Congratulations on your EJ publication!!! I L O V E bread and grains. With more gluten free people in my life, I'm trying to figure out how to have the best of both (the breads and baked goods w/out the gluten). Happy to hear you are loving bread and taking it all the way in!!!

I agree, going deep is good, refining is good. But what about expansion? What about adding new, complimentary layers of knowledge? Expanding is deepening to, in my estimation.

Each experience is unique, as you say, and our lives and our hearts will be touched in different ways by different people. I want to respond directly to your insinuation that Anusara is a cult tradition. Yes, John Friend is the founder of a beautiful yoga tradition. He is regarded as a rock star, as a revolutionary, and as an influential teacher. He has touched the lives of many. I have never been in his physical presence and he has never personally or directly touched my life. Yes, my teachers teach in the Anusara tradition, but my teachers teach on their own two feet and their individual life experiences and journeys shape their teaching. Most importantly, my journey is my own, my yoga practice is my own, regardless of who is teaching the class I attend and in what tradition I practice. For me, the John Friend controversy is just clatter and background noise. My journey continues regardless.

Jeannie - superbly written article. You make so many strong, powerful arguments and observations. One statement that you made that especially resonates is this: "what matters most is the practice, our practice." I am with you on that. I am one of the many who have never studied with John Friend. He has never personally touched my life, only indirectly through the lineage of Anusara yoga. The people who have touched my life are *my* teachers, all of whom are Anusara teachers. And what matters most in my life is my practice and what I'm working through with my body. Nothing will change that. I will continue on this path.