facing Twisting Corpse Pose. I practice it at night in bed, even while I'm sleeping. I love the pose, but my wife gets irritated because I get all twisted up in the sheets, and she gets cold.

YJ: What's the best advice you've ever gotten?

JF: My mother's advice to follow your heart, to be open to your deepest longings, and my grandfather's advice to stick to your convictions.

YJ: Who has influenced you the most in your yoga practice?

JF: Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, who I met after 17 years of practicing yoga. I had tried about every special formula, I had tried extreme discipline, focus, self effort, wild breathing practices, and outrageous postures, but what she showed me was that divine love and grace are really the keys to experiencing the essence of yoga.

John Friend lives in The Woodlands, Texas, and teaches nationally. Contact him at (888) 398-9642; e-mail oneyoga@aol.com.