Who is the Anusara School of Hatha Yoga? Who started it? Who owns it? 

The ASHY started as an informal group of interested teachers called the Teacher Advisory Committee in August 2012 working under the auspices of Anusara, Inc. The original group included Doc Savage, Christy Nones McKenzie, BJ Galvan, Bill Dorigan, and Jane Norton. After a number of discussions with Wendy Wiltrout of Anusara, Inc., and amongst themselves, the TAC opted to step out from under the corporate ownership of Anusara, Inc. and pursue the creation of an independent legal entity that would be able to license the Anusara trademarks and become a school led and managed only by its members, licensed Anusara yoga teachers. Bill Dorigan recused himself at that time due to professional conflicts with his law practice and Charly Pivert of Texas joined the TAC. Jackie Prete of New York City accepted the task of coordinating the teacher certification committee and Charly Pivert has assisted her with this work and crystallized our mission statement. Christie Nones McKenzie agreed to head up the Curriculum Committee. Members of the TAC presented John Friend with our plan in September of 2012, and agreed that the ASHY was a viable option.

At that time, the TAC was made aware that our colleagues in Europe were creating a similar plan. We reached out to them to see how we might grow together and since that time, the ASHY evolved into an entirely new school of yoga. With the help of Kai Hill of Germany and Andrea Boni of Italy, we were able to design a global school with regional representation and participation at every level. First Principle, Inc., is the corporate entity that has been granted the license from Anusara, Inc. It’s principals are Certified teacher BJ Galvan of Arizona, and Anusara-inspired teachers Doc Savage of South Dakota and Jane Norton of Massachusetts. The corporation will be involved with day-to-day administration of business issues for the school – trademark issues, managing the website, communication with the kula via email and social media, collecting license and certification fees, paying assessors, and forwarding a portion of licensing fees to Anusara, Inc. for the use of the trademark. First Principle, Inc.‘s only purpose is to support the Anusara School of Hatha Yoga.

Will John Friend be involved in the new ASHY?

John Friend is the the owner of Anusara Inc. and holder of all the intellectual property created since Anusara’s inception in 1997 like the trademarks, licenses, logos, and domain registrations. He has granted a free, universal license to the ASHY’s holding company, First Principle, Inc. to run the school. In exchange for the use of the trademarks, the ASHY will forward a small percentage of teacher licensing fees to Anusara, Inc. to help cover the costs for legal and administrative work needed to maintain the trademark’s integrity. The ASHY will be operating completely independent of Anusara, Inc. and its’ office in The Woodlands, TX. During the school’s formative first months, John Friend and Anusara, Inc. have pledged to help the school with any administrative assistance they can. The stated desire of both John Friend and Wendy Wiltrout that they have no interest in managing or influencing the new ASHY. Wendy and her staff have been very helpful to those involved in this transition to date. The ASHY expects to run the school without any interference from John Friend or his staff.

Will the school be a non-profit?

No, initially the school is being run as a for-profit corporation so it might get up and running and to simplify the reports required to submit to the U.S. government. This is the best option available at this time given the cost and complexity involved in creating an international non-profit organization. A Policy and Procedures ad hoc committee is being formed to create the bylaws and guidelines for the new school. Representatives from the TAC, each of the regions, the curriculum, certification, and ethics committees, and some Anusara yoga students with relevant experience will constitute this committee. When they’ve completed their tasks, the school will then be governed by a Board of Directors.

Will there be an ethics inquiry about John Friend?

The ASHY is focused on maintaining the standards of Anusara yoga and supporting the teachers around the globe who are dedicated to upholding this system of yoga, not on John Friend’s ethical issues. Our efforts at this time are focused on establishing the school and assisting the teachers of Anusara yoga in their professional development. John Friend is not teaching Anusara yoga at present. If John Friend expresses an interest in becoming an ASHY teacher in the future, our school’s representative committees will determine the appropriate course of action at that time. The ASHY will be operating under ethical guidelines outlined by John Friend in the Teacher Training Manual published prior to 2008. The current Ethical guidelines can be found here.

Can teachers that resigned their license become a member of the Anusara School of Hatha Yoga?

Yes, any teacher that was in good standing with Anusara Inc. in January 2012 may join and will be welcomed back.  Anyone who has not paid their 2012 licensing fees to Anusara Inc. can renew their license for the 2013 year by emailing us here. ASHY will send you an electronic license agreement to sign and a link to pay the 2013 license fee. After 2013, there may be some requirements put in place to reinstate lapsed teachers such as having a class reviewed by an ASHY teacher or verifying some class hours in 2013 with licensed ASHY teachers.

I was writing a book, producing a video, printing tee-shirts with some of the registered material on or in them, who do I talk to?

The ASHY will hold exclusive worldwide rights to all Anusara intellectual property and trademarks.  ASHY will be the approving authority on materials use. We’ll have established and published guidelines for producing products and do our best to quickly respond to all items submitted to us. We also welcome ideas from our community on how to develop products that might help the ASHY grow. For more information on this, please contact admin@anusarayoga.com

If you have any other questions please contact us at info@anusarayoga.com