Madhuri 
Over twenty years ago, yoga was the miracle food I consumed in order to keep my mind and body healthy enough to engage in extreme sports. There was, of course, no other purpose for yoga. Weekly classes kept my joints strong and nimble for climbing, mountaineering, telemarking, mountain biking and all the rest. I kept this my secret as I hauled 100+ pound packs over mountain ranges throughout the world, listening to the writhing and moaning of my companions. "No pain no brain" they would say as they reached for their cool light-weight graphite ski poles, a necessity to stop their hopelessly damaged knees from completely giving out under the weight of their packs and the demands of our adventures.
The mystique of traveling, and constant brushes with death, had begun to wear-off when I met my husband Jia at a yoga workshop with K. Pattabhi Jois in Boulder in 1990. Our first date was a three-month stint in Mysore, India where Patahbhi introduced me to the breadth of Asana practice and the extreme depth of yoga philosophy. Ashtanga practice kept my body very strong and my mind so quiet, I barely noticed my transformation into a mother of three with a mortgage.
In August of 1998 I retreated from my family to Inner Harmony for a teacher training with John Friend. Although I had studied with John annually for 8 years, it was during this week that John provided the missing piece to my practice. That piece was Anusara. I witnessed in amazement, as my mental understanding and physical understanding of yoga joined together in song and celebration.
Since that week, I have been invited by John to apprentice with him and have assisted him routinely around the country. This has been the most magical (not to mention exhilarating, fun, transformative, demanding and exhausting) seven years of my life. In no hurry to take on the immense responsibilities of teaching myself, I opted instead to deeply study the beauty and profundity of John’s teachings. I have embraced a particularly clear understanding of Anusara due to this long-time intensive study with John.
These years of study have given me deep insight into the beauty of the Anusara principles and a confident voice from which to teach them. Yet even if I was to never teach Anusara yoga, the practice of it has brought astounding joy and vibrancy to my life. I am incredibly blessed by John’s generosity, patience, insistence, and belief in me. A debt I try to pay with every class I teach, every practice I execute and every moment I interact with others in my life.
~ Madhuri