Robert Browman / for msnbc.com

Jessica Lurie, a yoga instructor and General Operations Manager for Green Monkey yoga studios in Miami, Fla., demonstrates poses at the company's Midtown Miami location.

By Bill Briggs, msnbc.com contributor

Leave it to American business to twist a 5,000-year-old Hindu philosophy of gentle poses into an emotional knot.

In a matter of weeks, a steamy sex scandal has prompted the resignation of a yoga world superstar, roiled the disciplines trendiest branch, sparked a mass exodus of teachers and transformed part of the $5.7 billion industry from namaste to nasty.

The tumult rooted in the popular form called Anusara isnt entirely surprising, according to some yoga disciples, although its undeniably ironic given the ancient regimens tenets of tranquility and self-restraint.

If you can put your feet behind your head, it doesnt mean youre enlightened or that youre not going to make mistakes, said Annie Prasad Freedom, owner of the Samadhi Center for Yoga & Meditation in Denver. The studio offers classes in Anusara and other types of yoga.

The eye of this yoga storm swirls around John Friend, a charismatic entrepreneur who earned a finance degree then went into the yoga field a juxtaposition of the usual path: a yogi who goes into business. Friend founded Anusara yoga in 1997 and ultimately Anusara Inc. draping his version on a life-affirming Tantric ideology of intrinsic goodness, selling a celebration of the heart that looks for the good in all people and all things, according to his former companys website. As the primary investor in Anusara, Friend prospered while his venture boomed and he charmed yoga conference audiences around the nation. In 15 years, his enterprise licensed 1,000 Anusara teachers and gained more than a half million followers in 70 countries.

Then the tight-knit Anusara family unraveled. Last month YogaDork.com republished anonymous accusations that Friend had engaged in sexual affairs with several married Anusara employees and teachers. On Feb. 16, Friend resigned as CEO of Anusara Inc. saying the company would become a non-profit run by one of his Anusara teachers.

Now, as dozens of licensed Anusara teachers rush to distance themselves from Friend and rebrand their businesses (calling themselves the Yoga Coalition,) the scandal has shed fresh light on the fads that so often drive business in the yoga world. Interviews with yoga industry experts including studio owners, teachers and trade journalists - found some concerned that the fiasco could taing the industry although turn away casual consumers.

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Sex scandal has yoga industry tied in knots