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#metoo, Activism, Articles, Charismatic Abuse, Cult dynamics, Featured, Video, WAWADIA, Yoga, Yoga culture May 15, 2018 May 30, 2018
Karen Rain Speaks About Pattabhi Jois and Recovering from Sexual and Spiritual Abuse — Video Interview
Thank you for visiting this page. If you scroll down past these intro notes, you will see the full transcript of the interview offered below, for easy citation.
We'd like to start with a trigger warning:
This interview conveys details of sexual assault and the silencing of a victim of sexual assault. The descriptions are detailed and emotionally charged.
One of our supportive advisors offered the following feedback: viewers should leave good time for self-care while engaging with this video.
It was suggested that this might be especially important not only for those whose trauma occurred in yoga spaces, but also those who have gone to yoga for healing.
We'd also like to offer the following resources, notes, clarifications, and links.
Karen Rain's writings on her experience with Pattabhi Jois and Ashtanga Yoga can be found here.
Matthew Remski's writings on adverse experiences in yoga practice can be found here. His article on Pattabhi Jois and sexual assault, featuring Karen's voice and the voices of eight other women, can be found here.
Thank you to David Rendall for videography and editing, Diane Bruni for hosting us, and Meghan Bruni and Olya Gloria for appearing in the Contact Jam at the end.
Finally we would like to note that all questions were agreed upon beforehand.
Notes and Corrections:
00:04:15: In our first interview, on June 4th, 2016, Karen spoke about the assaults in this way: "Yes, he groped me. No doubt about it. His adjustments on me were inappropriate."
00:06:32: Karen's original #metoo post on Facebook from November 11, 2017, is here.
00:07:32: Matthew was able to find Karen through a conversation with Elizabeth Kadetsky, who knew about Karen's name change.
00:09:20: Anneke Lucas' groundbreaking post was first published in 2010, detailing an experience from 2000. She describes her experience in this panel discussion. So does Marissa Sullivan, who also gave testimony for The Walrus article. Anneke begins speaking at 17:00 and Marissa follows.
00:10:40: Since filming this interview, Matthew has heard second-hand reports of Jois sexually assaulting two male practitioners. These have not been corroborated. It is important to mention that Karen had heard accounts of digital penetration or rape at the time of the interview but was not comfortable mentioning it until a victim came forward to confirm in print, as documented in the Walrus article.
00:15:52: The woman's name was Catherine Tisseront. She died in Seattle in 2010. Correction: Since filming the interview, we have been informed that her cancer was not breast but ovarian cancer, which progressed to her spine and finally brain. This is an important detail, but it does not change the points made here.
00:27:27: The video in question is here (trigger warning). Between 2012 and 2015 it was deleted from YouTube and Vimeo, at least once at the request of a senior Ashtanga teacher.
00:46:25: In Karen's statement of complicity she also wants to apologize to anyone if she ever minimized or dismissed their unpleasant impression of or experience with Pattabhi Jois.
00:49:14: Addendum from Karen: "In the light of the abuses of Pattabhi Jois, I suggest the re-invention of Ashtanga Yoga without him. This is not the best choice of words. A few AY teachers have made the points that if they just omit Pattabhi Jois from the history of Ashtanga Yoga, wouldn't that be a kind of denial? Wouldn't we all be losing an opportunity to learn and help prevent abuse from happening again, both within Ashtanga and elsewhere? Thus I would like to correct my statement to: I would like a re-invention of Ashtanga yoga to use accurate language for his actions, to use sexual abuse and assault rather than the euphemisms of inappropriate adjustments or assists and that the fact that he was a serial sex offender be integrated into the story of his life as well as the history of Ashtanga yoga."
00:58:06: Here is Kathleen Rea's Contact Jam info. Here is a great blog she wrote about boundary issues and solutions in that community.
01:03:05: Addendum from Karen: "Something which has helped me immensely is friendship. I have a wonderful and supportive wife and friends. The support I get from people I haven't met is also extremely helpful. I want to clarify that people who message me to support me and say I'm helping them, are helping me heal. They inspire me and help give me the strength to be the courageous person I want to be. They help me to face the backlash which is painful and triggering and does interfere with my healing. Speaking out is an obligation to myself, my healing and part of restoring my agency. I'm also committed to raising awareness/speaking out against sexual, spiritual and institutional abuse. At times it can be very scary and painful. It's new for me to be doing this with my own personal story and history of repetitive abuse. I'm learning how to speak up and balance taking care of myself."
Intro statements
Karen Rain: 00:00:07
My name is Karen Rain, and I practiced Ashtanga Yoga from 1989 until 2001, and I studied in Mysore with Pattabhi Jois, for a total of two years between 1994 and 1998. During those two years, I was sexually assaulted almost daily by Pattabhi Jois.
Matthew Remski: 00:00:43
My name is Matthew Remski. As part of a larger project examining adverse experiences and abuse in yoga culture, I've been interviewing Karen Rain over the last two years. This interview represents the culmination of our discussions.
As a survivor of sexual assault, what do you need to feel safe in an interview in which you're speaking about it?
I think that all survivors of sexual assault, and I like to use the word victim because it's a legal term, and because it's been stigmatized. I also like survivor, but I want to reclaim the word victim as not something that is a stigma. Just to clarify that. I also talk with my hands a lot. Let's see.
To feel safe, I need to be in control of how and when my story is told. So, if I say cut, cut, if I say I don't want that in there, I disclose something that just makes me feel too vulnerable, you don't try to convince me to put it in.
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
And, I know you, so I feel comfortable with you. When you first contacted me, I didn't trust you, you know I remember you calling and I was like, "I can't help you." You know, you're not, you told me you were writing a book about yoga or something, and I was like "You're not going to be interested in what I have to say." And you were trying to reassure me that you were interested in whatever I had to say.
I was like "No, no one is interested in what I have to say." And then over time, you got … I began to believe that you were actually interested in what I had to say.
How did that happen? Because there was a number of conversations, like that initial phone call where I literally called you out of the blue.
Right. Yeah, and you were asking for Karen Haberman, and I changed my name to Karen Rain, and I was like "Oh who is this?"
Right. I think I said, "Did you used to go by the name Karen Haberman?" And there was a long pause.
I was like, "Yeah."
Right. "Did you used to do a lot of yoga?" I said.
I was like "Unfortunately!" Yeah. I think in that conversation, we had agreed that you would send me a write up about like including the proposal for your book and what it was about, then I would decide whether or not I wanted to speak with you, I think that's kind of how it went. Then, you know, the disclosure of what happened to me was very slow. I talked about what I saw, I talked about in terms of seeing Pattabhi Jois, and I think I was still using at that point, 'touching women inappropriately', or 'giving sexually inappropriate adjustments', I think I was still using those euphemisms, because that's what the community was using.
I didn't discuss what was done to me, like you asked … Like I said something briefly like "Yeah it happened to me," but, that's basically where I went. I pretended like I was okay with it. And then, I think it took over a year right, where I called you out of the blue, and I was like, "Okay, if you need more details about what happened to me specifically for your book, or if you would like them, I'm willing to share them now."
But with the same agreement, that I would keep you informed as to what the process was going to be?
Right, totally.
Right. What happened in that year that, if you're comfortable sharing, that I don't know, allowed more of the disclosure to happen?
Well I think there was trust gained with you.
There was more insight into my own experience. Something I had pushed aside for a really long time and just minimized.
How has it felt in general to break your silence after really 20 years?
We need to tell our stories, however in telling our stories, it's very precarious, because it can be re-traumatizing depending on how those stories are received.
It's terrifying to tell this story. It's terrifying to break the silence. I also felt very free, and when the comments started coming in that were supportive, it was amazing.
So as I say, it was mixed.
Right. Was there any particular I don't know, push that I mean, it was a short, very concise statement. But there's a button to push, and there has to be a moment where there's a final decision. Was there anything that contributed to that? Was it planned for a while?
I just saw the #metoo stories, and I felt compelled, I felt obligated since I was a victim of sexual assault by someone famous, I felt I needed to join the conversation, that it was like a moral imperative to do it. Yeah. Like, now's the time, I remember you asking me, "Are you sure you want to connect the name Karen Rain with the name Karen Haberman?" And I was like, now's the time, if I don't do it now, when do I do it?
Right. And, just to clarify, there was a name change as part of for you, as part of a moving away from that entire experience.
Yeah, it was part of it definitely, definitely yeah.
Yeah, and you know, strangely, it was by chance that I was able to find you, I mean you were Karen Haberman in a video, and another writer you know, had some indication that you had changed your name. But really, you hadn't been in touch with anybody from that world.
For many years.
Yeah. And then you were on stage in front of it, back in the midst of a community that you actively left for you know-
Very clear reasons.
Addressing Typical Victim-Blaming Statements
Yeah. So since coming out, since disclosing, there have been a lot of support, and there's also been like a raft of very common, old, worn you know, unhelpful comments and challenges to your disclosure.
And I've made a list, and maybe we can go through some of those and just put them to bed. So, okay. Some of the things that people will say in response to your disclosure, but also other people are coming forward too. And, I also should say that when this story was at the level of a kind of cultural rumor based upon photographs and video evidence, and there were no real voices to-
There was a voice.
Anneke Lucas.
Anneke Lucas from-
From 2010. So that story is ignored, that's a voice, but the video evidence, the photographic evidence-
And I believe there were other voices going to teachers.
And saying, "This happened to me," and the teachers were saying, they were minimizing and saying you don't understand, or they were somehow shutting victims voices down. I've heard that.
Right, I have as well, yeah. And they would say things like the following.
Okay, so, speaking of Jois "He didn't have an erection. So it wasn't about sex for him."
So, sexual abuse is about power, it's not about sex.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know what more I could say there, it's just simply not about sex.
Right. Okay. Next one. Similarly: "I heard that Jois adjusted men and women in the same way. So, it wasn't necessarily sexual."
Okay, again, so I didn't witness him adjusting men in the same way. I didn't witness him kissing men on the lips, I didn't witness him like massaging men's buttocks when they said goodbye to him. I didn't witness him holding a man's genitals during an entire adjustment, I didn't witness him putting his genitals against another man's genitals, and grinding. I didn't see any of that.
If he did that to men, that's assault, and again, it's not about sex, it's about power.
"It wasn't so bad, because it was in public."
Again, it's about power, so actually the fact that he could do it in public is like, it underscores his power, the extent of his power. If he had to do it in private, if he could only get away with it in private, it means he has less power. He had so much power that he could do this in front of hundreds of people sometimes, I heard there were hundreds of people at his classes in the United States, or on tour.
So this is an incredible power trip.
Okay. "You're using the word 'assault,' but I don't like that word, I don't think that word is appropriate."
Okay. So, google it. He's putting his hands on women's breasts, he's putting his hands on women's buttocks, he's putting his hands on women's genitalia. He is getting on top of women, or sometimes standing and he's pressing his penis, and grinding into our genitals, and our buttocks, and just look it up, it's assault.
We'll go on. Okay. I don't like repeating these things.
You don't like asking the questions.
It has to put you into a persona that you don't have. Also I want to say, that's why the videos were removed so many times.
It shows assault.
There's no question about it, that's assault.
Right. All right: "It doesn't make sense that you kept coming back, why didn't you resist or say something? You must have wanted that treatment on some level."
There was cognitive dissonance. I loved Ashtanga so much, and was so like dedicated to it, I thought I had found my ticket to freedom. And part of that narrative of Ashtanga being my ticket to freedom was that Pattabhi Jois was this guru, enlightened being, and so when I saw things, and when things happened to me, that didn't fit that narrative, I just couldn't accept it. There was disassociation, there was denial, there was … Yeah, I mean. I just was trapped. I never would've chosen it though. That for me is really important. It wasn't like I designed it. Life would've been much better for me had that not happened.
Okay, next one. "Jois was such a heart exploding teacher for so many people, that really must not be forgotten."
Okay. So, I see this as kind of like they're saying Pattabhi Jois is sort of like a Che Guevara figure, who some people say that because of who he was, and these great things he did, it really doesn't matter what atrocities he committed, it just doesn't matter. So that's one side of that. And then another side of that is kind of like, I feel a minimization of sexual abuse, and assault, and spiritual abuse, because we've got to admit that he was doing that too in the position of a guru, it was also spiritual abuse.
They're saying that these are not really that big a deal. And, to that … They're really lucky that they have lived such a charmed life that they don't know what spiritual, what all those things, the damage that sexual assault, and sexual abuse, and spiritual abuse can cause.
"He had a healing touch, and healing hands."
Okay, so why did he hurt me? This also, there was one woman in my Mysore, when I was there, who was there for … Who spent even more time in Mysore than I did. Probably even more devoted than I was. Who I witnessed him assaulting her more extremely than he assaulted me. More often, and more intensely. I saw him playing with her nipples in some of the assaults.
I recently found out that she died of breast cancer before she turned 46. I personally, knowing the health issues that I've had, believe that there's a correlation, but even if there's not a correlation, how can someone say that they were healing her? And I know that anyone can say, that there are going to be people who, no matter what, can find a way. They can say oh she went to Mysore, she already had breast cancer, he slowed it down, you know, because you can come up with any story at any time. There are always going to be people who are going to find a way to disregard something, some proof, the cognitive dissonance is going to be so strong they're going to find some way to discard some proof. I can say that she went to Mysore in her mid 20's, not too likely that she had already developed breast cancer.
I'll just interrupt the list to ask you a follow up, and say, was that kind of reasoning around his supposed powers, did that figure into your own thinking at the time?
Was that a story that you understood-
Yes, that was a story I believed, I wanted to believe.
I know that both this woman, because she had back pain on the last trip that I was there, and I also had back pain, and she had told me that she had asked Pattabhi Jois why she had back pain, and he said he didn't know. And, she put the idea in my head, and I asked him too, and he gave me the same answer, he didn't know. Now, why didn't he tell us he was healing us by putting his hands on our vaginas?
Right, right, okay.
I mean if he really had a healing touch, why didn't he tell us that? And why didn't he know why we were in pain?
Was there a way in which asking him that question directly, and getting kind of a non response, did that-
That started to crack open my shell, yeah definitely.
Right, right.
I mean it was cracking, in my last trip it was really cracking. Yeah. That was in 1998, and by the time I left, I was like "He's not my guru."
Yeah. I still wasn't open about what had happened to me personally, but I was done with the guru thing.
Or at least with him, yeah.
Okay. Next one. "He had a problem, but he stopped when people gave him boundaries, when asked."
Okay. Yeah, perpetrators often test waters to see what they can get away with. So, it's just strategic, if someone says "No," he's like "Okay I can't get away with it with this person, I'm not going to do it with this person," and then he goes on to someone else, and does it to someone who doesn't say no. It's not respectful. It's just strategic, and he … I know that people are saying at times he stopped when he was confronted by his family or something. And then, started up again and stopped.
I hear there were ebbs and flows in his behavior. Again, it's not like there was, he was apologetic or contrite, or anything, or seeking help for his problem, he just would stop when he didn't feel like he could get away with it. This is not a sign of character, I mean, it's a sign of yes, he was sick.
"He didn't know what he was doing."
Okay. So, I can say I think he knew what he was doing. If he didn't know what he was doing, people are projecting all this greatness onto a person who didn't know that touching a woman's breasts, touching a woman's vagina, massaging her buttocks, kissing her on the lips, putting his penis against her genitals and grinding, or against her buttocks and grinding. He didn't know that was wrong? Like, we're projecting guru status, or people are projecting guru status on this? This is the emotional maturity of a toddler. But, you know, I don't know how they fit that argument into their image of him then.
It's just like it's-
It does feel like with each of these positions, whole other bits of evidence have to be shut out or split off.
Right, right, you'd have to split off the other story about him to say that-
Right, okay, now the next one then is interesting, is a little bit more complex, because it kind of goes like this. "He was only human, he wasn't perfect, everyone makes mistakes."
Yeah I would say again, there's that split. So okay, he was only human, so let's use human standards to judge him.
Sexual assault, sexual abuse, spiritual abuse, serious offence, you know, like let's hold him up to human standards. So on the one hand they're kind of saying, well he's only human, but he's above human because he's kind of god like, he does these things, you shouldn't judge them.
There's also the implication that it was your fault for thinking that he was more than human. While at the same time, he is kind of more than human, or he should be excused because of his human ness, it's a strange-
Yeah, so, still, okay so even if say, I mean I've admitted to the cognitive dissonance, where I did try to believe in his healing powers, and I did try to … I did want to believe that he was like this guru of this incredible system that I had found. So I've admitted to that.
I don't see how that excuses his behavior.
He still sexually assaulted me, and spiritually abused me, regardless of whether I held him to like a higher than human status.
Regardless of who he was, the behavior was the behavior.
Would it Hold Up in Court?
"He's not here to defend himself."
Yeah, so let's look at the defences that people have offered and see how they would hold up in court. I mean, I know that courts can be sucky, but let's just see how it sounds, so what was the first thing? "He didn't have an erection."
Well I guess we could put it into first person: "I didn't have an erection, so it wasn't about sex for me."
So that's going to hold up in court?
Okay, so "I adjusted men and women the same way."
That's going to hold up in court? I think that's really funny, because I think most people would look at you like you were crazy if you said that: "I did the same assaults to men that I did to women."
Right. "What I did wasn't so bad because it was in public."
I don't think that would hold up in court, do you think that would hold up in court?
Okay, I think the point is clear, it seems like it's a disingenuous–
Statement, and it has more to do with feeling as though a particular image is being attacked, and it's a stigma of helplessness right?
Mm-hmm (affirmative), because yeah if you look at the rest, none of them hold up in court either.
Okay, well to roll back a little bit, you said a little bit about this before, but how has your understanding of what happened to you changed?
Yeah. So … As I said, like, I … I didn't focus on what happened to me so much at first when I left, and I wanted to, I was in physical pain, and I had kind of set up in my mind that once I healed the physical pain, I can just put the whole story behind me. And forget about it. But, I didn't completely address the sexual abuse. So, even just my shift of using, of the vocabulary I use, that when I first stated talking about it, or even I disclosed to some people, said yes he touched me inappropriately in like 1998, and after occasionally, I said that.
The people I'm in touch with now who I said that to were like, I got a sense that something happened, but you were kind of like you didn't want to talk about it, which I think is pretty standard behavior for victims of abuse, to minimize ourself and what happened. So that has changed, and bringing it forward has been as I said, there's a lot of healing to that in terms of I have a safe platform to do it in a certain sense, like I'm getting a lot of support, and that same platform is also very triggering. I've seen so many photos of him.
And I've had to confront all of the defences that we just went over, and other victim blaming type statements. And, so there's been a lot of triggers as well.
Blindspots in Interviewing
And, sometimes I've contributed to that even in our conversations.
Yeah, I think you sent me that video link.
Which I didn't actually look at until probably like the end of February, I sent it to a couple of people, and I thought I should probably look at this.
You sent it to them to vet for you, to give a summary?
No, I sent it to them to have the information.
And, I hadn't ever looked at it, I will never watch it again, but I was actually kind of shocked by it, because it showed him placing his genitals against women's genitals, and I thought my disclosure had been a revelation, because I kept hearing all this talk about the mulabandha assault, or mulabandha "assist," and so I just thought that was what everyone was familiar with, and no one even knew that he did things like what he did to me.
And then there was this whole video of him doing it to a bunch of women. I was like wow, talk about denial.
Right. But I sent you the video-
A long time ago, and I didn't look at it.
But I sent it to you, and I didn't … Did I-
I don't even think you put trigger warning.
And you sent me, and when people were writing statements, and there were photographs in the statements, I was like, I think at one point I was like, "You know, Matthew I can't read that, it's got a picture of him."
Right. And so it just did not occur to me, I mean, not being a victim of sexual assault, it's so obvious to me now, like … But it literally didn't occur to me that the photograph is a danger, it's-
I feel really bad for actually the Harvey Weinstein victims as well, because his photograph-
Is everywhere.
Is everywhere. And I listened to a podcast with an interview with three of his victims, and like one of them said, she had you know, she had also disassociated, kind of forgotten what had happened to a certain degree, and went and saw The English Patient, and on the way home from that, she threw up in a taxi, and so I think it's just something that people aren't really aware of.
That's, she's seen the film and maybe just his name-
And the association with him was enough of a trigger to like bring about that somatic response.
Right. And so, when you make requests, generally to the Ashtanga Yoga community, you know, look at what you're doing with this photograph, look at what you're doing with the epithet guru, or with "Sri". You're having to break through an attitude towards that image, and that epithet that is devotional, people associate with love, or … And, it's so strange to have the circumstance in which the experience of the assault victim is-
Is ignored.
Is ignored, is ignored and but it's ignored because it seems to be inconceivable, it seems to be inconceivable.
Yeah, I think it's also something we don't realize. Like I want to say that this is not the only issue I'm concerned with, and that my values do go on to other things as well. I listen to a podcast in Spanish, and I donate a little bit of money every month to that podcast, and the person who does the podcast was like I'm going to make stickers, for the patrons of this podcast, and it's actually about books, he does like book reviews each week in Spanish.
He decided to make stickers of HP Lovecraft, who is racist, and I messaged him, and said, like I don't think that's okay. You know, for people to be publicly displaying stickers of someone who is racist.
He agreed with me, but you know. So it's a value that I'm not only applying to my own situation.
Grooming, and Recovering Trauma Memories
Right. So, when you were at the height of your practice, career, and your involvement with Ashtanga Yoga, you were like known as an elite practitioner, you were known for super human-
Wait, wait, because there was something I remember that I wanted to say to your last question.
How is my understanding, what happened to me changed. I realize how much I was groomed as well.
So, like, because the way trauma is remembered is … It's not necessarily a cohesive story, like I can't remember all of it all at once.
It's, we remember pieces. And, it doesn't all come back at once. And, so that's also what's been happening since I posted, since I've gotten involved in this, is I'm remembering more. And, I remember when I was studying with him in Encinitas before I had gone to Mysore, I was waiting for the bathroom, and he was using the bathroom, and I was alone, waiting for him. He came out of the bathroom, saw me, laughed, and smiled, and kissed me on the mouth, totally out of the blue.
I remember my feeling of discomfort, and at the same time, of being special. This is classic grooming. And what happened in Mysore too was incremental. I remember it developing incrementally, what he would do with me. Like, I can get away with this, oh maybe I can get away with more, maybe I can get away with more. Yeah.
So, as you describe more as you were saying, you're remembering more.
Links Between Performance, Stress, Addictive Practice Cycles
Right. I mean, you had kind of like a meteoric rise through that entire culture, because of your physical prowess.
Mm-hmm ( affirmative).
It was almost, people would say that you were almost super human in how you were able to excel in the postures. That's what I wanted to ask you, how do you think you were able to accomplish all of that under such stress?
I actually think in part it was the stress that helped me accomplish all that. My body was so charged with adrenaline and cortisol, it was like I could do things like lift up a car or whatever, I mean, I couldn't do that, but I think I was able to perform at a certain level because of the adrenaline and cortisol, because of the fear that I felt. Yeah.
It's just such a chilling thought.
Yeah, it's an addictive cycle too. I mean, I think there was a withdrawal when I left Ashtanga and Mysore, that I wasn't getting that adrenaline cortisol or whatever high, and I went through withdrawal, the actual experience that set that off sucked, and it created an addiction for that kind of high, and there was definitely, it was hard to, the withdrawal was hard.
So it's incredibly complex, you are groomed into an abusive situation with the … There's dissociation, it's not clear to you, or it's very difficult for you to admit what's happening as it's happening, but it also feel terrorizing in a way.
And it gives rise to an adrenalized cortisol-
A sense of incredible strength yeah.
A sense of incredible strength, and so it's almost as if the ability to perform the postures is, was it a way of getting away from him, or getting away from the contact, or that humiliation?
You mean trying to do them so well that I didn't need adjustments? Because there was that.
I'm thinking of that, but also that they provided a kind of, the postures themselves provided a kind of triumph, that I don't know, maybe made the rest of the interaction more tolerable, or-
Yeah, yeah I mean, it gave me a narrative that you know, as I said, Ashtanga was my ticket, and I was mastering my ticket.
And that sort of like, the means justify the end, in a certain sense. So, yeah, there was that.
Speaking About Vulnerability to Harm Without Victim-Blaming
Yeah. Okay. Another question related to the kind of defences that we ran through, but a little bit more subtle. It's this question that comes up around whether people are predisposed to being involved in these situations. Whether or not you brought anything in your personal psychology to Mysore that made you more vulnerable to the situation.
Is there a way for you or for anyone to speak to questions like that usefully without buying into-
Victim blaming?
Yeah. Yes, I think so. I think what … Yes, it's very important for people to look at their, whatever my trauma load was before I went to Mysore, and whatever dynamics that I entered into and were triggering for me, like reasons that I froze, or reasons that I didn't speak up, or whatever, like that's important for me to look at, to know. That has nothing to do with blame.
I think most people got into Ashtanga Yoga, went to Mysore for some healing. And, including myself. Whatever I brought to Mysore, whether that trauma load was huge, or whether it was small, or whether I was even a bad person just hoping to become a better person, Pattabhi Jois abused me, he was the abuser. I should've been met where I was at, whatever my trauma load was. He is the one with the power, and he was the one who was supposedly the healer, and again, whatever trauma load I brought to Mysore, it increased exponentially after my experience.
PTSD Symptoms, and Recovery
So I never had trouble sleeping before my experience in Mysore, nothing else gave me PTSD.
Can you describe a little bit of what the PTSD symptoms are?
Well, for me, probably starting in 2002, I started waking up at 3:30 in the morning several nights a week, feeling really anxious, and hyper vigilant that something terrible might happen to me, unable to go back to sleep. At that time, 3:30 in the morning is the time that I got up for the first year that I was in Mysore, to go practice. I think other symptoms of the PTSD have been somaticized trauma, where I've suffered from chronic fatigue for about 17 years. I've suffered from chemical sensitivities, and food sensitivities. Yeah.
Is there anything more that you'd like to say about how life unfolded after leaving Ashtanga Yoga in 2001?
Well, I think I thought I had found my like raison d'etre.
And, that was taken from me. Or is it raison d'etre? I don't know. But, that was taken from me, so I really floundered for a long time having many various jobs. All part time.
You're talking about life path and career.
Because you were teaching.
I was teaching, I had hoped to be a successful Ashtanga Yoga teacher, that was my vision for myself.
I couldn't do it, you know. Then, so there were a lot of things, like initially I had thought okay, I won't teach Ashtanga, but I will find something healing within yoga, and I will teach that, but I wasn't able to relate to yoga in a healthy way. Like it was just too triggering, I had to move on to other movement systems. And, so there was that, that just like finding, reclaiming my body, you know. Feeling my body, finding ways to … Yeah, inhabit my body again after having disassociated for so long. And getting comfortable with not, with like not being addicted to the adrenaline, and the cortisol and all of that, and then yes, and then finding meaning in life. Because I was depressed too.
And so, starting to work with kids, with youth, that was when my grief about having lost a career shifted. I would say my grief about losing like a movement practice, shifted earlier than that, probably when I stopped having pain, and I just I guess I had always, I had kind of hoped to become like a corrective exercise specialist, and but I didn't actually have the passion for that, I realized, the way I had the passion for to teach Ashtanga. I was like I wanted to do something else, I just wanted to get away from like, I don't know, body nerd stuff. I was just happy not to be in pain, and just wanted to enjoy my body and movement.
Yeah. And, but I get the sense that because dance and a number of movement practices, and like contact improv, and things like that have been really useful to you, that it's … That that's a different type of embodied exploration than-
Both Ashtanga, but also like corrective exercise, where you're trying to figure out specifically what to do-
Yeah, like I used to be able to tell people which lumbar vertebrae were problematic for me. I don't remember now, because they're not problematic for me anymore, and I don't really … So I like went in to study what happened to my body that brought me pain, and now I actually kind of forget besides that it was hyper mobility in certain joints.
Right. You say you know, you describe the arc of reclaiming your body and inhabiting your body again, after this extended period of dissociation. There's this very strange paradox that people would have looked at you at the time, and would have associated the postures you were able to perform with a kind of freedom, or a kind of with the opposite of what you were feeling. And I'm sure that must've been very confusing in terms of giving it up as well, that if you weren't going to do those postures, that somehow you were going to lose social capital, or-
Yeah, but I did leave the community.
I made the choice to leave that social capital completely anyway. But yeah, painful.
You've openly acknowledged that in your own teaching of Ashtanga Yoga, that you through the process of adjusting, that you probably injured people.
Can you say a little bit more about that? Or about other feelings you have about the-
I was complicit.
And so, I feel like there's two parts, like to say I'm complicit, I really need to just say I'm complicit, not like I was complicit, but I was a victim, I was complicit.
And, I encouraged people to go to Mysore, I denied what I saw. Both before I met Pattabhi Jois and after I met Pattabhi Jois, I gave unskillful adjustments that injured people. So two parts to my healing, one is disclosing the sexual assault and spiritual abuse, the other is admitting my complicity. So when I wrote my post about being complicit, that was huge for me as well. And, I think I wrote at the bottom, if you were injured, if you went to Mysore because of me, and were hurt in any way, I'm so sorry, and if I injured you, with any of my adjustments, I'm also sorry and feel free to contact me.
Thirty seconds after I posted that, I got a message from someone I was friends with who I was actually still in contact with, who has left Ashtanga, who hadn't mentioned this, this is someone who I've been in contact with. Said, you know, you did injure me, I'm not angry at you. But, you did injure me, and went through like what they had to go through because of that.
I'm so sorry to anyone I injured, that's all I can say, I'm just so sorry, I wish I could go back and do things differently. And, like if people, if it would be healing to anyone to contact me and tell me, I'll listen. I have no excuse, and I just wish I could go back and do things differently.
What kinds of statements or responses would you like to see in general from the Ashtanga Yoga community?
The general Ashtanga community, let's see. Again, I would like to see a change in that Pattabhi Jois is not the … That Ashtanga's reinvented without Pattabhi Jois. I'd like to see the Ashtanga community hold teachers accountable, who should be held accountable for not addressing the issue appropriately.
All right, well … You're in-
I need water too.
Do You Feel Like Giving Up?
You're in a rare position. You're not the only person who has disclosed what happened to you. But you've taken a leadership role in a call for transparency, through your disclosure. And you're relatively alone, you're not the only one, but you're relatively alone in doing this. How does that feel?
Do you ever feel like stopping?
Yeah. Every time I post, I'm like this last one. I'm done. And then someone … Someone sends me a message or something saying like what I've said has really helped them, and I think oh my God I'm not done, or someone else sends me, writes something that's just so, like that I just can't not respond to, that's so triggering, and so like victim blaming, that I can't not respond to it.
And, the forum is relentless. I mean, you would have to actively choose not to be exposed to more communication.
Yeah, and I may.
You might do that?
I may, I don't know. Like I have to decide when, when my message is enough, like when I've said all I can say, that I don't have anything left really to say, in this particular scenario, I never want to stop speaking up for victims of sexual assault, or speaking up about sexual abuse, or about rape culture. But, the forum of Facebook, and the community of Ashtanga, at some point, I hope to be done with that. Like I just thought my first post, I just thought I'm going to put my story out there, done. I don't want, you know, someone had contacted me about an interview, and I was like I don't think so. No I'm done, yoga doesn't intersect with my life anymore, I don't want to, you know, I don't want it to. And then, Mary Taylor made her statement, I was like I can't just leave that there without saying anything, and then all these other people started making statements, and I can't leave those things there without saying anything.
Then, people started also telling that what I was saying was really important. And, I don't want to let those people down.
So you have to make a decision about how exhausting it is versus how much help you're doing.
Totally like.
Yeah, how are you doing that?
I don't know. Someone used an example, said that you know, it's important that I keep, that I'm aware of when it stops being therapeutic, and starts feeling like it's disemboweling me.
You know, it can go in waves maybe, you know, maybe I could leave it for a while, and then come back. I don't know.
Right. Do you want, go ahead.
I guess I want to get kind of, as I said, every post, every statement I make, I'm like "Okay this is it." There is a message I want to get across. So I'd like to take this opportunity, because I was someone sent me a message saying something along the lines of you know, thank goodness that could never happen again, like what Pattabhi Jois did could never happen again, that times are different, and it couldn't happen again, or I'm not sure exactly what the person meant.
I just want to say how dangerous I think that attitude is, and that was the attitude then, that whenever we start to think that it can't happen here, or it can't happen now, that's an invitation to opportunity for it to happen. It can't happen here, it can't happen with him. He's a yoga guru, he's 80 years old, like it just … My defences were down as well.
I recently was looking at a book about teaching kids how to be safe against sexual abuse, and it had this section about, there were green light people, and then red light people, meaning that green light people were safe, and red light, and yellow light people weren't safe, and the green light people they had listed doctors, care givers, and parents. And I was like, you cannot say that a category of people are safe, there are no green light people.
How many doctors, parents, care givers abuse children? This is so dangerous to teach anyone, that there are green light people, and yoga teachers are not green light people, yoga gurus are not green light people.
Ending With Something Really Happy
I was thinking to first thank you for two years of like … Just, an incredible opportunity to learn and understand things from you, and to also suggest that we end with talking about something really happy.
Yeah. Good idea.
So, you said "I'm coming to Toronto to see some old friends." We made plans to meet doing this interview sort of came up later in the planning stages.
But before that you said, "You should come with me to Contact Jam." And, I've heard about it, I was kind of familiar with it, I have friends in dance communities, but I'd never been to one, and you said "You're coming." And so we went, and-
Wait, wait, wait, that makes it sound like … I didn't say you were coming. No, I was like you can come if you want.
That's right, that's right, that's right, you weren't demanding. Okay, so why did I figure that way? Like, well maybe I felt like-
Well because actually you initially had something planned until 7:00, and I said it sounds like you won't be able to come. "You said no I'm going to make it work."
Okay, all right. I don't know, I think I'm saying I've got to come. I mean, anyway, so we go, it's Wednesday night, it's at Dovercourt House here in Toronto, and it's run by Kathleen Rea.
Right. Shout out to Kathleen Rea.
Okay, and you knew her through the grapevine of the contact world, because she actually has been instrumental in initiating the discussion around consent, and safe space, and boundary issues within contact improv, which are like obviously crucial.
Right. This was why I was like, I have to go to that jam.
I actually knew I was coming to Toronto, and I made sure I would be here for a Wednesday night, so I could go to her jam.
Because her jam is different from other jams.
Right, right. So, okay, so I'll just describe.
What happened? Yeah.
So like, so I'm … I've never been to this thing, and she says at the beginning, okay if you're new to this, you know, please come outside and I'll give a little talk, and you know, I'll help you familiarize yourself and orient yourself. So you and I are both new, and we were sitting there together with three other people who had never been there before, and Kathleen gives this like 10 minute, highly structured, lucid, concise you know, description of what is this space, what can you do in it, what are our boundaries, who will help you, who will support you. You know, what to do if you feel strange, what are your exit, you know, strategies.
We don't explore dances with sexual contact in this jam.
Right. And, that does happen in other places, but it's not happening here.
She also said that-
Consent is not assumed.
Right, consent is not assumed, she also said that in this practice, a lot of emotions come up, and feelings will come to the surface, and we know that if those feelings are eroticized or sexualized in some way, that we're just not exploring that here.
But we don't want to shame any of that either. Anyway.
You just don't follow it.
You just don't follow it. And anyway, it's like, I just couldn't believe that you and I were sitting there outside of a room about to go do like some sort of embodied practice, and we're getting a 15 minute, 10 minute little mini lecture and seminar on consent. When we've been talking for two years about a culture in which consent has been implied-
Also assumed, yeah.
It has been assumed, and in which the you know, structure has been like a dominance hierarchy.
And she's basically doing the opposite, and she's doing it openly, and you and I are sitting there-
It was kind of like a complete circle kind of thing.
Right, and I realized oh, because you had spoken about how healing this had been for you, and I finally got it. Then we could go in, and then you said, so are you going to dance? I said, well I'm going to wait for somebody to ask, because I'm a little bit shy. And she said, okay, well do you want to dance? And then, so we started.
Yeah, we danced, yeah.
Yeah like I'm still trying to process that.
Like, don't give me your weight though, because you're like twice as much as I'm-
Right, but I'm not leaning on you.
Well you can push against me, I remember I was like, I like being pushed against, but don't like give me too much weight.
Right, right. But like, I was … We talked for two years about this other environment. And, I don't know, I could understand something of what the contact jam and consensual environment actually meant for you.
Yeah, which I want to say that like contact also has its issues.
It's problems, right.
It's problems around assumed consent, that's why I was like I'm going to Kathleen's jam. I really want to check this out, yeah.
So you end up being able to participate in a culture in which all of the things that were taken away from you, in some way, through dialogue, and equality can in moments, be restored.
Right, and there's definitely in contact improv, there is listen to your body, I mean that's you know, listen.
And that wasn't in Ashtanga. I was-
So you found a space in which you were actually invited to not dissociate.
Right, yeah. When I first went to Mysore, I was innocent, I was hopeful, and I was trusting. And I trusted in this concept that surrendering to the guru, and surrendering to what were called "adjustments," represented some kind of spiritual fortitude. So, that was also part of yeah, that narrative that created the cognitive dissonance, and that kept me there.
So, what has helped most?
Most? It's interesting because that question is. sort of, shows what happened with Ashtanga, that I was like Ashtanga helps the most, and so I was like, I actually got so narrow minded about it that it was like, only Ashtanga helps. So I wouldn't even say there's anything that helps the most, there are things that have helped a lot. One thing that really, really helps a lot is I love being outdoors. I love playing in the woods.
I love going for hikes in the woods, I love mountain biking, not anything really crazy. But I like mountain biking easy trails. Just, anything outdoors pretty much, and finding places that are more kind of off the beaten track is really fun for me. And then there's dance, and like you've mentioned, contact improv. I go through phases with that, in terms of sometimes I'm really into it, sometimes I'm not.
I always liked dance, and I dance at home, or I can go to other dances that are not necessarily contact, that are just like barefoot boogies. I also like to do kind of a contemplative movement, or contemplative dance, which is just whatever I feel like doing, whatever my body needs at that moment, I'm really connecting.
I do a little bit of Chi-gong, not a lot. And, that's a daily practice. And, I actually recently realized that, very recently realized waking up at 3:30 in the morning, because that actually has gotten worse since my post, my insomnia, and particularly waking up at that time has gotten worse, since I posted the #metoo, my body is much more on like hyper alert.
I recently, it occurred to me, because at one point, I had been getting up and doing Chi-gong at that time. And it helped me go back to sleep, but then I was just like, I don't want to wake up at that time and do anything, I just want to be asleep at 3:30 in the morning. So I kind of stopped doing it, and but then I realized maybe I do need to do something at that time, maybe I really do need to reclaim that time for myself, that I'm safe. That I have agency at that time, because I didn't.
So again, that was really recent. It's gotten better since I made that discovery. I actually slept through two nights without waking up at 3:30 in the morning. Well see, I said it's so recent, but if I do wake up hyper alert, I'm going to start trying to reclaim that time for myself.
So, just beginning to reflect on what you might need to do during that time was-
Helpful-
That in itself was helpful.
Helpful, yeah.
Because, so you wake up, you're hyper vigilant, and you know now, you've done enough work to realize that, oh, this is about my agency, about my capacity to feel autonomous, and myself. So if I take hold of that, maybe that will be helpful.
And I think that's part of the like, evolution of healing, is that there is different levels of knowing. I could've told you years ago this is why, I mean I did say years ago, that's why I was waking up at 3:30 in the morning, that was when I practiced with Mysore, but, like, the amount that we really feel a truth can vary.
And so, yeah, just a few days ago, I really felt the depth of that truth, and how much I have to honor it.
For me, it was always about what Pattabhi Jois did to me, and I didn't confront the community, like I was disillusioned with the community, but my anger wasn't towards the community. And still I don't blame the community, they didn't abuse me. I don't think anyone or very few people in the community only real other sex offenders would have chosen for Pattabhi Jois to behave the way he did.
But, breaking the silence, I'm facing this … I'm experiencing really great stuff, I'm experiencing support, and love, and all of that, and that's wonderful. I'm also experiencing the backlash, I avoided by just leaving the community and changing my name, without fanfare. So that's very painful too. And, to realize, the level of complicity when people are not going, wow, like, I need to step up and address this. They're still being complicit. Yeah, so that sucks, yeah. I wanted to skip that part. Just walk away, not have to experience the backlash, or yeah.
Yeah there's a certain, I think I wrote in a post, there is a certain strength and resilience that I feel in having spoken about this, and even spoken about how much it's hurt me, even though like, the hurting me was what I really didn't want to admit, I never wanted to admit how much it hurt me.
Epilogue: Lessons and Messages
Several lessons and messages I hope to impart from my experience of being sexually, spiritually, and institutionally abused for two years are as follows.
One, sexual abuse, like physical abuse, is about power. Whether or not the perpetrator got sexual pleasure is irrelevant.
Two, sexual abuse can happen anywhere, even when we think a situation or a person is safe. However, thinking a person is safe does not make us responsible for the abuse. Not every person takes advantage of an opportunity to sexually abuse. Abuse is always the responsibility of the abuser.
Three, committing sexual abuse is not a mistake, flaw, or imperfection. It is a sickness, and a crime. It is a compassionate act to deconstruct the merit, and power of a sexual perpetrator. Those are things that were harnessed for the abuse. This benefits the world by curtailing rape culture, and offering healing to victims and perpetrators alike.
Four, if we do not condemn sexual abuse by speaking out about it, and deconstructing the power of the perpetrator, we are enabling abuse and perpetuating rape culture.
Lastly, if a teacher does not create an atmosphere where students can openly, easily, and comfortably challenge them, that is not a healthy learning environment, and they are not a good teacher. A good teacher, and healthy learning environment foster a spirit of questioning, and innovation.
01:12:42 (silence).
Ashtanga yoga Karen Rain Mysore Pattabhi Jois sexual assault
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Gregor Maehle says:
My Initial Response to Karen Rain's Interview About Sexual Abuse
Matthew forwarded me the interview last night and I read the first half then but couldn't continue because I found it too distressing. I lay in bed for a long time and reflected, a process that continued through the night and in half daze this morning when reading the rest. I have known Karen as Karen Haberman and have practised close to her for around 10 or 11 months through 1996 and 1997 in KP Jois little Lakshmipuram studio. I will address you, Karen, now directly and will get Matthew to forward you my response.
I want to thank you for coming out with your story. I was trying through the night to remember how close your mat must have been to mine. The old shala held 12 mats and my spot was front row, left corner in the 4:30am time slot. Sharath's spot was front right and I think you practised next to him. This would have placed your mat about 3 metres maximum from mine. I am completely shocked that you had to go through all of this a few metres away from me and I was ignorant of it. I am deeply sorry.
I am asking myself how I could not notice the extent to which these things were going on. I didn't initially. We all focussed on our drishti (focal point) and practised as if the devil was breathing down our necks, literally. But I remember at some point I performed a twist, while KP Jois adjusted the girl next to me in drop backs. When I spun around I saw what looked to me like him grabbing her buttocks and rubbing himself against her while he stood between her legs and she was back arching. I was totally shocked. After practise I approached her, told her that I saw what happened and that I was happy to accompany and support her if she wanted to take it up with him. I remember to this day her clarity and steely determination in her eyes when she looked straight at me and said with a smile, "Forget about it. That did not happen. You are making it up".
I had two similar smaller occurrences when the girls in question simply smiled at me, shook their heads and walked on. At that point I decided that I must have hallucinated or made things up or maybe it was my ego or deviant nature that projected my own problems on the guru. I'm deeply and truthfully sorry. I'm sorry that you, and other women had to go through all of this and that I was so close to you and didn't know nor did I feel what was going on in you. I should have trusted in my intuition and pursued that until it would blow up in some form or another. In my lack of action, I made myself complicit.
At this point, after having read in the wake of MeToo so many accounts of sexual abuse by women conducted by men, I feel an almost primal shame of being male. I totally agree with you, Karen, that sexual abuse is not about sex. It is a ritual of domination. How much of that have men done to women through the ages. I think it behoves all us men to start treating women with more respect.
Reflecting back now on Mysuru (new de-colonialized name for Mysore) it was a classic example of The Emperor and His New Clothes. The whole story was hidden in plain sight. I made a few attempts to discuss these things with senior teachers (I was a newie then and didn't practise enough series to be taken seriously) but the response was usually along the lines of "Do your practice and all is coming" or "Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory". I think I'll spew if I hear those sentences once more. Questioning the guru was certainly considered theory.
During my last stay in Mysuru in 1999 I shared all of my doubts with a friend. I talked to her about the process of projection, about idealizing a person, about giving up one's power, hypnotizing oneself into beliefs and finally about taking self-responsibility. She said to me, "What you say sounds much too difficult and tiring. I just want to totally surrender to a person that fixes all my problems in return". I think these really sums up the crux of the matter nicely. I realized then that I was a member of a cult. Shortly thereafter I packed up and left.
Again, I am really sorry that all of this happened and that it damaged you and other women so much. Again, I'm sorry that I did not do enough to protect you and the others. I want to contribute to your healing by providing a safe space in which you can come forward and express all this. I will continue to post on my media and blog all new revelations in this matter. I also want to thank and acknowledge Anneke Lucas who apparently was the whistle blower on this affair. That must have been really scary to be the first person. Braver than I was.
I would like also to thank you, Karen, for being so clear in your interview what constitutes assault and going through all the intellectualizations and rationalisations, that are trying to explain KP Jois behaviour away. I hope that we as a movement, the Ashtanga culture, can stop doing that and be truthful about what happened. I hope that we can show that we are more than a cult. And I believe we are or should I say that we can become that?
Now here I am talking about providing a safe space where you can heal but I have to actually thank you for providing a safe space to me where I can come out.
The year when you left, 1998, I wasn't there. I came back in 1999 for a short period with unstable knees. My knees were getting better at the time and I could again do most of my practise. I shared my knee problem with Sharath Jois (then R. Sharath) and asked to be adjusted gently or not at all. In the coming weeks Sharath almost daily mounted me in Baddha Konasana by standing on both my knees with his full body weight. As he stepped up forcefully from behind, he found it hard to catch his balance and had to hold on to my shoulders to not fall over me. For a few moments he swung back and forth on my knees and it felt as if he was grinding them to dust.
After the first day my knees were swelling to the size of footballs and I could hardly walk. Somehow, I thought the guru knows better and knows my body better than I (where did I get that idea from?) and I kept coming back for more. My knees were really saved by a senior teacher who came around to me and said, "Do not go back into that room! They don't know what they are doing! If you don't take responsibility for your body, you will end up in a wheelchair!" There was somehow an implied knowledge of that but nobody spoke out. I left Mysuru shortly thereafter and never went back to practice in the Jois shala. I am glad that I strongly advised any of my students not to go there.
I am not writing that with any resentment. I have forgiven Sharath long ago. After years of healing my knees came good and I have a well-going daily Ashtanga practice 20 years on. The reason why I'm writing this is because there is still an emperor with no clothes in Mysuru. I think an apology should be issued by the Jois family for sexual assault and violating adjustments. More importantly I think there needs to be a disclaimer that Sharath has any form of guru status, that he knows our bodies better than we do. Let's stop projecting our power on gurus and let's cease worshipping people who insist on passing on knowledge and especially sacred knowledge in vertical relationships. That doesn't work anymore (did it ever?).
As all these things are being revealed the cult-like, fundamentalist tendencies in Ashtanga Yoga have only increased. More than ever one person defines exactly what is correct practice. Even just recently Sharath has accepted the title parama guru, claiming the fact that he is the only true representative of an ancient lineage and the only person to authorize teachers, etc. I am concerned that the wool is still being pulled over the eyes of young, unsuspecting people. To my knowledge the title was actually conferred to him by a Western senior teacher. The bogus-parampara juggernaut is still being propelled forward. Karen, you have brilliantly explored the issue of complicity in your interview, so I need not embark here on the issue.
And the cover-up is still going on. In the last 24 hours I have hear from several sides that the video showing KP Jois sexually assaulting and adjusting violently students has been taken down several times by petitions of Jois followers. This has to stop. The cover-up has to stop and what has been done has to be owned. What we need here is a Truth and Reconciliation process and it needs to start with the truth. And not with cover-up.
Until that has been done and apologies have been made a call to boycott the Jois shalas in Mysore is only fair. Also, those who are still touching the feet of that emperor without clothes should think whether they are not continuing that trajectory of power transfer that leads to unhealthy relationships and abuse.
One woman commenting on my last post signed off with #gurufreezone. I have not explored that link but after all that has happened I think we need to make modern Ashtanga Yoga a guru free zone. Let's be a collective of equals in which any form of teaching is not handed down in vertical relationships and where gurus can do as they please. Let's turn modern Ashtanga Yoga into a collective of equals where teachers are mere facilitators and servants of growth for students. Let's take our power back and stop projecting it on people who are as flawed as we all are.
PS This post is only a fragment of what needs to be said but I hope to be addressing all that later down the track. Thanks to all of you who commented on my initial post of M. Remski's article. I found them very valuable and will continue to read all.
PS2 I have earlier today posted this response on my blog page and social media.
Gregor Maehle
Karen Rain says:
Thank you so much Gregor Maehle for your beautiful, honest, insightful and heartfelt response to my interview. Please don't feel bad thinking that you could have or should have done something differently. I could have been one of the women who 'simply smiled at you, shook their heads and walked on' when you approached them about the sexual abuse. Thank you for believing me now, for understanding that sexual, spiritual and institutional abuse are complex and for not shaming me for not recognizing what was happening to me at the time.
I've been thinking that AY teachers who want to continue to venerate Pattabhi Jois and teach yoga adhering to his tradition/lineage/method ought to call it Vinyasa Yoga (honesty in advertising). And teachers like you and Monica Gauci and others are much more deserving of the label Ashtanga (8 limbed) Yoga teachers.
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Yoav Hassin says:
thank you so, so much for this. extremely important. you are inspirationally brave..
Karen – thank you for your courage. I have learned so much, you have helped me to reorient my own practice and teaching. To see you dance was beautiful. You move mountains.
Thank you. I only recently realized people left comments here 🙂
Yes, thank you Karen! Very brave, courageous and honest! I see how difficult it still is for you now, I feel your pain. I understand as I also have hadsuch an experience only not at the hands of this guy. I am so glad you share this story. It is so very vital, important that people wake up to their projections, pretensions and allowing someone, anyone, especially someone who is a 'guru', to perpetrate these atrocious and despotic actions. I send you much love, strength and peace to you.
Thank you for your comments and support!
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This is heartbreaking, she is so visibly upset to her core so many years later, I have nothing but love for this woman to do what she is doing now. Thank you Matthew for doing this with respect.
Makarand says:
Thank you for your bravery, and your rational arguments in favour of a more balanced teacher-student relationship in Ashtanga Yoga. That you came forward with your account despite the possible backlash from parts of the Ashtanga Community shows nothing less than a great fortitude to do the right thing.
I'm an Indian Hindu, and a novice to the practice of Yoga. What we call Guru-Shishya(teacher-student) relationships are sacred to us. The entirety of our mythology and religious texts is sprinkled liberally with stories of great Gurus leading their students to enlightenment with a combination of kindness, compassion and concern. Personally, it greatly angers me that Pattabhi Jois has committed these atrocities using this tradition as a shield. The very founding principle of the Yoga he expounded, Ahimsa, was thoroughly ignored by Jois. Self-restraint, which is a cornerstone of traditional yogic achievement, was cast on the wayside by him.
It is distressing, to say the very least.
The number of fake gurus abusing the trust people place in them have drastically increased. I have come to believe the ideal Guru is just that: an ideal. I now believe that anyone claiming to be a 'Guru' and promising 'enlightenment' must be thoroughly background-checked, their statements ruthlessly dissected and their agendas laid bare before even being taken into consideration. In a practice as personal as Yogabhyasa, they should perhaps be subjected to psychological evaluation before being let anywhere near students. If we are to trust these 'Gurus', let it be based on fact and verifiable accomplishments. As you have stated correctly in this interview, handing over our all our power to a flawed individual should immediately cease.
I thank you again for bringing to light your story.
Thanks for your comments and support.
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Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen says:
Much respect to you Karen. Thank you for breaking the silence and telling your story. Cognitive dissonance is the word, as I'm currently grappling with being an Ashtanga practitioner and actively working to disrupt oppressive systems. I truly hope you receive all healing and support.
Thankyou so so so much for sharing your story. I cannot find any other words. You are doing something so incredibly important.
Pingback: Links to my published articles and interviews – Karen Rain: Ashtanga Yoga and #MeToo


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MEN'S HEALTH SQUAD
Building Muscle
MH SQUAD
Welcome to Epic Israel, the Biblical 260km Mountain Bike Race
MH travelled to the hills of Galilee and witnessed a contest of biblical proportions
By Tom Ward
It is not yet 7am when the sun crests over the dry, rocky mountains of the Bar'am national park in Israel's northern Galilee region. As the bleached cattle bones littering the dirt trails testify, the area is home to wolves, hyenas and wild boars. This morning, however, it is empty but for a cloud of brown dust on the horizon.
As that cloud moves across the undulating terrain it appears to gather pace and volume, swelling and ballooning like a sand storm. Moments later, the first set of cyclists emerge from the soup, heads bowed and shoulders braced, their faces already streaked with sweat. Their collective posture is a profound picture of studied determination.
Greg Funnell
Ten metres further along the trail, the riders hit the first of the day's rest stops. Bananas and isotonic drinks are snatched; empty water bottles are crushed under tyres. Some cyclists drench their faces, spilling water down their chins. And then, as the next wave streams in behind them, the first group push off once again. Twenty-three kilometres in, they still have another 75km to go, with more than 100km waiting for them tomorrow, and a further 60km the day after that. With temperatures set to soar into the mid-30s and numerous mountain- and woodland-climbs ahead, it is only a matter of time before the race becomes a torturous slog in the baking midday heat.
"We are not at war. But we are not at peace."
Almost 700 cyclists – from Israel, Australia, Europe and the US – have gathered here in this far northern corner of a troubled country to compete. Now in its fourth year, Epic Israel is a doubles mountain-bike race to challenge road and cross-country athletes alike. Comfortably the country's largest sporting event, the race was founded by cyclist Gal Tsachor in honour of his late father, a senior commander in Israel's Mossad intelligence service, killed in a traffic accident while cycling in 2012. Having competed numerous times in South Africa's Cape Epic, Tsachor knew that to properly commemorate his father, he would have to bring something of equally grand proportions to his homeland.
Is the Berkeley Marathons the hardest race ever?
For a small country, it is unsurprising that hosting an event on this scale is also a matter of national pride. Israeli Olympic representative Shlomi Haimy – who rides in the white and blue colours of the national flag – and his German partner Martin Gluth are favourites to win. As the riders sprint across the finish line four hours later, it is indeed a dust-streaked Haimy and Gluth who take pole position. It is 10.40am and they have evaded the sun – for today at least.
At 5am on day two the first riders begin to stir. Such was the demand for accommodation at the base camp hotel that a makeshift site has been erected on the lawn, with torch-lit riders beginning the day's preparations among the neat rows of white tents. A start time of 6.30am is necessary in order to avoid the heat.
But before that there is breakfast to be eaten, last-minute bike maintenance to be performed and a quick spin to flush out yesterday's lactic acid.
The first stretch of today's race is a long, flat trail flanked by bulrushes beside the Jordan River. As brittle pink daylight clears the rising fog at their backs, the riders thunder along in a spear-like formation. Two riders suddenly break away. They are Namibian Olympian Dan Craven, 33, and his partner Roy Goldstein, 23, from Israel. Both race for Israel's Team Road Cycling Academy as road riders, so a treacherous three-day mountain trail is far from their natural habitat. "This is Israel's biggest cycling event, so naturally we wanted to come and put the fox among the chickens," explains an exhausted Craven later on. "As road riders, we're at a huge disadvantage in the technical sections, but flat sprints is where we excel, so we decided to show the other boys what we could do." Against the odds, they manage to finish the day in 15th place.
4 Signs You're Losing Muscle, Not Fat
Technically, the arena for this stage of the race is the conflict-ridden West Bank. The majority of the fighting is limited to the Jordan Valley to the south, but this far north the country is penned in by enemies on all sides. Syria lies 20km or so beyond the Golan Heights to the east, while another part of the course takes riders through the orchard town of Manara, close to the Lebanese border. It was Manara that was on the receiving end of some of the heaviest damage when Islamist militant group Hezbollah launched a campaign of rocket attacks in 2006.
As the race passes by, a middle-aged matron emerges from her coffee shop to cheer riders on. "We are not at war," she explains, pointing across the hills. "But we are not at peace. Conflict could start at any time, but we cannot be afraid. This is our home."
While international incidents are thankfully avoided, accidents on the course remain plentiful. Navigating a cattle field, Israeli rider Yotam Novik, 28, is cut up by someone trying to overtake and consequently crashes to the ground. He waits to be collected and taken to an ambulance, lying back in the shade beneath a tree, the entire rear section of his bike sheared in half. He winces as he is loaded into the back of a truck, his bruised thigh shiny with blood. Helmet and bicycle go in the truck bed, both rendered useless.
Guy Leshem, a 19-year-old Israeli amateur, has suffered a similar mishap. Forty kilometres into the second day's ride, he attempted an overtake on a downhill section. It did not go to plan. A length of wire flew into his wheel, throwing him over the handlebars. After a dizzy few minutes he pushed on, miraculously finishing the race in fourth place, though this was followed by three hours in hospital and seven stitches. Later, at the hotel, Leshem is confident that the injury will not affect his performance on the third day. As is the obligation of every Israeli over the age of 18, he is in the middle of his two years of national military service, where he works as a gym instructor as part of a special programme to develop the country's athletes alongside his military duties
"I do think conscription teaches a lot," he says, a grubby bandage stuck to his chin. "It reinforces discipline, but as an athlete I like to think I have a good level of discipline anyway."
Science Has Found The Best Way To Get Motivated
After a gruelling day of injuries and 105km worth of toil, it is clear that every rider is feeling the effects as they stagger about base camp, hosing the mud from their bikes, arms and legs before a scheduled afternoon of ice baths, massages and refuelling on chicken and carbohydrates. The final stage may only be 60km, but it will take everything these battered and bruised riders can muster to complete it.
Endurance wheels
After another dawn start, the final day's race takes the riders through a grassy meadow overlooking the Hula Valley. One comes off on a downhill section, causing the cyclists behind to momentarily bunch up as their fallen comrade picks himself up and gets back on his bike. Later, the course enters an orchard close to the Lebanon border where signs advising caution proclaim the area a militarised zone. The riders, however, have other things on their mind. One of the final stretches is a punishing kilometre-long climb through the apple trees. Although it is still early, the air shimmers on the horizon as many within the peloton dismount and push their way uphill, sucking in hot air with deep, tired gulps.
By 9am it is all over and the relief on all of the riders' faces is palpable. A Dutch competitor, Hans Becking, 30, and his Czech partner, Jiri Novak, 31, have taken victory having outdone Haimy and Gluth on the last two days. With a three and a half minute accumulative lead going into the final day, their tactic was to hold back and attack when they could, explains Becking. But despite this, it was far from an easy win. "Today was hard," says an exhausted Novak. "We're from a colder part of Europe so the heat was unbearable. We had lots of flat tyres, too, and the last hill was horrible." But their victory has been well-earned. In addition to training five or six hours per day, they also focus hard on core strength training.
"I do twice-weekly TRX work in the winter," says Becking, "and because I'm not used to it I put on muscle quickly. But during the season I end up losing it all. I started this year at 73kg and now I've shrunk down to 69kg."
Despite getting lost on the first day, two flat tyres on the second, and a few more for good luck on the third, Belgian riders Jens Schuermans and Didier Bats, both 23, secure a solid fourth place. "It was a relatively short stage today, so we rode as hard as we could," says Schuermans, who came 18th in the cross-country event at the Rio Olympics. "But mountains are difficult because you have to dig deep for a very long time." Bats shrugs. "I enjoyed the uphill," he says, as Schuermans laughs.
Today they will celebrate, but in just a few weeks time training for the following season begins. "Next month we will start doing three gym sessions of two and a half hours every week," says Schuermans. "We focus on core stability using unstable movements. It's essential for creating a stable position on the bike but it requires a lot of focus because much of it is about mind-muscle coordination. It even helps you go faster downhill because if your core is strong, you're able to look further ahead, rather than focusing on picking out your immediate route."
Inevitably, there's also some leg work involved, but not as much as you might assume. "More than 50% of your power comes from your back and abdominals," says Schuermans. "As a mountain biker you have to be very diverse. You have to be technically good and very fit, so we do sprints of three to four minutes to help us perform over our threshold for extended periods."
As the high-ranking competitors reflect on their past three days and the season ahead, the amateur contingent of the race continues to cross the finishing line over the course of the next hour in varying states of repair.
Many of the top 20 riders are international professionals, for whom the event is becoming an increasingly important fixture on the yearly circuit. But the Israeli Cycling Federation is nevertheless keen to encourage amateur riders to compete, and this year has the equivalent of £1 million at its disposal to promote Israel as the go-to holiday destination for European cyclists. While Israeli-Palestinian tensions remain heated and peace teeters on a precarious knife-edge, it may be a good while before it realises this noble ambition. Even so, for many, it's the very confluence of latent, simmering conflict and beautiful, holy terrain that's at the heart of Epic Israel's appeal.
Tom Ward Tom Ward is a freelance writer and author.
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Ferguson, Missouri, activist Darren Seals was killed early Tuesday in North St. Louis County, STL American reports.
Seals was known for protesting in the streets following Michael Brown's death. The 29-year-old factory line worker and hip-hop musician was extremely vocal about issues surrounding Brown's death and the St. Louis region, and made national headlines because of his quest for justice.
Recently, Seals uploaded a Facebook Live video detailing his own encounter with members of the Ferguson Police Department, saying officers drew guns on him and his baby brother.
Police say St. Louis' Bureau of Crimes Against Persons and Bomb and Arson Unit were requested to assist the City of Riverview for a vehicle fire in the 9600 block of Diamond Drive.
An investigation of the incident revealed that Seals suffered a gunshot wound before the vehicle was set on fire. The incident is being investigated as a homicide.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the St. Louis County Police Department at (314) 615- 5400 or CrimeStoppers at (866) 371-8477.


Electronic Pianos – Are They Suitable for you personally?
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Before essentially purchasing a digital piano, you could want to test taking part in an acoustic piano initially. This tends to offer you a to start with hand encounter of and appreciation for that loaded acoustic seem you are able to get hold of from serious piano. The digital piano can only perform again a sample because it tries to duplicate the audio of a traditional piano. You will find lots of people who are incredibly particular using this type of facet in piano tunes as they really need to experience the vibration on the piano strings to delight in playing.
What plenty of people are just after tend to be the overtones produced by the struck key that resonate throughout the home. In addition, it's the pianist's contact and artistry which can coax the musical instrument in generating an infinite array of quantity and tone colour. They are the nuances which can under no circumstances be imitated with the electronic piano.
In the event you usually are not as well anxious together with the delicate distinctions, then seemingly you are prepared to own a electronic piano. Inspite of the differences in sensory knowledge, you can continue to be glad using the functionality of the electronic edition to deliver the extraordinary, entire seem of a grand piano. This should be much more than plenty of to enjoy participating in it.
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In the stop, picking out the piano to purchase should rely on anything you require, particularly on exactly how much you engage in and what kind of songs you perform. When you are into major classical tunes, then you certainly genuinely will have to have the acoustic piano. However, if that you are additional intrigued on pop tunes and wouldn't need to shell out a fortune, then the electronic piano is to suit your needs.


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The Shulman Auditorium, The Queen's College
The Queen's College, Oxford
Fabian Langguth (Baritone)
Camille Lemonnier (Pianist)
Dr Alexandra Lloyd (Speaker)
Prof Emma Smith (Speaker)
Alexandra Lloyd and Emma Smith discuss the history of Faust – the man himself, and the role of alchemy and magic in the legends that grew around him from the sixteenth century onwards. Moving from German origins to Christopher Marlowe, into the German Romantic writers and the wider revival of interest in the twentieth century, this fascinating discussion is interspersed with Faust settings in song, performed by Fabian Langguth and Camille Lemonnier, who impressed at the recent finals of our Young Artist Platform auditions.
Fabian Langguth
The young baritone is currently studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Prof. Rudolf Piernay as part of a scholarship program. In 2015, Fabian took part in the International Bach Academy and sang the baritone solo on the IBAS Italy Tour, won the Mozart Competition in Prague and had his opera debut at the Augsburg opera house. As part of a Pre-LSO concert he performed a song recital at Barbican Hall and took part in the LSO production "Le grand macabre", working with Sir Simon Rattle and Peter Sellars. Fabian... Read Full Biography
Camille Lemonnier
Camille Lemonnier was born in 1993 in Munich and started her piano studies at the Nuremberg University of Music in 2011. As student of Ingeborg Schmidt-Noll she obtained a Bachelor of Music (B.Mus.) with best scores in July 2015. In addition, she acquired during her studies competencies in educational sciences, which were honoured with the First Price of Music Education from the Nuremberg University of Music in 2015. Beside her studies she participated in Master Classes with prof Wolfang Manz, Thomas Hell, prof Dirk Mommertz and prof Konrad ... Read Full Biography
Dr Alexandra Lloyd
Alex Lloyd's main research interests are in twentieth-century literature and film, particularly cultural memory, depictions of children and childhood, and visual culture. Her AHRC-funded doctoral thesis (Wadham College, 2012) examined post-1989 representations of childhood and youth under Nazism. She is currently running a project on the White Rose resistance movement, working with undergraduates on a new translation of the group's pamphlets which will be published in June 2019. An exhibition in the Bodleian's Proscholium o... Read Full Biography
Prof Emma Smith
I am Tutorial Fellow at Hertford College, Oxford. My research combines a range of approaches to Shakespeare and early modern drama. I am currently working on the First Folio (1623), a project combining aspects of the history of the book, histories of reading, and the interpretation of Shakespeare on the page. Much of my recent work has been about the reception of Shakespeare and about the scholarly and cultural investments in Shakespearean criticism (including my own). I am also interested in drama in performance, in the methodology o... Read Full Biography
19. Magical Mysteries: Katharina Ruckgaber, Ashley Riches & Sholto Kynoch


Do you want to study wildlife and the environment? Are you ready to explore the natural environment in our community? If so, this camp is for you! Join us in this outdoor and laboratory adventure. Activities and topics include bird field identification, wildlife photography, daily nature hikes, animal field signs and tracking identification, lab experience with binoculars and microscopes, dissection of owl pellets and feathers, bird behavior and adaptations, wetlands conservation, butterflies and dragonflies, meeting live animals and snakes, lab experiments, bird anatomy, wildlife forensics, games and crafts, visits from local conservation groups and the zoo.


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Anthony John Franchini (August 2, 1898 – September 17, 1997) was an American guitarist, most known for his Hawaiian guitar partnership with Frank Ferera, making him one of the most-recorded musicians of all time.  After his time with Ferera, his career was remarkably varied, playing with symphony orchestras and country and western bands, often simultaneously, and also working in additional genres before retiring in his mid 90s.

Biography

Early life and career
Antonio Giuseppe Franchini was born to Ercole, a fishmonger, and Genney Franchini in Naples, Italy, on August 2, 1898.  As per Italian custom at the time, he began his formal education at age two.  His family moved to Boston, United States, in 1903.  In Boston he attended Elliott Grade School, and began formal violin lessons under private tutelage the following year.  He taught himself mandolin and guitar as he worked out currently popular songs in recreational pursuit.  He began his musical career at the age of eight in Boston.  He did not finish grade school, dropping out in the eighth grade.

In 1914, Franchini joined Tony Colucci and Gus Sullo in a trio of stringed instruments.  The highlight of their act was to interchange instruments, in the midst of performing, while playing "Maple Leaf Rag".  They toured the Keith Circuit as "French, Fields and Foley".  The act ended in 1917, as Colucci chose to relocate to New York.

Franchini joined the United States Army in June 1917, even though he was not yet a citizen of the United States.  He was placed in Battery F, 5th Division of the 19th Field Artillery Regiment, where he operated a 70mm gun.  He spent ten months in training at a base near Leon Springs, Texas.  Sent overseas, he landed in Brest, France, and conditioned there before being sent to the Vosges for combat.  He spent eight months in combat, participating in the battles of Saint-Mihiel and Château-Thierry.  As part of the occupation he was assigned to Koblenz and remained there until he was discharged on October 18, 1919.

With Frank Ferera
Franchini lived in a hotel in New York City upon arriving back to the States.  There, he met up again with Colucci and Sullo and the three held a jam session in Franchini's room.  Frank Ferera, who resided in a room above Franchini's, overheard the music and was impressed to the point that he requested that Franchini make a record with him.  Thus Franchini began recording with Ferera in 1919, a few months before Helen Louise Greenus (Ferera's wife and recording partner) disappeared at sea.  Ferera asked Franchini to be his recording partner in 1920.  Together they became one of the most popular recordings artists in the 1920s.  Labels that released Ferrera and Franchini duets include Brunswick, Columbia, Emerson, Gennett, Lyric, Okeh, Pathé, Paramount, and Victor.  During their association, the duo of "Ferera and Franchini" typically recorded four to six sessions every single day.  Besides records released under their names they also recorded behind Anna Case, Vernon Dalhart, Ernest Hare, Billy Jones, and Bert Williams.  Altogether, more than 3500 sides were recorded by Ferera and Franchini.  On top of this, he was also an active session musician in his own right, accompanying Dalhart on some of Dalhart's early country music recordings and diversely performing Spanish music in Victor's ethnic catalog.  This period of activity was financially a time of great prosperity for Franchini.

Franchini did more than make phonograph records.  Ferera and Franchini worked tirelessly to learn material, it took extra time as Ferera could not read music.  Fortunately Franchini was a good cook, and liked to make Itialian dishes when practicing at Ferera's living quarters.  Franchini took a break from recording activities in 1924 to conduct the Nat Martin Orchestra which was supporting the Marx Brothers in the revue I'll Say She Is.   In 1926 he formed a school of music in which was to last through the late 1940s, serving as its director.

Ferera abruptly decided to leave the music business in 1927, and a seven-and-a-half year partnership ended amicably.  Franchni signed as a composer to the Irving Berlin publishing company.  From 1928 to 1932 he was musical arranger for the RKO Pictures program on WEAF.  At the same time, he was musical director for Paramount's Koko the Clown.  However, the period was financially disastrous for Franchini.  Previously wealthy, he lost his fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and as record and publishing sales subsequently dried up in the following Great Depression, so did his formerly lucrative royalty income.

Post-Ferera: a varied career
Franchini spent the period of 1932 to 1936 concentrating on his compositions, working with Claude Hopkins and Clarence Williams, among others.  Franchini wrote more than 150 compositions under the name Mel Ball.  Most of them were in the Hawaiian music genre.  He then spent the next two school years teaching music at Hobbs Junior High School in Medford, Massachusetts.  In 1938 he returned to songwriting, including an extended idea-gathering tour through the Midwest that lasted from 1939 to 1940.  He transcribed Hawaiian music into English, and wrote original songs such as "Just an Old Bouquet of a Bygone Day", "Pretending" and "Talking to My Heart", the last a collaboration with Jimmy Dorsey.

Upon the attack on Pearl Harbor, Franchini drove from his home in Medford to Camp Edwards in order to volunteer again for the armed services.  He was given the rank of Corporal and assigned to the 101st Engineers Band.  His service was mostly non-musical. He was sent to Jefferson Barracks Military Post where he became a drill sergeant, teaching obstacle course and arms nomenclature.  During his World War Two service, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1942.  He was never sent overseas before his discharge on May 15, 1943.

His next stop was in Houston, where he joined a trio that was the resident entertainment at Houston's Cotton Club.  Soon afterwards, he joined the Houston Symphony as a violinist under Ernst Hoffmann.  He attended the University of Houston at this time, taking studies in Italian and Social Studies.

Franchini moved to New Orleans in 1946, under contract with Ted Phillips Orchestra at the Jung Hotel.  Later in the year he was booked at the Mirror Room in the Alexandria, Louisiana Bentley Hotel.  Here he was partnered with organist/showgirl Princess White Cloud for what was originally to be two weeks, but the popularity of the show extended the contract to four months, upon which Princess White Cloud had to leave because of a previous agreement with a circus.

Franchini found himself in Shreveport, Louisiana, when he met Hank Williams.  Williams knew Franchini by reputation as a Hawaiian guitarist and a classical violinist, but asked Franchini if he could do a "hoe down".  Franchini proceeded to play one, and a surprised Williams was so impressed he immediately requested that Franchini join his touring group, an offer which was accepted.  Franchini, under the pseudonym Tony Zachary, played fiddle for Hank Williams from 1949 to 1951.  Williams, with Franchini in tow, toured as a unit with Hank Snow and the Bailes Brothers.

In between tours, he spent time in Los Angeles, playing at clubs.  In his spare time he learned German and improved his Spanish at the Berlitz School of Languages.  He joined the Henry Busse orchestra in 1951 as lead violinist, touring California, Nevada, and Nebraska.  Franchini left Busse in May 1953 in order to form another combo under his own control.  In-between tours with Busse he played with the Phoenix Symphony and the El Paso Symphony orchestras.  He spent 1953 playing nightclubs.  Then he spent the following two years with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, while simultaneously playing Western music in nightclubs.  At the end of 1955, Franchini moved to Las Vegas, where he played for the Dunes Hotel as it opened, played at the Sahara for four weeks accompanying Marlene Dietrich, and finished the year with the Jimmie Durante show at the Desert Inn.  It was back to California in 1956, where he teamed with Ace and Duece Spriggins, formerly of the Sons of the Pioneers, and together they played for private occasions around Palm Springs and at the Mirador Hotel there.

Franchini left the Spriggins, as he desired to relocate back to New York City.  Franchini went back to school, and in 1957 earned a college degree in biochemistry.  He further expanded his musical repertoire when he played rock and roll as part of the Sampson Horton Orchestra on Jay Gee Records.  The next three years (1958–1961) were of a more sedate musical persuasion, as they were spent touring with the Mantovani orchestra.  This was in turn followed by more road time with the national touring production of The Sound of Music.

Later life and career
Franchini converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1966.  He moved to Las Vegas in the 1970s, where became an activist for the Republican Party, campaigning for Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and volunteering at election day polls into his 90s.  He worked in many casino orchestras, and in his 80s also supplemented his income as a strolling violinist for local Las Vegas restaurants.  In 1983 he re-arranged The Star-Spangled Banner, as he felt the song too difficult to sing for most people.  The Nevada members of the United States Congress presented this arrangement to three presidents in hopes it would be considered.  His last musical engagement was as a mandolinist as part of a trio while in his 90s.

Franchini died at the age of 99 on September 17, 1997, at a Las Vegas hospital.  He is buried at Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City, Nevada.  His scrapbooks and other memorabilia were donated to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Personal life
Franchini was married three times, each of which ended in divorce.  Franchini enjoyed robust health into his late 90s; he regularly drove until he broke a hip at age 97.

References

External links

 Anthony J. Franchini recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

20th-century American guitarists
American male guitarists
Brunswick Records artists
Columbia Records artists
Edison Records artists
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Paramount Records artists
Victor Records artists
Musicians from Naples
Military personnel from Massachusetts
Musicians from Boston
Musicians from Las Vegas
1898 births
1997 deaths
Italian emigrants to the United States
Converts to Mormonism
20th-century American male musicians

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