James Abro began experiencing, researching, and writing An American Yoga: The Kripalu Story thirty years ago, following his first visit to the original Kripalu ashram and retreat in Sumneytown, Pennsylvania.

After working as a book editor with the founder of Kripalu Yoga, Yogi Amrit Desai, and then traveling with Yogi Desai to India in 2007, Mr. Abro returned to America and completed An American Yoga: The Kripalu Story in 2009. His book is now proudly available from 32 Beach Productions.

Zea (Tapasvini) Piver, a former resident of the Kripalu ashram had this to say about An American Yoga: The Kripalu Story:

James Abro's book An American Yoga: The Kripalu Story is a marvelous read. Abro's writing is meticulous, and at the same time seamless and flowing. He synthesizes with ease, the complex elements that gave way for the emergence of one of this generation's most well known yogic schools of thought.The Kripalu story comes alive as Abro explains the history and timeline of Amrit Desai's emergence from a remote, tiny village in India, to a renowned American Yogi. He interweaves with ease and poignancy the story of Amrit Desai's guru, Swami Kripalvanandaji (Bapuji), and his dramatic evolution from probable suicide to sainthood.

Abro's knowledge and comprehension of intricate yogic principles, and his ability to transmit concisely and simply Kripalu's intriguing Shaivaite lineage allows the reader to feel as if they have journeyed to ancient India and been let-in on timeless yogic secrets. Amrit Desai, like many American gurus had a 'fall from grace' wherein many people were inadvertently impacted. Abro does a fine job sharing with the reader his understanding of the facts of this 'fall'. The book is not meant to be, nor is it an expose on Amrit Desai's wrongdoings, but rather it is a vital historical reflection on how and why, in America, Kripalu came to be one of the most widespread practiced forms of yoga, one of the largest yoga ashrams, and one of the leading yogic educational centers of our time.