Iyengar Yoga news Issue 38 - Spring 2021

Iyengar Yoga News

I YENGAR® Y OGA (UK)

In the light of Yogacharya Sri B.K.S. Iyengar

www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

Iyengar Yoga News

SPRING 2021 - Issue number 38

Editorial

This is the second issue of Iyengar Yoga News produced under lockdown, and hopefully the last. As well as an article by BKS Iyengar on coping with fatigue and an article by Arti H. Mehta on twisting poses, we have included a number of themes: building your own yoga studio, teaching pregnant women and the latest on the new mentoring and assessment process. We have a number of other articles as well as all of our usual features.

We are making some personnel changes on the editorial team. Philippe Harari and Judi Soffa have retired from their roles on the team and the Communications and PR Committee has appointed three new people to take over production of the magazine: Minna AlankoFalola, Alice Chadwick and Poppy Pickles. They have been working with Philippe to produce this issue of Iyengar Yoga News and will take over completely for the Autumn issue.

The new editors are not planning sudden and radical changes to the magazine, but there is no doubt that that it will continue to evolve. If you have any helpful suggestions, you can send them to editor@iyengaryoga.org.uk.

Editorial Board: Minna Alanko-Falola, Alice Chadwick, Philippe Harari, Jill Johnson, Poppy Pickles

Layout: Alice Chadwick, Philippe Harari, Katie Owens

Articles to: editor@iyengaryoga.org.uk

Advertising: John Cotgreave cotgreavej@gmail.com

Copy submission deadline for next issue: 31st July 2021.

Membership and Office Manager: Andy Tait

07510 326 997 office@iyengaryoga.org.uk PO Box 51698, London, SE8 9BU

PR & Website Manager: Katie Owens katie@iyengaryoga.org.uk

Finance & Bookings Administrator: Jess Wallwork

07757 463 767 jess@iyengaryoga.org.uk PO Box 3372, Bristol BS6 9PE

Assessments Administrator: Kate Woodcock

07914 089 360

kate@iyengaryoga.org.uk PO Box 1217, Bradford, BD1 9XF

This magazine is printed on paper that is sourced under a scheme which ensures minimal environmental impact.

Contents Features

Coping with Fatigue BKS Iyengar page 4

Twisting Ā sanas Arti H. Mehta page 6

Unlocking Memories During Lockdown Suzanne Gribble page 10

BKS Iyengar and his Institute in the '70s book review page 14

Teaching Pregnant Women Karen Dhada and Irina Zoteeva page 16

Yogatree Studio Lydia Holmes and Edgar Stringer page 20

Loft Conversion Cecilia Winter page 23

Iyengar Yoga House Lara Speroni and Roy Russell page 24

Reaching Out to Teenagers Oliver Creed page 26

My Football Journey Keira Mistry page 28

Ā sana or Ā san ? Joe Burn page 29

Teaching Children and Young Adults Annie Beatty page 30

IY(UK) Conventions Isabel Jones Fielding page 31

Thank You to Judi Sweeting and Judith Jones page 34

My Experience of Long Covid Gerda Bayliss page 36

Mentoring and Assessment page 38

Member information

IY(UK) Reports page 50

Certification and Assessments announcement page 53

List of Member Groups and Affiliated Centres page 54

IY(UK) Executive Council and Standing Committees page 56

Coping with Fatigue

A Practical Lesson

Yogacharya BKS Iyengar

Re-printed with kind permission from Yoga Rahasya (2009) Volume 16, Number 1

Mind is fluid and body is solid. Mind being fluid, fluctuates bringing fear to perform. It is a natural phenomenon. But, the purusa, the ātma or the spirit in us has to be brought to the surface. Not only have I to keep the mind under control but also learn to come out from the compulsions of age. One has to be above the mode of mind and build up a frame of thinking to reach the ultimate of the body’s mobility.

Mental fatigue is experienced mainly when the brain and nerves get tired. The excessive use of the brain, nerves, senses of perception; mainly the eyes and ears, cause mental fatigue. On the other hand, physical fatigue is felt mainly in the structural body. When overworked, the neuromuscular system begins to get affected, causing the nerves to suffer. Obviously the brain does not respond along with the motor functioning of the body, affecting the mental functioning like thinking or reasoning.

Let me refer to āyurveda here which refers to the derangement of the three humours in the body. The derangement occurs when there is either loss or excess of humour. If one humour is vitiated, the other two also get disturbed. The vāyu or vāta is basically the nervous system. Over-exertion, shock or fear, and mental disturbances cause the loss of nerve force. This can cause languor, dullness,

oversleep, uneasiness, absence of happiness or hilarity, shortness or loss of speech, etc. This may happen when there is loss of vāyu.

On the other hand, when there is excess of vāyu, one feels tremor or trembling of limbs, insomnia and decrease of bodily strength. In other words, whenever there is loss or excess of vāta, pitta and slesma it affects the body in the beginning and later the mind. Similarly, if the body fatigue is allowed to continue, it will lead towards mental fatigue. The first indication of this ascending fatigue is felt on the nerves.

Loss of pitta increases bodily heat and digestion is impaired. The disturbed functioning of the digestive system causes mental depression. Obviously, loss of physical strength will lead towards mental fatigue. Excess of pitta causes weakness of the sense organs and diminishing strength. For example, when the

“The first indication of this ascending fatigue is felt on the nerves.”

eyes suffer with glaucomial tension, it causes brain fatigue leading towards mental fatigue.

So as a teacher, I see the reason behind the fatigue. When I know that a person is suffering with insomnia, or oversleep or indigestion, the programme of practice has to be changed.

When physically tired, the limbs, nerves do not respond. The system gets dried up. I then resort to rejuvenation practices through inverted āsanas, Adho Mukha Vṛkṣāsana and backbends such as Vīparita Daņḍāsana and Kapotāsana.

Adho Mukha Svanasana, Uttānāsana, Sirsāsana, Adho Mukha Vrksasana, Pincha Mayurasana, Vīparita Daņḍāsana, Kapotāsana, Setu Bandha Sarvāngāsana, Sarvāngāsana, Halāsana and Paschimottānāsana help in recovering from physical fatigue.

When I am mentally tired, I feel the fatigue at the back of the brain, I resort to āsanas for resting the lobes of the brain and rejuvenation of the mind. For this I do Sirsāsana on a rope, forward bends such as Jānu Śīrsāsana, Triang Mukhaikapāda Paschimottānāsana and stay for long periods of time in these āsanas; backbends, Sarvāngāsana, Halāsana and their variations and finally Śavāsana with weights on the thighs with back of the chest on hard rectangular planks.

The extent of fatigue also depends upon the profession of a person. A surgeon after performing a complicated surgical operation may feel physical as well as mental fatigue. Then I have to change the course of practice and give resting āsanas like rope Sirsāsana, Dwi Pāda Viparîta Dandāsana on chair, Setu Bandha Sarvāngāsana on bench, supported Halāsana and Śavāsana with bearable weight on the forehead with eyebrows moving towards the eyes.

Physical fatigue is lessened with inversions and forward extensions like Jānu Śīrsāsana, and so forth, whereas mental fatigue is lessened with inversions as well as backward extensions.

Fatigue causes hormonal imbalance which could be temporary. The mental pressure comes with physical exertion. In the forward extensions like Jānu Śīrsāsana, obviously the over stimulated adrenals are quietened. But on the other hand, if mental fatigue has caused the physical dullness and laziness, then back-bendings such as Dwi Pāda Vīparita Daņḍāsana are helpful. The adrenals will be stimulated. Therefore, the adjustment in one’s practice requires vast discretion. Physical exertion done beyond one’s physical capacity, like carrying heavy weights or walking may cause breathlessness. The supine āsanas open the thoracic cavity, expand the chest and bring freedom in diaphragmatic region. Therefore, Supta Baddha Konāsana, Supta Vīrāsana, Supta Svastikāsana. As the breathlessness is removed, the mental freshness is felt.

Therefore, as one cannot demarcate between the body and mind, so also one cannot demarcate between physical and mental fatigue. Often I say where the body awareness ends, the mind awareness begins, so also where the body fatigue culminates, the mental fatigue too culminates.

“One cannot demarcate between body & mind, so also one cannot demarcate between body & mental fatigue. When body fatigue culminates, mental fatigue too culminates.”

Twisting Āsanas:

Implementing the principle of alignment

Arti H Mehta

Re-printed with kind permission from Yoga Rahasya (2012) Volume 19, Number 2

Alignment forms the core principle of our practices. Alignment of the body is so beautifully and practically explained by Guruji during various forums – in his lectures, writings and teachings.

Here is a compilation of the instructions Guruji has given for performing some of the twisting āsanas during the various classes/courses. It is for the practitioner to follow these instructions to experience the outcome on our senses, mind and intelligence. The reader should refer to the Light on Yoga as well as Yoga in Action: Preliminary Course for the basic instructions to perform these āsanas.

Pārśva Swastikāsana

Sitting in Swastikāsana:

• Sit on the front end of the buttock bones.

• Bring both the thighs closer to each other so that there is a gravitational pressure on the knees and thighs.

Turning the spine:

• Lift from the tailbone and turn the trunk along with the tail bone towards the side.

• Do not disturb the buttock bones when you turn. Like the base of a top which does not move while spinning, the base of the trunk, the buttock bones should not move.

• Maintain the axis of the spine.

• Feel the heaviness of the thighs, increase that quality of heaviness as you turn.

• The head and neck turns more. See that the waist moves and is in line with the head.

• The waist has to turn more than the chest. As you turn lift your pubis up, along with the waistline turn more.

• Use your grip of the fingers on the knee to move the kidneys in and turn.

• Keep the shoulder-blades erect.

Some more hints to accentuate the turning:

When you turn to the right side:

• Move the left buttock circularly. The left side of the spine should be more concave than the right.

• The right buttock turns to the left and without moving the eyes revolve.

• Holding the knee move the left waist more to get it in line with the head.

When you turn to the left side:

• Move the left buttock towards the right knee.

• Move the right buttock towards the left knee.

• Keep the spine in the centre as you turn. Resist the left side of the spine and turn the right side of the spine. Make the back ribs of the right side concave.

“Like the base of a top which does not move while spinning – the base of the trunk, the buttock bones should not move.”

Pārśva Vīrāsana

Sitting:

• Sit in Vīrāsana.

• Keep the pubis and neck in one line. This is the plumb line.

• Move the inner knees as well as the outer knees on the floor.

Turning:

• Turn to the right side without disturbing the knees.

• Maintain the plumb line of pubis and neck.

• Right arm should not rest on the right armpit.

• As you turn to the left side, the left arm should not sleep on the left armpit.

Marīchyāsana III

Marīchyāsana is more difficult than the two āsanas described earlier. It is slightly more difficult for women to do this āsana than for men. Since women have to bear the child their pelvic girdle is slightly thick and broad as compared to the men whose pelvic rim is narrow. So it is easier for men to rotate the lower part of the trunk but they cannot rotate the top part whereas it is easier for women to rotate the top part and not the bottom part.

Turning from the lower part of the trunk:

• Except for the very slim people it is difficult for most people to turn if they are seated on the floor. This is because of the girth. Therefore, take a few folded blankets and sit on a height. This removes the rigidity and gives mobility in the lower trunk to get the desired action.

• You can start with two blankets or more and then gradually reduce these as you mature in your practice.

• Finally, you can sit on the floor for the classical pose.

Bending the right leg at the knee:

• The hip socket bulges out when the right leg is bent at the knee. To prevent this:

• Raise the right foot up with your hands.

• Suck the hip socket in.

• Then, place the foot down with the inner big toe mound sharply on the floor.

• Watch the ligament of the knee when you bend the right leg. The ligament of the knee should be passive.

• When you raise the foot up, the ligament becomes light.

• Maintaining that lightness, place the foot down.

• The inner side is long, the outer side is short.

• The outer ligament also should be as long as the inner one.

• For the back of the knee to bend accurately and evenly – the ligaments should move – half to the thigh and half to the calf.

• Watch your ligament. Did it get locked?

• If the skin on the outer side of the knee moves up then the ligament gets locked. If the side skin moves down the ligaments are free.

• Did it become tight? Did it become hard?

• If it is hard then move the energy towards the heel. Then the ligament becomes passive.

Adjusting the buttocks:

• Keep both the buttock bones stable in the floor.

• Do not allow the top of the thigh of the left leg to bulge. When the metatarsals of the right foot go down the left thigh also descends down. This creates more space in the abdominal region and one can get a better lift of the spine.

• Feel the buttock bones on the floor. Without shifting the buttock bones turn to the right side.

• Anchor the metatarsals of the right foot down on the floor and turn further. That gives freedom and space to churn the abdomen.

• Then without disturbing the buttock bone, revolve the lower trunk to the maximum so that the pelvic girdle of the straight left leg faces the toe.

Placement of the arms and turning the trunk:

• Bring the left hand close to the right leg without disturbing the ligament of the knee.

• If you harden the ligament, the chest goes back.

• If the ligament is passive, the chest goes towards the leg.

• Extend the back of the left arm further down from the shoulder blade.

• Lengthen the left upper arm from the left shoulder towards the elbow with the outer elbow ‘attracted’ towards the floor.

• Fix the middle of the left upper arm against the right thigh. Bring the left waist in line with the left elbow.

• Turn the waist more for the waist to be in line with the left elbow.

• Lengthen the top end and the bottom end of the right thigh towards the knee and lengthen the front and back of the left upper arm towards the elbow, turn the lower waist more.

• Bring the middle of the left side chest close to the right leg and embrace the leg.

• Revolve the skin of the lower waist like a top.

Accentuating the turning:

• Press the ‘cup-shaped’ right palm on the floor.

• Without disturbing the ligament of the bent knee revolve the groin towards the back waist.

• If it does not come, drop the outer side of the thigh muscle to the left (straight leg) towards the floor. Then you can turn the waist more.

• After turning the waist, roll this leg inwards.

“Sensory nerves should control the motor nerves”

Turning the trunk further:

• As you turn, the groin (pit of the leg) should be passive and should follow the trunk. If the groins are not passive then roll a blanket and sit on the front edge of the blanket.

• Turn the pit of the leg in more and more for the trunk to turn.

• Move the left thigh in. This gives more height and the bottom torso turns more.

• The left thigh does not flop if you work the metatarsals of the right foot.

Fine-tuning with the skin:

Note: the skin has an ‘outer side’ – that which faces the outside world – this is referred to as 'outer skin'; the inner side is the one that faces the organs – that is referred to as the ‘inner skin’.

• Drop the outer skin of the back (posterior body) towards the floor and lift the inner skin of the anterior body upwards.

• Lift the skin of the sternum away from the floor.

• Revolve the inner skin of the entire trunk circularly.

• After revolving the inner skin, move the outer skin. Wait for some time. Again revolve the inner skin then make the outer skin to reach the inner skin.

These instructions are a compilation from various classes by Guruji Yogacharya BKS Iyengar

Unlocking Memories During Lockdown

Suzanne Gribble writes about the life and experiences of Brenda Carlton at RIMYI in the early 1980s, and returning to Iyengar yoga after more than thirty years.

I have not yet met Brenda in person, though it feels like we have; Brenda lives near Southend in Essex and I am in west London. We have known each other since spring 2020 when Brenda started attending my online classes during lockdown.

It was Brenda’s daughter, Jo, who first introduced us and told me that her mother had been an Iyengar yoga teacher –something Brenda is very modest about – and had attended classes at the Ramanani Memorial Iyengar Yoga Institute in Pune.

Brenda kindly agreed to share her memories and photographs with me and subsequently with IY(UK) archives and Iyengar Yoga News. In early November, we arranged a chat on Zoom one cosy afternoon, where she told me about her life and early experiences of Iyengar yoga, including her visits to Pune. It was so easy to talk and Brenda was so open, it was as if she was sitting with me in my kitchen (only on a screen instead!).

Brenda (née Cruikshank) was born in Dagenham in 1943 (a year before Geeta Iyengar), the fifth of seven children. Her parents were originally from Manchester where her father was a fist fighter in Moss Side before he transferred to Dagenham Ford working on the assembly line as a permanent night worker.

“He was an absent and very stern father and I can’t actually recall having had a conversation with him”, recalls Brenda. “We were very poor and lived in a threebedroom council house and I think I and my brothers and sisters were all quite neglected”. Her grandmother and uncle and his family also lived with them, so it was crowded to say the least. She was the only one of her siblings who passed the elevenplus exams and so started at the local grammar school. This set her apart from her family, though, and at sixteen she felt ready for change. She left school and moved to a bedsit to live and work independently.

Brenda briefly joined the local church to meet others and find a family she hadn’t had, though this didn’t work for her. In 1959, she started becoming interested in yoga and began to read on the subject. She can’t recall specific books, but remembers she was self-conscious as, at that time, it was considered “a little strange”. When travelling to London on the train, she would cover the title on the front cover so that people couldn't see what she was reading. She also became interested in alternative therapies and in her early thirties she started practising yoga and attending different classes. She discovered Iyengar yoga through her first Iyengar yoga

teacher, Peter Ballard, near Southend in Essex, and it was he who encouraged her to go to India. “Once I discovered Iyengar yoga, nothing else was enough”, Brenda recalls. Peter was one of a group of teachers, alongside Genie Hammond, Guri Brett, Silva Mehta and Silvia Prescott, who helped found the London Institute building – at that time called South East England Iyengar Yoga Institute, and now Iyengar Yoga Maida Vale – and raise the necessary funds to make it possible in the late 1970s and early '80s.

It was after a few years of attending Peter’s classes that he asked her to cover for him. She didn’t feel comfortable with the idea, neither being a trained teacher nor experienced enough, but he reassured her, telling her “No, you’ll be alright, you'll be fine”. It was this which opened the door to her taking on her training under the guidance of Sylvia Prescott at Maida Vale in London in 1979. She travelled to Pune with Sylvia in January 1981 joined by other students from London, including Silva Mehta and her daughter and son, Mira and Shyam, before qualifying as a teacher.

Her first visit to Pune and to India (and very first time out of Europe) was with Peter in January 1980. It was quite a culture shock and she had felt

happy to be under the guidance of Peter. The dignity of the very poor people she encountered in Pune still strikes her today. She recalls how she stayed directly in the Institute building for four weeks with just four in the dormitory. Student numbers from abroad were very small in those days compared to what she has heard the numbers have been in recent years.

SG: Tell me about your experiences of being taught by Mr Iyengar who would then have been in his early sixties.

BC: It was amazing to have that hands-on experience. I was quite in awe of Mr Iyengar. When he came into the studio it was like he seemed to become massive… it brings tears to my eyes actually. He wasn’t a very big man, was he, but he seemed to expand?

I remember when he wasn’t teaching and just talking to you, just how joyful he was, his whole being just lit up.

He used to spot everything. I was a little bit afraid of him first of all [laughs], I don’t know why. He used to pick out people with too much ego. “Too much ego”, he would say. I didn’t have much ego but I thought, “I hope he doesn’t pick on me!” Except sometimes he used me to demonstrate, probably because I was doing it wrong! [laughs again]. He saw everything, all the time, he was just amazing.

SG: What was your yoga like then, it must have been pretty strong at that time?

BC: I wish I hadn’t stopped! I could do most of the poses competently though I was always

afraid, thinking I could be doing this better, as he was such a taskmaster. He brought it out of you, more than you could possibly do.

Brenda recalled that she attended classes twice a day which were around two hours long; also prāņāyāma, working with the ropes and rope Śīrṣāsana hanging from the ceiling (ropes were a novelty in the UK then). She has vivid memories of observing the therapy classes and witnessing some amazing adjustments. Mr Iyengar would get them to do the most challenging poses, considering their limitations, and she recalls the assistant teachers standing on students’ backs in Adho Mukha Vīrāsana.

SG: Can you share some of your memories of Geeta and Prashant during that time?

BC: Apart from Geeta and Prashant, there were two or three other regular helpers adjusting and correcting, they were all very strict. I remember Geeta demonstrating a lot and being very authoritative and being very much her father’s daughter. Prashant by contrast was very shy.

Mr Iyengar would put on a big spread, lunches for us, and that was amazing too. As you can see from the photos, Prashant was serving food (that’s me pictured), alongside Geeta.

their teacher and she wanted to be a student again and do it for herself. She turned to tai chi for many years and pursued active sports such as tennis, skiing, water skiing and also scuba diving (she qualified as a scuba diver at the age of 58!) and had some wonderful holidays.

Brenda firmly believes that it was thanks to Iyengar yoga that she had both the strength and stamina to stay fit, and it gave her the means to do anything. She recalls one of her long-standing friends telling her, “whatever happens, you always appear so serene”, which Brenda is certain was due to yoga. Today Brenda feels that “anything that happens in my life, I am able to cope with and that is the yoga”.

Brenda went on to describe the hospitality and humility of the Iyengar family, coming together to serve food to their student guests.

After her second visit to Pune, she took over Peter’s classes in Southend in the early 1980s as he moved away to Ipswich. She also taught a variety of other classes, including in a women’s prison in Hockley. She recalls the inmates didn’t really want to do yoga, treating the sessions more as therapy.

In 1986 Brenda stopped teaching. She was going through a lengthy divorce and holding down two jobs, as well as teaching eight classes a week and looking after her three children. Unable to pay her mortgage on her teaching income, Brenda secured a job as a civil servant and made the difficult decision to give up teaching altogether.

While she attended classes for herself for a while, it was hard because local classes were mostly taught by her previous students. They still saw Brenda as

Thirty years later, in 2016, and in her early seventies, Brenda returned to attending local yoga classes in Essex, though initially not Iyengar as there were none nearby. She struggled that the teaching in these classes wasn’t precise, accurate or in line with Iyengar’s methodology or teaching which clearly remained so ingrained, even after all these years.

When her daughter moved to Bournemouth, Brenda found there were a lot more Iyengar yoga teachers there, so when she visited she would attend classes and joined Hampshire and Dorset Iyengar Yoga. She met Mary Heath and discovered that she too had been trained by Sylvia Prescott. Since then, Brenda has regularly attended classes in Bournemouth and now in Essex, and since the spring of 2020 on Zoom too, including my online classes.

She says again, “I wish I hadn’t stopped. I’m not able to do everything now, it’s not because of my age but because I stopped for nearly thirty years."

SG: Can you think back to favourite poses during your time in Pune?

BC: Backbends were never my favourite, though I could do them – I’m quite tearful now because it’s bringing back all these memories. I can remember when doing a lot of backbends and prāņāyāma too and suddenly crying. I was around 38, 39, and looking around and seeing no one else crying. I wasn’t emotional as I am now (nowadays it doesn’t take much to make me cry!). It was probably opening the chakras.

I loved all standing poses, though now I find myself lacking in stamina and my balance has gone, which could be partly due to a bursa and Morton’s neuroma on my foot and age-related. I used to love Vīrabhadrāsana I and II because they are such strong poses, but I don’t love them now!

In later life, when I used to ski, I used to come back after skiing and lie back in Supta Vīrāsana to relieve my legs and rest, which I loved.

SG: Do you have favourite poses now?

BC: Chair Sarvāngāsana. I practice inversions in the faceto-face classes, though I don't like to practice them on my own at home, as I need corrections from a teacher. I used to love twists and still do, though I don’t do them very well. I like the wide-legged poses today: Prasārita Pādottānāsana, Baddha Koņāsana and Upaviṣṭha Koṇāsana. Ardha Chandrāsana against my wardrobe is a lovely opening pose.

It has been very special getting to know Brenda and I’m grateful to her for her openness and for sharing all these memories. Her journey of Iyengar yoga continues on (and evidently never really stopped). I also feel honoured to be considered one of her teachers.

I recall my first teacher, Ursula Schoonraad, assuring me, when I told her I was pregnant and would postpone my teacher training, that yoga is always there for you. For Brenda, it was a break of three decades, though it clearly remained within her and it’s there still, welcoming her back.

Brenda hasn’t maintained contact with Peter Ballard or co-students

visiting Pune in January 1980 and January 1981 and would like to hear from anyone who was there during that time and remembers her. One student who she recalls particularly well, was Cathy from Fiji. Brenda can be contacted directly at brendacarleton@ hotmail.com

suzanne.gribble@gmail.com

suzannegribbleyoga.com

This is Brenda today, taken during our chat on Zoom. The black and white photos are at the Institute in 1980 and 1981 and include her mostly centred, wearing a dark leotard and also being adjusted. In those days there was an official photographer so you could buy photos personal to you.

Guruji BKS Iyengar and his Institute in the '70s

Compiled by Julia Pederson, published by Pinter and Martin

Joan Abrams

This book is far more than its title, even if the '70s seem like the dark ages to you. It is an astonishing contribution to our Iyengar Yoga book collection. The weight, feel and look of the book is beautifully realised: a hardback cover, landscape orientation, weighty gloss paper, white space aplenty, fascinating photographs and open, modern black font – all organised perfectly.

Julia Pederson studied at the newly-opened RIMYI in 1976 and two years later her husband, Georg, a keen amateur photographer, gained permission from Guruji to take photographs of the classes.

The photos are black and white, and timeless. All taken during classes at the institute. They capture the intensity and dynamism of Guruji’s teaching and the (hopefully) effortless efforts of the yoga practitioners in the classes. We can see their and his postures clearly, and Guruji’s varied teaching style to the many who came up the stairs to the main hall.

We have thousands of words and pictures of and from Guruji, but in this book we also have clear, honest and heartfelt comments from his students at that time on how it felt to be in those classes. Some we might well know, like Zubin Zarthoshtimanesh and Birjoo Mehta, but many from places other than India. Each

contributor speaks of their feelings during postures, their continuing understanding of yoga and their sincere appreciation of those classes. They are inspiring to read and relate well to the whole concept of the book.

The longest section of the book shows the general classes, but there are other chapters on Guruji’s practice, Geetaji, Prashantji, medical classes and the props.

This is a book for all who want to understand more of the huge debt we owe to Guruji, his institute, his family and all Iyengar teachers. Huge thanks to Julia and everyone involved in producing this book.

Sheila Haswell

This is a fabulous book taking us right back to the early days of the RIMYI classes.

I was not able to attend in the '70s and '80s but had stories and pictures from my mum, Lilian Biggs, who was there regularly along with Jeanne Maslen from 1976. This book brings all those stories back to life for me.

When I did get to the RIMYI classes, we were still working on the floor for all the standing asanas using the white lines as a guide as shown in the photos in this book. The first course I attended was for about 36 people and there was so much

space for each one, exactly as shown in Julia's photographs. I was so pleased to see the photo of Guruji correcting a student in Ardha Chandrāsana on the balcony. For those who have only visited RIMYI in recent years after it was extended, they might not know that we had to climb out of the windows to get onto those balconies but in one intensive course we were encouraged to do that in order to use the walls as a prop.

For those who were able to go to Pune during those decades, this book is a super reminder of both the clarity of correction and attention and of the dedication of all the Iyengars as teachers, and of the students who worked

under them. For those who were not able to go to Pune before the classes became so busy, this will be a lovely view into how it all started.

Thank you Julia for sharing all of this and for all those who have commented in the book. These memories should certainly be recorded and shared for all future yoga generations. The photos are fabulous. It is truly great to see such individual attention, the eye contact, the observation from onlookers when a correction is being made, the hard work from both students and teachers, the dedication but also the compassion which comes through.

Teaching Pregnant Women

Before the pandemic changed our plans, this year’s theme for Professional Development Days focused on pregnancy. Karen Dhada talked to Sheila Haswell, Senior teacher and Chair of the IY(UK) Therapy Committee, on her experience of teaching pregnant women over the years.

What are the challenges of teaching pregnant women?

The main challenge is to keep each student safe, as each person will be at a different stage in their pregnancy and the practice changes as the pregnancy progresses. It is always better if the student has already practised Iyengar yoga before embarking on their pregnancy, however that is not a reason not to take an antenatal class.

The students are all individual and different. They come with their own issues, including health problems and possible injuries. Then they may find that their pregnancy has its own problems, which have to be dealt with, such as severe nausea, pelvic pain, swollen ankles etc. The teacher has to teach for all of that, but being always aware of the growing baby within.

Is it fair to say that the Iyengar method is ideal for pregnant women — in that all the props come into play?

It is certain that the pregnant student needs support in practice and that the support changes as they progress through the months. Iyengar yoga is well prepared for this as teachers are guided in how to use props from the very start of their training. However, though props will be used it isn't about the props. The teacher has to know how to use them, where the support is required and to see the difference they make in the expression shown in the student’s āsana

How does the approach differ when teaching through each of the trimesters?

Each stage has its own challenges. In the first trimester there is not much showing so the teacher has to remember to give directions and cautions as appropriate, often whilst keeping the pregnancy quiet. The teacher has to be sure to talk with the student to know how they are feeling.

Many in the first trimester can be feeling very tired, others may be nauseous, emotional or just 'out of sorts' and this has to be taken into account. Sometimes they can be afraid, especially if they have had a miscarriage, or if it has taken a very long time to get pregnant.

For the second trimester the student usually has more energy (but not always), however the āsanas will feel quite different as the 'bump' begins to show and grow. The teacher now has to know how to further adapt the āsanas for the changing situation each week, being sure to keep space for the growing baby. It is a time when the student can really enjoy their practice, but the teacher has to see that they don't overdo anything.

For the third trimester the student is further restricted and will now need more appropriate supports. The teacher has to have their eye trained to see where the supports are required and also which āsanas can be safely done and which are to be avoided.

How many years have you taught pregnant women, and how do you incorporate them into a general class?

I have taught pregnant students in regular classes for more than 25 years. I then taught a pregnancy class for about 12 years once I had my own studio

complete with many props like bolsters, chairs, blankets etc. – which was a necessity. In a general class I adapt the āsanas so the pregnant student can follow the class in a way that is going to be best for their health and that of their growing baby.

I always give alternative āsanas for any in the programme that they should not do, but most importantly it is experience that will help decide what looks right. I also need to be able to give them resting āsanas as appropriate for their stage of pregnancy and guide them to know what is good for them to follow up daily at home whenever possible.

Have you any suggestions for specific āsanas for those trying to get pregnant? Or women who suffer from miscarriages?

This is a tricky question because the answer will depend on the situation of the student. A younger person with no health issues should practice their yoga and monitor their situation so that they can practice with caution once pregnancy is achieved.

All students who plan a pregnancy should learn to follow the sequences for the phases of their menstrual cycle as guided by Geeta Iyengar in her publication: The Practice of Women During the Whole Month. Where a woman is older and/ or struggling to conceive, it would be best to work with an experienced teacher who could look at the individual situation of the student. It could be that there is an organic problem which needs dealing with. There could be a stress issue, which would

need a particular sequence, or maybe a reason cannot be identified. In any case there isn't a list of specific āsanas that will just make that difference, each person will need to be helped individually.

For women who suffer from miscarriages the first guidance is not to practice standing āsanas, but instead concentrate on concave seated forward extensions, include inversions (Śīrśāsana and Sarvāngāsana) and plenty of Śavāsana. Again work with an experienced teacher to be sure these asanas are done in the most helpful way and are right for the student.

Note that guidance for pregnancy can be found in the book Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood: Safe Practice for Expectant & New Mothers by Geeta S Iyengar, Rita Keller and Kerstin Khattab.

How has your approach to teaching pregnant women changed over the years as your own practice has matured?

Being more sensitive in my own practice and having many years of teaching together mean that I can see more easily if the shape of an āsana is right. It is one thing to know what can safely be given, but quite another to see that it is done really well. You have to look at the expression of the students body in each āsana and not get caught up with what props have been used before, each week is different. That, I think, is how you mature when you can see the student in the āsana and not just the āsana or the props being used.

Karen Dhada is a Level 1 teacher; in September 2019 she became a first-time mum to a twin boy and girl. During my pregnancy I was able to continue attending classes at the Birmingham Institute with Jayne Orton. I found it was better for me to go to general classes, as certain groups of āsanas were off-limits e.g. closed twists, abdominals and backbends.

In class, Jayne would instruct me to do all standing poses against the wall and I was able to use more props and do shorter holds. I found I was more vocal in expressing what I felt e.g. pain in knees and ankles, difficulty in breathing. This allowed Jayne to adapt and offer alternative āsanas accordingly.

Again this further enhanced my belief in the Iyengar method and how a teacher can reach out to a student and make the āsana work for their body in an appropriate manner.

During my final trimester I developed preeclampsia, which caused my legs, ankles and feet to swell. Vīrāsana and Supta Vīrāsana become nonnegotiable. Jayne was very good at adapting the poses e.g. Vīrāsana was done with plenty of blocks to sit on, facing and pressing my hands to the wall. Also, chair Sarvāngāsana as opposed to normal shoulderstand.

I felt the practice became more restorative with more supine postures. Breathing was more compromised, hence shorter holds! In the final months I found that seated forward bends e.g. Paschimottānāsana could only be done with a concave back.

Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood was a great book to follow for home practice as it advised which postures to avoid, sequences to follow pre- and post-pregnancy. It was interesting to see how all the props came into play in the book.

Since giving birth, my practice is haphazard to say the least. My body has changed and my knees and ankles are still weak. Supta Vīrāsana has to be attempted with a mountain of bolsters and blocks and even Vīrāsana is a struggle, unless I am sitting on two blocks! I have struggled with the lack of time I can dedicate to practice and attending class, as being a mum is a full-time priority for now. Teaching has been put on hold for a year and possibly another year. Now is the time to relearn all the āsanas and become a student again.

I feel once I do return to teaching, I will have more empathy for students suffering from pain and have a greater appreciation of how to modify poses with the props.

Being in the presence of young and new life has allowed me to practise being in the present and dealing with their needs first. So, for now, I am attempting to practise the second niyama, santoṣa That is, to be content with the present, and accept where I am now with the limitations of time for yoga āsanas

Irina Zoteeva, 36, is a Level 1 teacher from Solihull, Birmingham. She also attends the Birmingham Institute and attended classes whilst pregnant under the guidance of Jayne Orton. Her twin boys, Dario and Mateo, were born in January 2020.

Once I knew I was pregnant, I limited my āsana practice as recommended for the first trimester. I only did the necessary preparation for the classes I was teaching following pregnancy programmes from the Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood book. It was safer for me to do and my students did not mind when we started to use more props in the classes. For my personal practice I put more concentration on prāņāyāma, being in the moment and allowing myself to relax and enjoy that time.

During the second trimester I came back to my practice with great pleasure and full of strength, plus I did more yoga classes than ever before. During the week, I had three or four classes with Pilar Vigus, two classes with Jayne Orton and the Sunday class with Andrew Hall, then I was away hiking! I felt strong during the pregnancy and wanted to make the most of it.

I've really enjoyed standing, balancing āsanas, inversions and supported forward bends. With the extra twins’ weight, I felt greater stability in Trikonāsana and could easily do Vīrabhadrāsana III. I did not really need to use any wall support. It felt great and steady without it and I could stay in the āsanas for a longer time, especially if using bricks as an extra support. I had stopped doing any abdominal and nonadvisable backbends. I remember that supported Uṣṭrāsana was not pleasant, but later in the pregnancy it felt OK again.In the last trimester I could still do most of the āsanas with support, but I could not do anything lying down on my back, even if I was propped up very well. I still felt strong and wanted to pay more attention to standing āsanas, inversions and hip openings. At the end of the practice I did Śavasana on the side, whilst supporting my legs with the bolster to relax.

Jayne Orton was caring and supportive, she kept an eye on me constantly, adapting every āsana as one should for a pregnant lady. At her class I had

to be at the wall for the standing āsanas. Independently I wanted to test my body away from the wall and use bricks for support. I still felt great balance and did not feel shaky at all. Thus, at this stage, in classes I made use of the wall support to align myself better and to ease the pressure. I loved Jayne’s pregnancy classes and I was grateful to my body that I still could do most of it.

Since becoming a mum, my approach and practice is gentler and more relaxing; lots of Śavasana, Supta Baddha Koṇāsana and prāṇāyāma. I’ve managed to do prāṇāyāma while breastfeeding the twins. In the early days I was sitting in crossed-leg position for hours, it helped me to mentally relax and get used to stillness. It was challenging with someone attached to your breast.

I’ve used every opportunity to do some basic āsanas and shoulderopening while walking with the twins or playing with them. I had to get used to not having free time for myself to practice when I wanted, as it was hard to accept that someone now constantly wants your attention.

The Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood book is great. There are a lot of āsana variations for pregnancy and it also has given me possible teaching ideas. However, not all of them were suitable for me e.g. lying down supporting the back with any leg variation was uncomfortable. So supine prāṇāyāma was not possible for me either, when in the book it was highly recommended. In the

book it says it’s OK to do Ardha Eka Pāda Śīrṣāsana in the third trimester, but not supported Utthita Hasta Pādānguṣthāsana 1, which surprised me.*

In the future when I teach, I would pay closer attention to students’ feedback and safety, as I know that not everything from the pregnancy programme worked for me.

I thought a lot about pregnancy yoga practice and the delivery method of babies. In my case, with the twins positioned bottom-down (breech), I had no option to go for a vaginal delivery. All the hip-opening āsanas were not as beneficial as the standing and balancing poses.

I was glad that I subconsciously paid more attention to stability in the standing āsanas without the wall support, and doing Adho Mukha Vṛkṣāsana till the last day. It really helped me to recover from the C-section and carrying twins after the delivery. With twins, I have found beneficial to have strong arms, back and legs, it gave me stability and freedom to take them everywhere

* Sheila Haswell clarifies: Ardha Eka Pāda Śīrṣāsana is allowed for more advanced students who already know this āsana. The leg is brought only half way down and so there is no further impingement on the abdomen than there would be in, for example, Daņḍāsana. In contrast, lifting the leg in the standing pose Utthita Hasta Pādānguṣthāsana is much more abdominal and because the pregnant abdomen is heavily downward, there can be pressure from the lifted leg against the belly. We are always looking to provide space.

Your Own Yoga Studio

For many Iyengar yoga teachers, the dream is to eventually have their own yoga studio. But it takes a lot of vision, commitment and tapas to make this dream a reality – especially in a pandemic. Here are three very different accounts of yoga studio journeys and their top three priorities, tips and favourite things.

Lydia Holmes and Edgar Stringer Yogatree Studio

Lydia and Edgar converted an old Telephone Exchange into a light and airy yoga studio with a commitment to craftsmanship and the use of wood.

Even in a city a single tree provides an oasis of nature, which attracts insects and birds and becomes a hub of life. Guruji said, “As the tree shelters all, let the tree of yoga shelter and protect all.”

For twenty-three years Lydia and I have been teaching Iyengar yoga in local schools and village halls which were (almost) perfect, apart from noisy neighbours, school dinner on the floor, ants, mice, floods, lost keys, double bookings and boiler breakdowns!

Some of our more committed students have loyally followed us to various venues in Wiltshire over the years and some have trained to be teachers.

As our children entered adulthood we felt it was time to move towards teaching full time in a space dedicated to Iyengar yoga, so we could run more structured courses and specialist classes.

A larger house with room for a studio at home was beyond our means, so we looked into leasing premises, including a converted church. Although it was light and spacious it was also cold and draughty and the rent was prohibitively high.

As students attending yoga classes in Manchester

Lydia and I were inspired by Guruji’s book The Tree Of Yoga

As a woodworker and gardener I was aware of the bountiful gift trees are to humanity. We have always relied on the forests for shelter, food and fuel. Now we are increasingly conscious of how much we depend on trees for the air we breathe.

When we discovered that final bids were due for the Old Telephone Exchange in Corsham, we had to be decisive. It was a rare opportunity to secure a place where we could put down roots. Although it needed a lot of work, it was structurally sound, so we decided to make an offer and hope for the best.

A few well-wishers cautioned us that opening a premises would come with a lot of work and new challenges.

Prashant Iyengar has likened yoga to the miraculous, celestial wish-fulfilling tree, Kalpataru, "Yoga can fulfil all that humans cherish."1 He also warned us to be careful what you wish for..!

The purchase was a tortuous process. Mortgage lenders regarded the building as a liability and restrictive covenants on the title deeds took solicitors months to unpick. After more than a year of emails the sale was completed and with great excitement we started to strip out the interior ready for the renovation to begin.

The long delay had given us time to consider how to make the most of the building, which stands on a small plot with only a few windows. Thanks to a good friend who patiently drew out various options, we were able to design a light and spacious studio with additional rooms upstairs.

It was an ambitious plan to add a reception area with toilets at the front and to build a stairwell at the back. We hadn’t anticipated the resistance we encountered from one resident when we applied for planning permission. This stressful process dragged on for months and almost ended up in a planning committee but, with vital support from neighbours and yoga students, we were granted permission to transform the shabby building.

When we read our students’ passionate letters of support they confirmed that this was not just our dream. They and other residents wanted this project to come to fruition and provide a special place to learn and study yoga.

Opening RIMYI in 1975 Guruji recalled when he had started teaching. His Guru, Sri Krishnamacharya 'put the seed of a teaching career in me which has grown into a mighty, gigantic tree, with branches in all six continents, ensuring that yoga will continue to live and grow healthily.’2

Optimistically, we had thought it would be fitting to commemorate Guruji’s centenary year if we could open the studio in December 2018. However the timetable was again setback when BT’s legal team invoked The Party Wall Act on marginal, technical grounds, which added a further four months' delay, along with a hefty surveyor’s bill.

Undeterred, I spent all my spare hours of those months preparing the ground, gutting the building back to bare walls, and installing beams to create the upstairs floor.

Although progress was slow at times I was able to do a lot of the work myself. With help from friends and neighbours with building skills, the plans began to take shape. We were very fortunate that all the tradesmen we employed understood that it would be a special place and without exception their craft was done with care and pride.

Managing even a modest project like this requires, faith, courage, graft, vigilance and flexibility. Some of the life lessons we have learned from our teachers have helped us to be steadfast through our setbacks and uncertainty.

Three years after we first saw the Old Telephone Exchange we were on the last leg, completing the final carpentry and decorating the ground floor studio. We planned to open Yogatree with celebrations in April 2020…

The national lockdown in March brought the work to an abrupt halt and catapulted most of us into online classes. As well as keeping regional groups in touch, online yoga has also brought branches of the global Iyengar yoga community closer.

We were surprised how effective learning online could be but when the studio opened in September we realised what had been missing.

Despite the social distance, students really appreciated the sanctuary of the studio and the respite yoga gave them from the concerns of work and family life. It was so refreshing to see each other again and share the ambiance and atmosphere that yoga generates.

For the time being we need to stay at home, but we look forward to the time when the trees blossom again and we can gather, breathe freely and celebrate the blessings of yoga together.

1. Yoga – A Kalpataru: Prashant Iyengar (Yogapushpanjali p.322)

2. How Yoga Transformed Me: BKS Iyengar (Yogapushpanjali p.27)

What are your three favourite aspects of the new studio?

1. The Patañjali Puja, which we built a niche in the wall for especially. The handcarved wooden murti is being made in Maharastra.

2. Light and air. We installed roof lights to bring natural light and fresh air into the studio.

3. Heating. After years of yoga on cold floors (and chilblains) we opted for underfloor heating to keep the walls clear and an even room temperature.

Cecilia Winter: Loft Conversion

Cecilia’s studio was part of a loft extension in 2011. Here is her account of her top three priorities for the project and what she wishes she’d known then.

In 2011 we extended into our loft with a view to having my studio up there. As it was a loft extension I didn’t have much influence on the size of the room but I made sure the ceiling height was maximized, as most lofts haven’t got much height. The height we ended up with is OK for most students, but very tall students have to modify the arm position when doing Ūrdhva Hastāsana.

Unfortunately, planning permission was turned down for having three dormer windows. If it had been granted we would have lost the sloping ceiling and had the same ceiling height across the whole room.

Wall space was another issue. With one wall having two dormer windows and a sloping ceiling and another wall having funny angles my quest for wall space was diminished. I created a wall by having

floor to ceiling cupboards along one wall for storage of equipment. The doors are flat and without handles so it becomes another usable wall when the cupboards are shut. It is in fact my most userfriendly ‘wall’.

Ropes were another thing I would have liked to have more of. Unfortunately, with the limited wall space I only managed to have two pairs of ropes fitted. In hindsight I would have had the type of fittings that are sunk into the wall. I have rings that protrude from the wall so you have to be careful when doing poses against the wall. It is difficult to get the position right if doing e.g. Ardha Chandrāsana with your back to the wall, as the rings are in the way.

What were the three most important things to get right when building your yoga studio:

1. Ceiling height

2. Wall space

3. Ropes

Lara Speroni and Roy Russell Iyengar Yoga House

Lara and Roy have lovingly restored and converted an old antiques shop into a home and yoga studio, which they’re looking forward to sharing when the pandemic allows.

Over the years of teaching yoga you start thinking – perhaps dreaming – that everything would be so much better if you had your own space that you could direct and organise as you want, without having to commute for hours on end.

For about 15 years, like many of our fellow teachers, we have both taught Iyengar yoga classes in all possible settings; from gyms to church halls, from office spaces to private houses and yoga studios, in the UK and abroad. Of course we have had many positive experiences and met many students, some of whom we still teach today.

At the same time, like many other teachers, we have encountered many shortcomings along the way at various venues, such as the lack of cleanliness of buildings and equipment, and the shortage of suitable props. Even more serious is the lack of say on who your class is suitable for and the constant unregulated stream of customers passing through your classes. All this aggravated by many hours of travelling all over London. Regardless, we have kept on teaching yoga for the love of it, knowing the benefits it brings and because of a sense of duty, respect for, and dedication to BKS Iyengar and his family for this wonderful yoga tradition.

We are now the owners of Iyengar Yoga House, a yoga space located in the High Street, St. Mary Cray, Orpington. The space was originally an antiques shop with a flat above. When we saw the property we thought that it would meet our needs. A place to live, and a place to practice yoga. After a couple of years of sometimes painful negotiations, we moved to St Mary Cray on the 27th of May 2020, right in the middle of the first lockdown! You have probably heard that moving house is supposed to be one of the most stressful things done in one’s life - yes, maybe!

We were only partly aware of the risks of moving during lockdown but nobody really knew the farreaching consequences of the pandemic. It’s fair to say that the future continues to be uncertain for many of us. In spite of all of this we would not change a thing. After all, this is also our home. We have put a lot of effort into making the yoga space welcoming.

We are aware that we might not be able to welcome students for a while but the space is ready and so are we. In difficult times we have the support of yoga and we still remain embedded in the Iyengar yoga world in home practice and virtually, inside the Iyengar Yoga House.

What advice would you have for teachers planning on building their own yoga studio?

1. You will spend more than you had planned, and if you have a budget, double it.

2. No matter how much planning you do, you can bet that something unexpected will pop up – isn’t this life?

3. ‘Compromise' is a good friend – it’s better to let go of things that are not really important.

Reaching out to Teenagers

Oliver Creed

Mulberry School for Girls is a large comprehensive school in Tower Hamlets, East London. Despite being located close to the City of London, the school serves an area of high deprivation. Around 55% of students are entitled to Free School Meals – much higher than the national average. The school endeavours to create as many opportunities for students as possible. Its ‘extended learning’ programme has been running for many years to provide a broad range of extra-curricular activities, such as yoga.

One student remarked how glad she was that she had tried yoga for the first time.

Suzanne Gribble, an Iyengar yoga teacher experienced in teaching teenagers, visited at the beginning of November to run a session with some 12- and 13-year-old (Year 8) students. They gained a huge amount from the session, with one student commenting that she would like to pursue it as a hobby in the future. Another student remarked how glad she was that she had tried yoga for the first time.

Considering many students had not tried yoga before, it was fabulous that Suzanne was able to open this door to them. The fact that she provided challenge for the students was a highlight. She was able to help the students push themselves, and learn about themselves in the process.

The session was a great chance for students to learn a new sport and develop their fitness, but also to try a relaxing activity – all the more important during the Covid-19 pandemic. Students in Inner London have been affected greatly by the pandemic and we found a sense of mindfulness resulted from the session.

The school has a majority ethnic minority student body. As we strive to further improve diversity of representation in sports and activities such as

yoga, sessions like this one are important. When the pandemic is over, I look forward to welcoming Suzanne back to Mulberry.

Oliver Creed is the Enriched Learning Coordinator at Mulberry School for Girls

Suzanne, what are the challenges of working with teenagers? Maintaining the balance between active and fun but also focused and quiet, as these are not young children but are developing into young adults. Not bringing attention to their difficulties (some teenagers can be very stiff) and supporting them so they progress and feel good about themselves and what they can do (not what they can't). Making the point that yoga is not competitive is helpful.

What did you most enjoy about teaching at Mulberry: I was aware I was reaching a different audience to my regular teenage students in Ealing. These were all Muslim girls and for most it was their first experience of yoga. Once they warmed up, they enjoyed themselves and became more focused. They laughed when we practised Adho Mukha Śvānāsana and Urdhva Mukha Śvānāsana.

What poses work well for this age group? Opening the chest is important for this age group, due to poor posture and sitting and working on a screen, and even more so during the pandemic. Balances, to draw the attention inwards, and Vīrabhadrāsana 1 and 3 as well as other standing poses which open the chest. They enjoyed Paripūrna Nāvāsana, though they found it challenging. They could all sit in Vīrāsana, most without support. A quietness descended in Setu Bandha Sarvāngāsana and in Śavāsana, some saying afterwards that they appreciated it as they don't usually get to lie down and relax at school!

My Football Journey

by Keira Mistry

I have loved playing football for as a long as I can remember. I started playing with the Soccer Juniors at the age of seven. Then I joined my first grassroots team at the age of nine, where I was playing for the girl U11s team. After spending another year playing grassroots football, I decided to take the next step in my football journey and trialled for the Leeds United Girls’ RTC. I was fortunate enough to be offered a place in the Shadow Squad, which was effectively the B team. The following year I retrialled for Leeds United and this time I was offered my first contract, playing for the U12s team.

I have been playing for Leeds United for three consecutive seasons. In my third year, I was delighted to be selected to take part in a player identification day as part of the England Talent Pathway. I am now in my fourth season, as a part of the Leeds United Girls U16s team. I have recently been selected as the BAME Ambassador representing Leeds United FC within the community.

I have always loved keeping fit and staying active. Iyengar yoga is a great way to do both. I find that it complements my intense football training. Yoga has benefitted me in many ways, physically and mentally. It has reduced my risk of injuries and speeded up rehabilitation. Yoga also helps me with my flexibility, balance and strength. Practicing Iyengar yoga has also helped me improve my concentration on the pitch. My father Jayesh Mistry is a Senior Level Iyengar yoga instructor and he teaches me yoga on a regular basis to help maintain my high standards.

You can follow my football journey here: www.yogicmistry.com/ keiras-football-journey/Football

Āsana or Āsan?

Author Joe Burn has studied Sanskrit on and off since 1996. His article is about the correct pronunciation of Sanskrit words, specifically āsana, and whether we should be concerned about such details.

The endings of Sanskrit words are very important. Consider the following words and their meanings: yogasya (of yoga), yoge (in yoga), yogebhyaḥ (for yogas). Notice how very different the word endings are. You can see that the ending gives the word its specific meaning. As such, Sanskrit is known as a highly inflected language. In Sanskrit, inflection changes the meanings of nouns and verbs, thus gacchāmi means ‘I go’ but gacchāmaḥ means ‘we go’. English uses endings to change the meaning of a word; we add ‘s’ to make a plural, for example. English, however, mainly uses prepositions (with, by, of, in, for, etc.) or pronouns (I, you, he, etc.) to add meaning.

Notice the difference in the ending of the words āsana and āsan. The first word, as we all know, means ‘posture’ and it is a noun. The second word means ‘they were being’ and it is a verb (more specifically, third person plural imperfect). The absence of one letter – the final ‘a’ – has completely changed the meaning and is a very good example of how important word endings are.

These days, people tend to miss the last ‘a’ off the names of postures. They say padmāsan or trikoṇāsan Sadly, these are nonsense words and we should keep the last ‘a’ and say Trikoṇāsana and Padmāsana

Why does this happen? It is well known that all living languages evolve. For example, words such as thee, thou and thine used to be common in English. These words have all but disappeared. We do not speak like Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and we certainly do not speak like Geoffrey Chaucer (who died in 1400) and his contemporaries.

Sanskrit is no longer a living language and is therefore not subject to change, but it is used in India in an environment of languages that have evolved from or have been heavily influenced by it, such as Marathi and Hindi. These modern Indian languages have lost the habit of inflection by a process called morphological levelling. Thus, the various inflections (endings) mentioned at the start of the article are not used. The morphological levelling tends to overflow into the pronunciation of Sanskrit words and helps to explain the loss of the final ‘a’ in āsana

आसन

Teaching Children and Young Adults by

Last year, Sarah Delfas and I sent out an email to bring together IY(UK) members with a particular interest in teaching the younger generation. We had a fantastic response to it and held two Zoom meetings, one for those interested in teaching children and bringing yoga into schools and one for those interested in working with higher education students. From these meetings two projects have come to fruition; one focusing on providing an online programme of classes for higher and further education students, and the other making classes more accessible to teenagers.

We are pleased that our initial working group has now become an official Standing Committee of IY(UK): the Children, Young Adults & Families

Our future plans include:

Higher Education and young adults

• Online programme of classes

• A central database of all Yoga classes in higher education

• A stronger representation of Iyengar Yoga in this area by supporting activities such as Freshers’ events

• Linking in with wellbeing weeks

Children and teenagers

• Online programme of classes

• Connecting with schools via local connections and through local authorities

• Offering special events for clusters of schools

Annie Beatty

Committee. We have also established contact with colleagues in the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States (IYNAUS), and by the time this issue of IYN is out a number of our group will have attended Abhijata’s workshops for IYNAUS – eight sessions specifically on the methodology behind teaching children and teenagers.

It was Guruji’s wish for this work. One of the main planks of the letter sent to all Iyengar associations in March 2017 by Geetaji and Prashantji was that our associations should also be prioritising the teaching of children. It is a great privilege to be part of this, and in fact the enthusiasm we have received for the projects show that children and young people in our community are valued and welcomed.

Families

• Annual Family Yoga festival - Yogapushpanjali

• Residential opportunities for families to come together

• Supporting teachers with families

Supporting teachers

• Developing regular workshops in association with RIMYI and our experienced teachers in the UK

• Offering a community of support

• Creating a recognised method of teaching so that people will seek out Iyengar Yoga teachers in this area.

• A centralised list of teachers

Timetable for Teenagers' classes. Images designed by Cathy Tincknell.

CONVENTION 2021

30th

April - 3rd May with Abhijata Iyengar

We are honoured to welcome Abhijata Iyengar as our headline teacher for the 2021 virtual convention. Abhijata is a granddaughter of BKS Iyengar and codirector of our mother institute RIMYI in Pune, India. She is an inspiring and dynamic teacher, who will teach a daily live class on four consecutive mornings. This is a very special opportunity for our Iyengar Yoga (UK) community to receive Abhijata’s teachings through this bespoke programme designed to be responsive, stabilising and inspirational, at a time when we need it most.

2021 Virtual convention highlights

• Lead teacher: Abhijata Iyengar

• Daily Class each morning: 09.30 – 11.45am

• Attend in seminar mode or as a ‘seen’ student

• Convention Bursary Scheme

• Access for members and non-members

• 21 day access to recordings

Ticket prices

IY(UK) Members £95 (£70 concessions)

Non-members £110 (£85 concessions)

2021 Iyengar Yoga (UK) Convention Bursary Fund

This year we are delighted to announce the formation of the 2021 Iyengar Yoga (UK) Convention Bursary Fund. This fund is open to any UK practitioner with a minimum of 18 months Iyengar yoga practice who may be experiencing financial hardship due to Covid-19 or another situation. The fund was launched to help remove financial barriers to participation at this time of uncertainty for anyone who would otherwise not be able to attend Abhijata's convention. The fund has been made possible with donations from Iyengar yoga teachers and practitioners across the UK and we are able to offer 25 free places to Abhijata's Convention this year. To apply, please visit our website.

A Programme of Talks Open to all: available FREE

In addition to Abhijata’s teaching, we plan to hold a programme of inspirational talks exploring equity and social justice in yoga. At the time of writing these are being drawn together in collaboration with commissioned contributors, bringing their lived experience and professional expertise to help us think afresh about the way in which we do things, and act as a catalyst for change to make Iyengar Yoga more reflective of the world that we live in. We aim to make the programme friendly, challenging and inspirational as we recover Guruji’s vision of a yoga for everyone, where there are no barriers to participation.

For us, as custodians of Guruji’s art, science and philosophy of yoga designed to be accessible to all, 2020/2021 has shone light on the deeply entrenched systems of power, exclusion and oppression embedded in our society. The evidence is out there for us all to see; that despite equality and human rights anti-discrimination law, discrimination still exists in every sector, including in our yoga community. We need to act to promote equity, as it appears that those with lived experience of discrimination see or feel it, while many others simply don’t believe it exists. Our annual convention has a part to play here in contributing to this work as we lift the shutters and open hearts and minds. A paradigm shift in awareness is needed, as we question ‘who we are’, and ‘how much better we can be together’. By embedding anti-racism, inclusion and social justice into our lives and practice, we can transform Iyengar Yoga (UK) into a community that reflects the diversity of our world and truly lives by the principles of yoga.

For booking and further information:

www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

Notes from the Mini Convention 16th January 2021 with Jawahar Bangera

“ The subject of yoga recognises the universality of the soul; the soul, being part of the Universal Cosmic Spirit, is the same in all of us (see Patanjali yoga sūtra 2-31). Once we recognise this, how can we not respect each other? How can we ever be different? Let us be firmly entrenched in our sādhana to realise our true sāttvic nature."

“For the online sessions, I have tried to show using the chair so that practitioners will not strain themselves in the time of the pandemic. It is a method to achieve a high level of accuracy in the āsana without the strain. Go by your judgement on how much you can do without harming yourself!”

Jayesh Mistry in Ardha Uttānāsana

“Most of our problems with the shoulders are brought about as we lose the awareness in those areas. As most of us now sit in front of our computers, we slouch, cave-in the chest and harden the dorsal spine or unfortunately create more convexity. All standing āsana will help”

Charlotte Rosser in Rope 1 variation

“Supported Ardha Uttānāsana facing the wall with palms placed higher and the fingers/wrists turned out will give some access to the upper arms. Seated Gomukhāsana, Ūrdhva Bandungliasanā, Paśchima Namaskār, Paśchima Baddha Hastāsana, chair supported Dwi Pāda Viparîta Dandāsana are some that will help remove the stiffness”.

Harshini Wikramanayake in Vīrabhadrāsana II

“It is a question of being aware of the arms or legs. Once you acquire the healthy action and memory, you will try and maintain it not only in your practice but also out of it. Placing the outer left foot to the wall and pressing it against the wall, will ‘activate’ the back leg and help distribute the body weight evenly on both legs. This will make the left and right leg at par, i.e., conscious. At the same time, if one activates the shoulder blades to move closer to the back ribs, then the back body along with the left leg will give one a more conscious effect”.

In the 1st photograph, Tig Whattler shows the incorrect action: chest caving in, chin pulling the shoulders and chest down with it and the upper back collapsing to become convex. In the 2nd photograph we see the correct direction of Jālandhara Bandha.

“The citta is ever present. The touch sensation felt by the skin is a sign that the intelligence aspect (buddhi) of the citta is receiving the response brought about by the movement in the āsana as well as the movement of the breath in the trunk. Though the breath is an internal action, it can be

recognised by the skin movement on the surface to determine its location. The myriad of āsana help one to understand the skin responses (skin being the largest sense organ). Where the eyes cannot reach, the skin can send the signals to the citta where one is inattentive. Then, using the buddhi, the yogi moves the consciousness into the region where there is no response to stimulate an action which brings about awareness.”

Article compiled by Isabel Jones Fielding & Catherine Gresty, from Jawahar's Q & A notes. Photography: Geoffrey Fielding.

“Have faith in the practice. This no ordinary science and cannot be equated with just physical culture. Proceed with courage and you will be blessed. This subject helps you create your own fate.

Don’t let obstacles deter you. God’s and Guruji’s grace will bless you!”

Thank You

Judi Sweeting

How did you discover Iyengar yoga and what made you want to keep on practising and teaching it?

I discovered Iyengar yoga in 1980 when attending a convention run by The British Wheel of Yoga, I was a newly trained BWY teacher. One of the sessions I attended was taught by an Iyengar teacher. I absolutely loved every minute, it was a “eureka moment” – what I had always wanted, but didn’t know it until I experienced it. I sought out the teacher’s teacher, Kofi Busia, and the rest is history. I went on to attend his classes in Oxford, eventually did my teacher training with him, passed my assessment and became an Iyengar teacher.

I practice Iyengar yoga for its rigour and clarity. I always feel better afterwards and have more energy. I wanted badly to keep on learning and that continues to this day. I teach because I have a love and enthusiasm for the subject. It’s plain to see the positive effects on students.

When did you first visit RIMYI and what were your initial impressions?

My first visit to RIMYI was in 1984 when I was a trainee with Kofi. I reluctantly left behind my husband and my daughters

Judith Jones and Judi Sweeting have been active within our organisation for many years. They are both stepping back from their committee work to focus on their practice, teaching and mentoring.

aged seven and nine years. India was initially overpowering, overwhelming. However, once seated in class at RIMYI, I felt “at home”. This was something I knew and had heard so much about. I then returned roughly every two years, to experience the “tough love” of the Iyengar family and the joys of India.

What was your practice like when you first started, and what is it like now?

Kofi said “you have a soft and unworked body” – that’s how it was! I was shattered as I was already a teacher! He proceeded to toughen me up and I became stronger through the consistent practice and attendance at his classes and trips to Pune. Jeanne Maslen became my teacher later, she ‘finished’ me in the nicest possible way, through my Junior and Senior levels. My teachers have sadly passed; Guruji, Geetaji and Jeanne Maslen. I miss them all but I have to be self-sufficient, I practice every day, it is an essential in my life.

How (and when) did you get involved in IY(UK), and what have been the best bits?

My first involvement was being asked to train teachers in the Oxford region - due to Kofi going to the U.S. I agreed to take this on and gradually became involved in various

aspects of the IY(UK). I learned to train teachers, to assess and to moderate in all levels of assessment. I was involved with the Ethics Committee, as Chair of the Therapy Committee and and as a member of the Board. My husband Tig Whattler and I have taught together, all around the UK over many years and I feel that has been “the best bit”, closely followed by Therapy Committee work. Another "best bit" was helping out in the Library at RIMYI, doing some typing, collecting archive material - great coffee and good company.

What’s next in store for you?

I am not retiring!! I will continue to practice and to teach. Tig and I have coped with Zoom in the Covid pandemic and been amazed at how successful it is. Our students will take a bit of persuading to get in the car and return to The Cotswold Iyengar Yoga Centre once we return to normal.

Judith Jones

How did you discover Iyengar yoga and what made you want to keep on practising and teaching it?

A leaflet through my door advertised Adult Studies classes at the village primary school – History, French and Yoga. I thought "yes yoga", I could do with some relaxation away from the domestic chaos of three young children so I went along. The British Wheel of Yoga class didn’t give me the kind of relaxation I thought I would get (lying down!) with emphasis more on āsanas - but I loved it! The day following a class I was more energised, calmer, better able to cope, so wanting to feel like that more than once a week I began practicing from Light on Yoga. A year later I started Iyengar classes with Nancy Bayes and found the disciplined, methodical approach challenging and tough but totally rewarding. Then Paquita Claridge became my teacher and mentor. Over time I learnt how to teach, being guided in the class I attended in such a way that to begin with I didn’t even know I was being trained! It was a natural evolution. I still find teaching nourishing as it is a two-way process of sharing and learning which never changes.

What was your yoga practice like when you first started, and what is it like now?

I had a strong, flexible body and was rather competitive, determined and keen to ‘have a go’ at all the poses. I was

an ‘actionaholic’ as Prashant would say! The Yoga Sutras and a couple of strains taught me that progress has to be a slow drip feed and cannot be rushed. Yoga became embedded in my life. Forty years on I still benefit in so many ways from my daily practice and I’m still studying and learning.

When did you first visit RIMYI and what were your initial impressions?

It was the late 1990s. I had wanted to go to RIMYI for 10 years but a family to care for and the cost made it impossible. However encouraged by my teacher, then Silvia Prescott, I set up a ‘Pune Fund’ designing yoga T-shirts (see picture) which I sold at yoga days and through other teachers. I am grateful to them all for helping me get to Pune. The classes were full but not as packed as they later became and I tried to keep my head down but of course noone could hide. I was nervous especially when a changed atmosphere indicated Guruji had come in. My whole experience of the classes with Geetaji and Prashatji was profound. I just had to return and RIMYI became a special place I loved going back to.

How (and when) did you get involved in IY(UK), and what have been the best bits?

This story could be called ‘Jumping in at the Deep End’. In 1989 I strolled into a meeting of the local IY Group (now ORIY) and came away with a cardboard box of documents in my new role as Chair! I became area Rep. on

the BKSIYTA (the old Teachers Association) and then with more encouragement from Silvia (she has a lot to answer for) I took on the job of Newsletter Editor which she wanted to give up.

My following roles were Vice Chair of the BKSIYTA, Co-Chair of the new IYA(UK) for the first transition year, Chair of IYA(UK) for another 3 years, Chair of Ethics and Certification, a member of the Convention Committee, the Editorial Board of IYNews, the Therapy Committee and finally the Professional Development Committee. I have also been involved as a Teacher Trainer, Assessor and Moderator. The best bits? It was all very rewarding and enjoyable and worth the effort.

What is next in store for you?

Teaching and practising Iyengar yoga is still my priority – no change there!

With no committee work I’ll hopefully find more time for painting and drawing. It's a lifetime ago that I was going to be an artist! Noone ever knows what is in store!

My Experience of Long Covid

How yoga has helped

Gerda Bayliss, yoga teacher

Some people with long Covid have a mild initial infection and then go on to get worse symptoms, but I was very ill at the start. I had continual episodes of struggling to breathe, which caused me to panic. I used yoga right from the beginning to help.

I am fortunate that both my parents are Senior Iyengar yoga teachers. I remember times at the start of my illness when my husband had them on FaceTime, with my dad telling him which position to put me in and how to do it. At the start Adho Mukha Vīrāsana (high, with two bolsters) helped me breathe and lessened my panic.

Early months: I was mostly in bed for the first few months, so understanding how to position pillows was crucial in helping me to breathe (they’re proning patients in the ICUs). It was scary to go to sleep because I would often wake up gasping for breath. Having pillows underneath and in certain other positions made a dramatic difference.

I would encourage anyone with long Covid to use plenty of support and to go slow.

I realised quite early on that my yoga practice had to change. Anything that increased my heart rate or breathing caused me to relapse. Rest and completely supportive restorative poses have been vital, but it was very tricky at the beginning because I found it hard to lie flat on my back at all (even with bolsters). Either I would struggle to breathe or my heart rate would increase.

In Lois Steinberg’s respiratory sequence she uses a plank in the back and this proved invaluable in those early months (in Supta Vīrāsana and Supta Baddha Koṇāsana). Sometimes the plank had to

be lower to support my diaphragm and sometimes higher to support my back chest. Even so, I couldn’t stay for long periods in those poses at the start and would have to come forwards in between.

Beginning to recover: The simple ‘L-shaped’ poses (Uttānāsana, Adho Mukha Śvānāsana, Prasārita Pādottānāsana, Baddha Koņāsana and Upaviṣṭha Koṇāsana) have been the most helpful to me because they alternate between backwards and forwards. Prāṇāyāma has also been invaluable for the recovery of my lungs, but only once my breathing improved (maybe month five or six, before that working on how to support myself to breathe was enough).

In the later stages Setu Bandha Sarvāngāsana on a bolster and Supta Baddha Koṇāsana with widthways bolsters have eased my headaches and heart palpitations. My muscle strength has gradually increased, but it is very slow.

Recovery: Yoga has been so helpful to my recovery. Even when it hasn’t eased the symptoms it has eased the anxiety that surrounds them and allowed me to cope with a relentless illness that is not yet fully understood or recognised. At ten months I am still experiencing relapses, but I am getting longer periods in between when I can manage more. The relapses themselves seem to be getting less intense each time.

Long Covid affects people in many different ways, with symptoms changing from week to week and month to month. Long-haulers present with a variety of symptoms, not all of which are mentioned in the press. Gerda experienced the following:

Chest pain (internal and external)

Shortness of breath

Sleep apnoea (breath stopping and starting during sleep)

Collapsing (extreme muscle fatigue)

Heart palpitations (racing and slowing down)

Fatigue

Headaches

I would encourage anyone with long Covid to keep up the yoga but to use plenty of support, and to go slow. Stay positive (yoga helps with this); people are getting better so don't lose heart!

“Every day you must walk that fine line between courage and caution”. This quote by Mr Iyengar seems very apt – too much activity can cause problems and so finding that fine balance has been (and still is) a learning curve for me!

Brain fog (difficulty concentrating/remembering words)

Joint pain

Muscle cramps

Body shakes

Numbness in feet, legs and arms

Numbness in tongue and lips

Chills

Blurring/loss of vision

Nausea

Dizziness/loss of balance

Opposite: a plank in the back proved invaluable in those early months; above left: Gerda's daughter Arya using props for Parivṛtta Adho Mukha Vīrāsana; above right: restorative poses with plenty of support have been vital

“Every day you must walk that fine line between courage and caution”

Mentoring and Assessment

Calling All Teachers and Prospective Teachers!

Kirsten Agar Ward

Chair, Certification and Assessment Working Party (CAWP)

Just in case you missed it RIMYI has issued new guidelines for certification and assessment. The best way to find out about these is to go to the original source (see www.iyengargyoga.org.uk/Members’ Dashboard/Documents Page/Important Reference Documents for Teachers/RIMYI Guidelines).

Although it seems to be a long document it is clearly and engagingly written and will only take around half an hour of your time – a very small investment!

RIMYI is offering us simplification and a reconnection with more traditional training and assessment methods. The emphasis is primarily on friendliness and community building. There are various implications:

Community involvement and community building

The main emphasis is that RIMYI is urging us to build our Iyengar yoga communities. This is a shift to a ‘bottom up’, away from a ‘top down’, approach. With this comes a broadening of responsibility: each and every one of us is part of the Iyengar yoga community; each and every one of us has our part to play.

There will be more responsibility on regular teachers to train new teachers, as there are no teacher-training courses. There will be more responsibility on all teachers to mentor, that is guide, lessexperienced colleagues.

Think you might like to teach Iyengar yoga?

If you think that becoming an Iyengar yoga teacher might be for you, the first step is to talk to your regular teacher. You will need to have learned Iyengar yoga with a certificated Iyengar yoga teacher for at least three years before applying.

Initial training is through mentoring. There are no teacher-training courses. Generally speaking if your teacher is Level 2 then they are qualified to mentor you (see table below for clarification).

If your teacher has not yet held Level 2 or equivalent for sufficient time, then they will help you find a teacher who has, and who is able and willing to mentor you.

You will need to register to be mentored with IY(UK) and you will be mentored until your mentor considers you are ready to be assessed. Each person’s timeline for this will be different – we are all individuals and we all face different situations and challenges, so no one can say exactly how long it will take, but it will be at least three years.

Think you have a student in your class who might become an Iyengar yoga teacher?

If you are a Level 2 teacher and have held Intermediate Junior 2 for at least two years, then you may mentor your student. In the past you might have sent your student to a teacher-training course. Now there are no courses, the onus is on you!

Whilst this might seem a little daunting at first, we urge you to read the guidelines and you will see this is within your skillset. In addition, IY(UK) will be providing much support (see below). Step up and embrace the challenge!

Table 1: Mentoring Eligibility

Mentoring level Teaching experience Certificate level

New system in blue

Old system in red

Note: timings are from 1 July 2020

RIMYI visits

Level 1 Currently teaching general classes as per syllabus of new Level 1 for minimum 2 years

Level 2 Currently teaching general classes as per syllabus of new Level 2 for minimum 2 years

Minimum Level 2 in new system for at least 3 years

Minimum IJ2 for at least 2 years or IJ1 for at least 3 years

Minimum Level 3 in new system for at least 3 years

Minimum IJ3 for at least 5 years (& currently training others for IJ1) OR any IS level teacher

n/a

n/a

Level 3 Currently teaching general classes as per syllabus of new Level 3 (no time stipulated)

Minimum Level 4 in new system for at least 3 years

Any Advanced Junior or Advanced Senior level teacher

If you have not yet had the Level 2 certificate or equivalent for sufficient time then you will need to help your student find a teacher who has and who is willing to mentor them.

Are you a teacher who would like to work towards a higher level of certification?

If you have already been teaching for some time you should be attending classes with a more experienced teacher – continue this! This person may in effect be your mentor, or you may go to another more experienced teacher for advice and guidance in your teaching, who is your mentor. If you don’t yet have a mentor then approach someone who is able and may be willing to take on that role. It may be your regular teacher, but doesn’t have to be. That person may be able to mentor you to the next level (if they qualifysee Table 1).

Are you a teacher who does not wish to work towards a higher level of certification?

Then nothing need change. It would still be good, however, to identify a person who can be your

3 visits

mentor to guide you in your teaching, if you haven’t already done this. Mentoring is primarily about guiding a person in their teaching and not merely about preparing for assessments. So it is helpful for all teachers to have a mentor.

Mentoring

Mentoring is quite different from a teacher training model. Mentoring for prospective teachers is learning to teach through an apprenticeshiptype, individualised model. So it comprises mostly shadowing your mentor in class, gradually shifting to demonstrating, assisting and teaching within that context. The mentor guides you before and after the sessions. Mentoring will also involve some 1:1 or 1:2 time with trainees to discuss doubts and questions as well as to give input. In addition, mentors can also get together and organise peer group sessions for those who are being mentored to practice teaching each other. Mentoring beyond Level 1 may include some or all of the above. Someone with experience may be able to mentor 3 or 4 candidates, whereas someone with less might mentor one candidate at most.

Table 2 - New Teaching Levels

New teaching level Old level

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

New Teaching Levels

Introductory 2

Intermediate Junior 1 and 2

Intermediate Junior 3; Intermediate Senior 1, 2, 3

Advanced Junior 1, 2, 3; Advanced Senior 1, 2

You’ll see on the IY(UK) website that teachers are now categorised as being one of five possible levels. This does not take anything away from your previous certificate. All existing certificates are still valid and teachers may choose to indicate their previous certificate level in brackets when describing themselves. For example, Level 3 Iyengar yoga teacher (Intermediate Senior 2 certificate 2016).

Assessment

Assessments will be very different from now on. They will be more friendly, collaborative and welcoming, and we hope less daunting, although they will be longer than before. They offer an opportunity to raise doubts and queries and to receive guidance as much as be assessed. All results will be given on the day. We hope assessments will happen at various times of the year as the emphasis is on candidates presenting when they are ready, rather than forcing things to happen in a particular month.

All Level 2 teachers and above, who are allowed to mentor a certain level, may apply to be assessors at that level. This is one way we can serve our community. If you think you would like to offer this service talk with your mentor (or teacher) in the first instance.

Support for Mentors

We appreciate some of you might be feeling a little apprehensive. Please be assured we are here to support you in this new and exciting challenge.

• Our updated Mentoring Manual has recently been published. This has more guidance on how you can mentor and be mentored.

• We are planning a series of webinars, classes and online resources for you to access.

• You also have your own teacher, who is a great resource and you are urged to find your own mentor (who may or may not be your regular teacher) to guide you.

Crucially, in accordance with this bottom-up approach, we have to become self-reliant and shift our way of looking at things. The most important resource, after RIMYI, is your local Iyengar yoga community and your network of yoga friends and colleagues. Please keep strengthening those bonds and helping and guiding each other with gratitude, devotion and love.

The Certification and Assessment Working Party (CAWP) welcomes your thoughts, questions and feedback. Do get in touch with us at: kate@iyengaryoga.org.uk

CAWP members are: Kirsten Agar Ward, Aisling Guirke, Meg Laing, Susan Long, Sheila Haswell, Judith Richards, Katie Rutherford, Kate Woodcock

Comments on the New System of Mentoring and Assessments

The assessment process in the UK is undergoing seismic changes, initiated by Prashant and Abhijata Iyengar and presented to the world’s Iyengar yoga organisations at Yoganusasanam in Pune in December 2019. In the next few pages, some senior teachers who were present at that event give their personal responses to and accounts of these events and the changes they bring.

First of all, I want to say that this is a personal account –both of my thoughts and of my account of being a participant at Yoganusasanam in December 2019. I passed my Introductory assessment in 1987, in a local venue in Scotland, and my three Junior Intermediates in the mid-90s also in a local venue. We had the same assessors and we learned a lot from them. I became an assessor in 2006. I was never a teacher trainer because I only wanted to ‘train’ students who I saw regularly in class. This, to me, is the only way to know if a student has ‘fallen in love’ with the subject, and if their practice is mature enough to nurture them as a teacher.

As the fourteen years of being an assessor have unfolded, I have felt increasingly ill-at-ease with our assessment system, which has run parallel with a marked increase in the failure

rate at all levels. Everyone knew the process wasn’t perfect, but it was generally agreed to be the best we could do. What was making me uneasy was seeing qualifications become disproportionately important to the teaching community, to the point of becoming fundamental to the way we define ourselves, and think about ourselves as practitioners. What should be a by-product of our learning had gradually become a central part of it. Was having passed a particular assessment expected to make you a better teacher? And did it? Or did it tick a box for insurance purposes? Or to get a foot in the door to teach internationally? Or to perpetuate the hierarchy in the system, by being allowed to train teachers at the higher levels?

In short, what did they have to do with Patañjali’s yoga? Did they serve to encourage our practice, by giving us ‘something to aim for’ or did they spoil and restrict our practice by keeping it within the narrow confines of the next syllabus up? And were we in danger of becoming passive receptacles into which we hoped the teaching of others,

more ‘senior’ to us, might pour the ‘correct’ ways of doing things? Giving rise to the stressful question, 'will we remember the right way?' And is this, in effect, abrogating responsibility for our own sādhana?

These are some of the questions I asked myself and heard many others asking. For a hefty percentage of teachers, thinking about, or preparing for, the next level of assessment was something that was constantly hovering. Training is an objective thing, it is short term, it gives you tunnel vision for the assessment to come. Prashant pointed out that this is not only not good but could be harmful. At a deep level we know that – teachers are often heard to say something along the lines of, “Oh, thank goodness that is over. Now I can get back to my yoga”. But surely the core of our system is our own, individual learning, observation, sensation, subjective experience?

So how did we get here? How come our level of assessment came to play such an important part in how we define ourselves as yoga practitioners? At RIMYI, Geetaji and Prashantji spoke

Katie Rutherford

about ‘senior’ teachers often in scornful tones. “They know we are in danger of qualification tainting our practice,” I used to think. So why aren’t they helping us to stop it? Because, as a teacher in the West, we cannot resist it. “What level are you?” Is not only asked by outsiders, but we ask ourselves that too. “Can I do this? Can I teach this? Is it allowed?” These are vṛttis that hover in the mind when you consider yourself as a yoga teacher. Abhi said that, “the inherent nature of every person is be healthy, happy and virtuous. But circumstances can make us behave differently.” This isn’t just about other people.

Can we change it though? And how? It is SO ingrained, there is so much vested interest, there are so many different perspectives. Did our beloved teachers at RIMYI understand why this had happened? Were they going to help us to change it? To guide us in examining and removing all the lumpy bits that we had “pushed under the carpet”, as Prashant put it. This is how our system had inexorably evolved. From the intimacy of certificates being given out to his students by Guruji himself, to presenting oneself, sometimes shaking with fear, in front of complete strangers, without even having had a conversation with them.

And then came Yoganusasanam 2019. Prashant and Abhi, over the course of six days, spoke in the most heartfelt and articulate terms about the narrative of our lineage, from its earliest beginnings to where we are now.,

in a world where Guruji and Geetaji are no longer physically with us. This marks a sea change in terms of leadership. And they find themselves, along with all the members of the Iyengar family, at the helm of a worldwide community invited to share this legacy with their support.

What is to follow is just a tiny part of what I learned and understood from that amazing week. In her opening talk Abhi set the scene: “We have to assess ourselves and our community and that is why you are called here.”

They are unsettled and discomfited by where we

are now in our training and qualification structure. As was Guruji, as was Geetaji. But it is absolutely no one’s fault. No one is to blame. It is just the way it happened, piecemeal, as the pace of the spread of Iyengar yoga quickened. Guruji’s life’s work was astounding. He was a genius. He infected the world with a love of Patañjali’s yoga which provoked, naturally, a need for teachers to propagate it. But propagating a plant is very different from spreading it and requires a different approach.

Prashantji’s teaching emphasized, over and over again, in his inimitable, humorous style, that we are students first and

foremost and we must learn honestly to assess ourselves – are we a good student/learner? Do we attempt an āsana in many different ways and come to our own conclusions? Learning, exploring, discovering, studying. There is a huge difference in thinking of yoga as something to teach rather than something to learn. And your teacher (trainer) is teaching from their experience, not yours. Yours has the greater value to you. It is, of course, easier to think that someone knows more than you and that there is a degree of safety in their knowledge. But yoga teaches you to understand yourself, to manage yourself, so don’t pass on that responsibility to someone else.

“Quality of studentship is lost when you start teaching. You do need convictions to be a good teacher, but developing convictions means you lose being a student. Protect studentship! Your studentship is ever a baby!” -

Prashant Iyengar

Do we accept that there is no perfect pose? This might sound disappointing to those of us who love to seek perfection (and our culture certainly encourages us to do so in order to keep us spending!) but recognizing that there isn’t, there simply cannot be, opens a door into freedom and our own agency. Objectifying your mind to see what you are doing and why you are doing. This means taking responsibility for yourself and requires honesty and intelligence and the confidence to trust your inner teacher. This is what your mentor can guide you towards.

As for Guruji’s own teachings: “He was the only one who could say he was right”. We can’t do this – we should honour everyone’s perception, accept individuality, accept that our own teachings differ depending on our own state. And what is your state at an assessment in front of strangers? Some might be delighted by the challenge and rise to it. Others might feel so terrified that they freeze. And much in between.

Your mentor can guide you in the art of being a good student. The letter that came from RIMYI in April 2017 heralded the move from formal teacher training (for new teachers) to mentorship. We are gradually addressing this and have the highly valued contribution of the mentoring manual. Mentoring gives greater responsibility to mature teachers to guide, nurture, nourish the next generation of practitioners and teachers to become wise, open-minded, honest, reflective and self-reliant. To ask themselves, “am I making an attempt to take Guruji’s teachings further?”

“Teaching is commitment, it is a responsibility, a process of paying forwards with gratitude the information, knowledge and wisdom you have gained from your guru and the subject of Yoga”. – BKS Iyengar

I fully acknowledge that there will be many teachers who will say – what’s new? These ideas have been expressed through the teachings from RIMYI, and through articles in Yoga Rahasya, and through all Guruji’s teachings

in the volumes of Astadala Yogamala. This is true. And maybe when there are fewer assessments, when our minds are less preoccupied by mundane thoughts of teaching levels and how we proceed up the ladder, we will be more inclined to read and study and reflect. I hope so. On the second day of Yoganusasanam we were all given the draft copy of the Guidelines for Assessment, late in the afternoon so we could all take them away and read and digest them. The shock was tangible. Here was the universally recognized, carefully nurtured plant of qualification and assessment pulled up by its roots, and a young plant put in its place. But we know that these two plants are the process, not the content. The guidelines provoked delight, bemusement, intrigue, perplexity, hurt, disappointment, denial – all these things were there. And immediately we dived into the detail and into what had been lost. Could a Junior 3 teach all the āsanas in Level 3? And Introductory teachers the āsanas in Level 1? What training would be needed to help them to do so? What about insurance? Should Senior 3s be in Level 3 rather than 2 (there were fewer levels in the first draft). Would assessors and candidates be prepared to do two- or three-day assessments? How would senior teachers still stand out? Were these new processes realistic?

This was, of course, completely natural. It would have been strange not to have seen this kind of reaction as everyone saw this from a uniquely individual

perspective of where they were then and we have been living within this system for decades whether we liked it or not.

For my part, I was less interested in the detail and more interested in the content. To me the reason for the changes were glaringly obvious and addressed all my reservations about the ‘old’ system in one fell swoop. Now we have an entry-level teaching qualification that is sufficiently broad for an Iyengar yoga teacher to teach for a lifetime, without needing to do another assessment. (The final copy, with the extra level, has taken all Padmāsana poses out of Level 1 and now in Level 2, I recognize that). And now that the insurance side of things is sorted, we have successfully moved into the new certification structure.

The assessment process is going to take more time. There is a

‘Certification and Assessment Working Party’, of which I am a member, who are grappling with this as I write. And there is an article about where we have got to in this newsletter. It is a huge challenge to tease out a process that all of us can agree is staying true to the principles, tenets, values, convictions that were relayed to us over that week in December, only a fraction of which were able to be put into the RIMYI Certification and Assessment Guidelines. There is a greater responsibility on assessors, “a chance for the assessors to show the assessee the fabric of Iyengar yoga”, a more informal, sharing, learning, atmosphere. Assessments need to be, “Friendly, natural, no fear, no hierarchy, less judgmental and more realistic”.

Prashant’s belief is that, “some aspect of assessment should

lie with the person who is their teacher. If you can assess others' then surely you can assess yours. There has to be trust.” And Abhi said, “we are preparing for a time where there are no assessments. When the mentor decides”.

This is a huge change. Training to be a teacher will cost very little in terms of money, it will take a long time, it will be based on relationship. The biggest challenge, more than the certificate level change and the assessment process, is the culture shift and a willingness to take responsibility on many levels. Can we make these changes in the next few years? Or will it take a generation? These are the questions I ask myself now. Whatever happens, this is our own personal journey. And one that we are very blessed to be on. God bless Guruji, RIMYI and all the Iyengar family.

Sheila Haswell

A personal view of the 2019 Yoganusasanam course and its repercussions.

photo: Kerry Reinking

I had attended previous Yoganusasanam courses in Pune from December 2014 through to December 2018, so I was sad that I might miss the 2019 course, which was for assessors and mentors, because I had a family commitment, my brother Gerard's 60th birthday. As it got nearer to the time I had a real sense that I wanted to be in Pune so I cancelled classes and made a last-minute booking. By missing the last hour of the last day I would be able to get the night flight back with just enough time to get home, drop my bags and drive four hours to the family gathering in Wales. I am so glad that I made the decision to attend, given what was in store for us, not just at the meeting but for our association going forwards.

We knew change was coming ever since Geetaji and Prashantji called a meeting of all worldwide associations in December 2015 to talk about assessments and teacher training. I was one of the three IY(UK) representatives to go to that meeting.

Yoganusasanam Dec 2019

Day 1: We were all apprehensive, what would this gathering, which was labelled an ‘Assessors, Trainers and Mentors Course’, be about?

Abhijata talked to us about assessments and certificates. She reminded us that Guruji first gave certificates without a formal assessment. He was assessing those students whilst teaching them, unlike now, she said, where we call for students to be trained and announce assessments. She then told us that we were all to be assessed by Prashantji and we had ten minutes to be ready and she left the room.

After ten minutes she returned and told us that there wouldn't actually be an assessment, but that she had wanted us to notice and acknowledge how we had felt on hearing that announcement. Probably we had felt anxious and apprehensive. These, she said, were the main substrate of current assessments. The thought of an assessment can

create anxiety, failing is not a nice feeling and that possible outcome creates fear. The overdose of fear and anxiety is a destructive force within. She was sad to hear how some people had put their lives on hold for the sake of an assessment, even taking medication in some cases to delay menstruation. It should not be like that.

She reminded us that Guruji was not attached to his previous thoughts and to what had gone before, he was always ready to change his thought patterns as he progressed. We should also have the courage to change when needed, and right now we needed to re-evaluate both teacher training and assessment procedures.

This was not 'new' for 2019. It had been started back in 2015 at that extra trainers and assessors meeting when Geetaji and Prashanji attempted to get as much information as possible from associations around the world about how training and assessments were being conducted. Geetaji had told us back then that it had been Guruji's wish for some change to come.

Prashant joined in with what he said was an 'unprepared talk'. He told us that in Guruji's time it was his mission to 'propagate' yoga around the world. In India he had wanted the students to learn yoga but abroad he was propagating the subject so he first impressed them with his demonstrations to draw them in and then he taught them. He reminded us that the first generation of teachers were not taught 'how to teach', they were taught yoga. They had to learn first. If you know the subject you can teach (though you don't have to).

He said, "A good teacher is one who turns out a better teacher than himself". Then he asked us, “So are you teaching what you were taught, or are you teaching what you have learnt?”. To be a good teacher you have to be a good learner.

The afternoon on that first day was given over to discussion between all the countries' representatives. We shared thoughts about our associations, who gets involved, what problems we have to deal with – especially any issues to do with teacher training and assessments – but not confined just to those subjects. Everyone who wanted to speak was given a chance and all were listened to.

Day 2: This started with a class with Prashantji. We had daily classes with him during the week’s course. Later that morning Abhijata started her session by reading out the message from Guruji, which is in the Pune constitution. For those of you who haven't seen the Pune constitution here is that message: Message from Guruji

As members are turning towards this method of yoga, I thought of framing a common constitution that can be followed by all Iyengar Yoga Associations and Institutes the world over.

It is not easy to work out a constitution that would satisfy all, yet a start has to be made and it is now ready.

As months and years pass on, new ideas may strike which can be incorporated after consultation with sister associations.

May this act as a key point for the growth of happiness and unity amongst us all and may yogic discipline grow under your capable and skilful cultivation of friendliness, compassion and gladness.

May I wish you all to experience the best of yoga and May Lord Patanjali guide you all.

BKS Iyengar, Pune 2004

Abhijata then handed out Guidelines for Assessment - Dec 2019 - DRAFT COPY

We didn't have discussion at that point – I believe she talked us through the pages and then we had a class in which we did the following:

• Utthita Pārśvakoṇāsana, Parighāsana, Parivṛtta

Upaviṣṭha Koṇāsana - all on one side to experience poses from the same family of actions.

• Tadāsana, Ūrdhva Hastāsana arms parallel,

Ūrdhva Hastāsana with belt on arms. Ūrdhva Hastāsana with brick between palms – to observe the somatic sensations in each

• Utthita Trikoṇāsana with variations in foot and leg positions (angular) - to observe the connections between adjacent body parts.

• Paśchimottānāsana at different stages – to observe and experience 'ease' in an āsana

• Observation and feeling the breath in different āsanas.

There was much more including some of the more tricky asanas such as Vasiṣṭhāsana (LOY plate 398), learning the action of the foot using a variation in Utthita Trikoṇāsana, and Viśvāmitrāsana (LOY plate 403) working from the correct actions of the back foot in Utthita Pārśvakoṇāsana - both demonstrating the interaction between families of āsanas

She wanted us to 'experience' these āsanas with their related feelings and connections, not just to do them from a list of instructions.

We were told that Guruji worked from his experience and that his books came about because of his involvement with his own practice.

We were then asked to go and meet up in our country groups to discuss the document in readiness for a Q&A session and shared discussion the next day.

Our UK team was about twenty five in number and we talked together about our first impressions that day. For most of us it was quite a shock to see how the certificate levels had been divided up and to see how assessments were proposed to be run. We were initially divided between, “How are we going to make this work? How will it be received by the community back home?” versus, “We need to change, so let's see how this might work for us.”

Most of you reading this will not have seen that first draft which had only four certificate levels with the entry level being both Introductory levels plus Junior 1 and Junior 2. This was one thing that many of us and several other countries were not happy with – that proposal has now been changed in the current and final document Certification and Assessment Guidelines – July 2020 i.e. the final document, no longer a draft. This is just a bit of what happened that December week in Pune in 2019.

It was quite an experience to be a part of the whole Yoganusasanam convention including the group discussions, lessons, Q&As, talks from Prashantji and from Abhijata, individual talks with our own members and also with Abhijata who was available for any queries and for private meetings (which had to be booked). It was good to hear where other countries stood on these matters and hearing their views was so valuable to the overall picture. I felt that the Iyengar family really did listen to us. The discussions got quite heated at times, some people were quite frank in their dislike of the new proposals, others were quietly in acceptance. The discussions went on both in the planned sessions, over dinner, in hotel rooms and so on.

All teachers should be reading the document and becoming familiar with their new syllabus levels and the āsanas within each level. There is a lot of direction as to how we should be teaching at each stage and everyone should take guidance from their own teachers. All trainees and mentors need to become familiar with the assessment ideas, however, each association has been given permission to adapt, within reason, the assessment process in order for it to work for their country’s needs. Much more of this will be shared once the relevant UK committees have put together the way we will proceed.

The result of all of this change is that there should be a much more recognisable process across all associations with less variation of standard. Training and assessing will be more holistic and inclusive. All individuals at all levels will have recognition. We all have a responsibility to help bring the new ways into our practice, our teaching and our communities.

Though at first I wasn't keen to change a system that we had embraced, built on over time and in which I had been active for almost forty years, I came to see that if we choose to embrace change we can make it work and build it better for the future.

The Certification and Assessment Working Party (CAWP) has been meeting very regularly all year with the aim of putting the requirements of the RIMYI document into a plan for the UK committees, in order that we have a smooth transition. Teachers, assessors and mentors will already have had updates from the ATC committee and further updates will be coming. Do read them all and remember to study the Certification and Assessment Guidelines – July 2020, which you can find in the documents section of the IY(UK) website. Be ready and don't get left behind.

One last thought – I have tried not to write that this is a 'new system' for training and assessment as it is actually a combination of what has been in place before. My Introductory assessment was in 1980 and the preparation was done through being mentored (mainly by my mum, Lilian Biggs, but also classes with local teachers). My Intermediate Junior assessment (1989-1991) was via both training and mentoring and the trainer was encouraged to be present at the assessment. At Intermediate Senior level (1998 -2000) I attended a regular course with Jeanne Maslen alongside being mentored by my mum and also shared practice by meeting up with others taking the course. All assessments were formal in nature but the Junior and Senior assessments were conducted with the same Assessors and Moderator over the three levels, so as to follow the progress of each candidate.

The proposed assessments outlined in the new document should be less formal, more friendly with some assessors that candidates have seen before and with a possibility of mentors being permitted to be at the assessment. So for those of you who plan to take an assessment in the future do not be afraid, learn to love your yoga, get totally involved in your practice, stay in touch with your teacher and mentor and you could find that you enjoy your assessment.

Richard Agar Ward Learning Yoga

Methods of learning yoga in the Iyengar yoga community, whether as a pupil of the subject or an aspiring teacher of it, are more various than many of us think.

Those of us exposed to what might be called the typical Iyengar teacher and the typical teacher training course may be forgiven for not realising that many of us grew up with different approaches, and that this has very much influenced how we learn and teach today.

As I look back over my time as a pupil and teacher I can state that the instruction-based teaching system and the formal teacher training course by no means cover the entirety of our schooling in Guruji’s method.

In his recent talk on the occasion of Guruji’s 102nd Birth Anniversary Prashant made the point that for many years, up until around his early fifties, meaning up to the early 1970s, Guruji did not teach as such, as we have come to know it, but rather made pupils ‘do’. Pupils were not ‘taught’ yoga so much as steeped in the culture of yoga.

Prashant related how there was no preparation, no ‘warming up’, such as we are used to today. Classes today are very much ‘pupil considerate’ but in

those days pupils were simply made to do whatever āsana Guruji specified. It should also be noted that much of this work he actually did himself as much as it was the pupils doing it, using his own body as a prop where necessary to make the pupils achieve the āsana . His teaching was very demanding of himself. Sometimes he even used his body to make rows and rows of pupils do countless Viparīta Chakrāsana to the point where he became exhausted and once divulged that doing this so often in the 1960s and having to overcome his fatigue, he had permanently weakened his intestines. Forget any thought of preparing for Śīrsaṣāna. It would often be the first pose first thing in the morning.

In those days the emphasis was very much on getting people to do, whatever their disposition, often with many repetitions. It was not for the faint-hearted. This was something like a crash course in yoga culture for his pupils. He was taking the pupils to yoga, not so much yoga to the pupils.

The approach was not to feed people instructions and work on their competence and improving their ability, as we have done so much in the past, but in immersing pupils in the culture of yoga. Everyone would be taken beyond their limits to a state where they could be, in a way, drowned in yoga. In the same way as one is immersed in a new language in a foreign country where no one speaks one’s

mother tongue, one learned through immersion and intensity. You would not necessarily have much idea what was happening to you in a class with Guruji in those days, what was going on, only that it started, continued and then finished.

My own upbringing was not very dissimilar. I began with classes in 1975. In the early 1970s my teacher had been a pupil of Penny Nield-Smith who had been taught quite extensively in this fashion by Guruji in the 1960s. She taught, “āsanas as taught by BKS Iyengar” (note there was no such thing as Iyengar yoga in those days) and she tried to teach in the way she had been taught. That consisted in doing lots of āsanas, with repetitions, without much in the way of instruction or technique. That is the way I was taught also. My own daily practice consisted of repeating what I had had to do in the weekly class I attended. Forget about props; they did not exist except where we could take a towel to the class to use as a blanket for headstand and shoulderstand and use the belt from our jeans where necessary. Forget mats. We just had to stop ourselves from slipping on the smooth, but filthy, wooden floor. Forget being comfortable and warm. The room was often literally freezing. Nobody would tolerate these conditions today.

However we were imbibing a culture even though we knew almost nothing about technique. Precision, alignment, accuracy, technique; the entire framework

of what is needed for technical development was unknown to us. Nevertheless we did feel we were absorbing something new, something we needed and something that was very important and necessary, even if many of us did not last the exposure to yoga for very long.

My teacher went to Pune, to RIMYI, for the first time in the summer of 1976. After that he never divulged any information about the āsanas at all. In his classes all we ever did was stay in the āsanas for a long time without any guidance. He made us to do very advanced arm balances and backward extensions, mainly, including the very advanced backbends. No instruction, just doing. If you learned it was by inferring.

My ‘teacher training’ was simply to help my teacher, Kofi, in classes and watch how he taught, no more than that. It could perhaps described as a mentoring method, or perhaps an apprenticeship method, but there was no formal teacher training process in those days. It was all there was. He would give us some lectures on Patañjali and later wrote a book on the Sutras and helped us to appreciate there were spiritual and cosmic dimensions of yoga to which our practice was however distantly connected.

What I appreciated was that I learned about the culture of yoga more than the techniques in the early days and I felt this helped me to understand the depth of the subject more than I

otherwise would have.

I first started learning in Prashant’s classes at RIMYI in 1987 and while I was briefly a little perplexed by the novelty of his teaching approach and concepts I quickly came to value their importance and how he promoted a culture of sensitivity and perceptivity. How yoga was so much an artistic, philosophical and sacred subject in his classes. I gained confidence at the lack of perfectionism and the abundance of experiential exploration. My wife Kirsten also started in his classes some years later and was also quickly touched by the potentials and implications of his approach; she felt strongly there was something very important in it, though she couldn’t really understand exactly what. In hindsight, perhaps how his teaching both reached back to classical yoga and forward to accommodate modern ways of understanding the subject.

Years later I began the Bath Iyengar Yoga Centre with my wife Kirsten. We undertook years of teaching and teacher training at Introductory, Intermediate Junior and eventually Intermediate Senior levels, adhering to the various syllabi. Our experience of working with these syllabi taught us that what qualified individuals for working at those levels was not particularly a matter of physical ability, elasticity, strength, but rather qualities of maturity, experience, willingness to learn, to see beyond the question of capability and to value exploratory approaches. In

certain cases those whose levels of achievement were not very great might nevertheless qualify for more advanced and in-depth approaches. We found that those who could distinguish between what was required at beginners’ level and what was required to understand deeper levels would flourish. This can be described as a cultural qualification over and above an ability-centred qualification. We also found the teacher training model to be unsatisfactory/unsuitable without a correspondingly close relationship with the trainees. With this in mind we very much welcome the type of changes being introduced to the teaching and mentoring culture of Iyengar yoga. Much can be learnt by treating yoga as a technical subject but ultimately one should realise that this is valueless without learning yoga as a cultural subject.

IY(UK) Reports

Chair - Jill Johnson

This has been a very interesting few months for all of us and I want to say a huge thank you to our members and teachers who have helped us in so many ways; we are very lucky to be able to attend so many classes with teachers from around the world, but also with our own regular teachers week after week. I am really looking forward to being able to get back to classes and see you in person again soon.

I am delighted to say that at the last meeting of the Executive Council we elected a new Vice Chair – a big welcome to Preeti Sekhon. Preeti is a newly qualified teacher in London who brings many skills to the EX and Board – and she hails from Pune!

At the same meeting we have agreed to set up four new Standing Committees. One of these, the Equity Committee, is to replace the Diversity and Inclusivity Working Group that was set up last summer. It soon became clear that, for many reasons, this group was not able to carry out the work we had hoped and so was disbanded. The new Equity Committee will be made up of EX members

and co-opted members and will have the full support of the Board. The emphasis on equity in yoga is not new; many in the yoga community have been driving the conversation and working to promote a yoga that is welcoming, supportive, inclusive, and accessible, and we will work with those who continue to guide us through this process of learning and expanding our awareness and responsibility. For a long time Prashantji has reminded us that yoga is about so much more than gymnastics and physical āsanas, and we need to make sure that this message is at the root of any changes made. We want inclusivity, equity and diversity to be integral to Iyengar yoga.

Details of the other new committees are in the Secretary’s report.

This will be my last report as Chair – after 5 years I am retiring and will be handing over to someone else at the AGM in May. I can say that this role has never been dull! At times it has been very stressful and taken many hours, but it has been a huge privilege. I have been supported by the Board, the

EX, and all our staff, and I have met many humble and hard working members who embody the yamas and niyamas in all they do for the organisation and for their students. I wish you all well and look forward to seeing Iyengar yoga flourish in the years to come. 

Secretary - Philippe Harari

Since my last report Gael Henry and Jane Walker have joined the Ethics and Appeals Committee – there was one unfilled post and Amparo Rodriguez comes to the end of her term of office at the AGM in May.

We welcome two new Member Group Reps., Tanya De Leersnyder (ORIY) and Nicola Vesper (MCIY), and a new Individual Members’ Rep., Maria Chrysocheraki.

At its last meeting, the Executive Council elected a new Deputy Chair, Preeti Sekhon, and a new Deputy Membership Secretary, Elaine Morrison.

Following my and Judi Soffa’s retirement from the Editorial Team of IYN, we invited applications from our membership and appointed Minna Alanko-Falola, Alice Chadwick and Poppy Pickles.

Finally, we have now created two new Standing Committees: The Equity SC and the Children, Young Adults and Families SC. We also divided the Archives and Research SC into two separate Committees, one for Archives and one for Research. 

Treasurer - Velika Krivokapic

The annual accounts for 2020 are currently being prepared and will be presented at the next Executive Council meeting in April 2021 and at the AGM in May 2021.

The 2021 budget is being monitored and reviewed regularly. The next revised version will be presented to the Executive Council in April 2021.

The IY (UK) membership fees for 2021/22 are shown opposite. We have been able to keep our fees at exactly the same levels as 2020/21.

The Certification Mark fee for 2021 is based on US$50. It was updated on 1st November 2020 to

reflect the exchange rate that was in place on that date. 

IY(UK) Reports

Membership Secretary – Julian Lindars

Renewal time is upon us again – and I don’t mean just Spring but also IY(UK) membership renewal… Our activities have been so limited as the COVID-19 restrictions continue, and opportunities for teaching and practicing together remain few. Online classes have brought many benefits – for example, more opportunities to study with senior teachers from across the world – but if you are like me, you may be missing the atmosphere of togetherness, the effort and the encouragement that comes from practicing alongside your peers, and the rigour and attention that comes from the presence of a teacher “in the room”.

We do hope that you will be able to maintain your membership of IY(UK) to help keep the association running and thriving, even though times may continue to be difficult. Many good things are happening at the moment – for example IY News has a lively and enthusiastic new editorial team. Also, we are looking at redesigning the User Experience (the look and feel) of the website,

and we have established several new standing committees – notably the Equity Standing Committee. This will build on the work of the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group to ensure that all minority and under-represented groups within our Iyengar Yoga community are given a voice, and that their voices are heard and acted upon.

Given the difficult circumstances this year we have decided to make the Teacher Renewal process simpler. We have temporarily removed the requirements for reporting specialised training hours, practice hours and First Aid qualifications, as we recognise that it may have been difficult for many to access the training resources, and to fully meet the requirements.

Finally, I would like to thank and welcome Elaine Morrison, who has taken up the post of Deputy Membership Secretary. We are throwing her straight in at the deep end, helping Andy to process this year's membership renewals. 

Certification and Assessments

RIMYI published new Certification and Assessment Guidelines in July 2020. You can find the Guidelines on the IY(UK) website – log in, go to the Members’ Dashboard, Documents page and you will find them under the heading “Important Reference Documents for Teachers” along with other useful documents.

Last year, the ATC set up a Certification and Assessments Working Party (CAWP) to review IY(UK)’s certification and assessment procedures and work is ongoing. No assessments for the new Levels will take place before 2022.

Congratulations to all those who gained their Introductory teaching certificates in November 2020

Lynn Agnew

Tracey Ashton

Jo Baker

Alice Barclay

Rebecca Baron

Donatella Beccu

Margaret Bee-Quigley

Graeme Blair

Ruth Bottomley

Claire Branagan

Charlotte Brander

Mandy Bromley

Sam Brook

Rebekka Campbell

Lindsay Caulfield

Frances Christensen

Caroline Coffin

Grainne Comerford

Izabela Corbett Khan

Arvind Damarla

Ornela Dardha

Kirsty Duncan

Melanie Edwards

Michael Evans

Josie Ford

Tina Freeland

Celine Gilbert

Geraldine Giraud

Monica Gonzalez

Tara Goodchild

Muthukumaran Gourishankar

Alison Gunton

Erica Handling

Leanne Harvey

Ben Holliman

Susan Holmes

Sofja Kanevskaja

Ika Kazek

Leyla Kerlaff

Debbie Kingston

Chris Kitisakkul

Sandy Lancaster

Edina Lebhardt

Yuk Ki Sabrina Lee

Joy Lennon

Fiona Macdonald

This table shows the statistics for those who gained the Introductory teaching certificate in the UK in November 2020:

Professional Development Days

Jennifer MacFadyen

Megan Macgregor

Aimee Magee

Jane Maher

Sarah Malcolm

Bethan Manford

Agathe Martin

Maggie McGarity

Paul McGuigan

Deborah McGuigan

Christine McKinlay

Kate (Naomi) Middleton

Tara Midgen

Joanna Mitchell

Natasha Myatt

Elizabeth Nicholls

Mayumi O'Connor

Louise Olverson

Carol Parke

Michelle Pendergast

Matilda Poff

Helena Porrelli

Ariki Porteous

Catarina Portugal

Gillian Pratt

Ralitza Ranguelova

Christina Richmond

Valentina Salaris

Brian Sears

Preeti Sekhon

Heidi Sherwood

Alastair Stott

Jon Taylor

Lucia Tichá

Julia Torok

Helen Townsend

Alice Tree

Jeanette Turner-Gudgeon

Barbara (Anne) Tweddell

Shiara Uchino

Beverley Walsh

Karen Watt

Leah Whiting

Iwona Wojtasiewicz

Janette Wormall

Due to the Corona Virus Pandemic all in-person PD days 2020/21 are cancelled. NB: Specialist training hours are not required this year to renew your Annual membership.

Member Groups

Please contact your local Member Group or Affiliated Centre for details of events and classes. If you have any queries or issues about policies or practices of IY(UK) please contact your Member Group or Individual Rep.

Avon (AIY)

Ginny Owen aiy@iyengaryoga.org.uk www.avoniyengar.org

Bradford and District (BDIY)

Alan Brown info@bdiyi.org.uk www.bdiyi.org.uk

Cambridge (CIY)

Sasha Perryman sashaperryman@yahoo.co.uk

www.cambridgeyoga.co.uk

Dorset and Hampshire (DHIY)

Pauline Green admin@dhiy.org www.dhiy.org

Dublin Iyengar Yoga Group (DIY) dubliniyengaryoga@gmail.com www.dubliniyengaryoga.ie

East of Scotland (ESIY)

Gilly Dennis esiyoga@outlook.com www.esiyi.co.uk

Sussex (IYS)

Brian Ingram admin@iyengaryogasussex.org.uk www.iyengaryogasussex.org.uk

iYoga Glasgow

Patrick Boase iyogaglasgow@gmail.com www.iyogaglasgow.co.uk

Kent (KIY)

Glenda Jackson kiyisecretary@gmail.com

www.kentiyengaryoga.co.uk

Liverpool (LIY)

Judi Soffa info@yoga-studio.co.uk www.yoga-studio.co.uk

Midland Counties (MCIY)

Annie Beatty yoga@anniebeatty.com www.mciy.org.uk

Manchester and District (MDIY)

Clare Tunstall info@mdiiy.org.uk

www.manchesteriyengaryoga.org.uk

Munster (MIY) munsteriyengaryoga@gmail.com

www.miyoga.org

North East England (NEEIY)

Gael Henry info@iyengaryoganortheast.com www.iyengaryoganortheast.com

North East London (NELIY)

Louise Leonard louise@louiseleonard.co.uk www.neliyi.org.uk

Nottinghamshire (NOTIY)

Eleanor Douglas info@notiy.org.uk www.notiy.org.uk

Oxford and Region (ORIY)

Mary Fitzpatrick maryfitzpatrick10@icloud.com www.oriy.org.uk

Sheffield and District (SADIY)

Lorraine Bonete lorraine.bonete@gmail.com www.yogasheffield.org

South West (SWIY)

Karen Calder karencalder@hotmail.co.uk www.swiyengaryoga.org.uk

SW London & Surrey (SWLSIY)

Jane Howard swlsiyengaryoga@gmail.com www.swlsiy.org.uk

Affiliated Centres

Congleton Iyengar Yoga Centre

www.congletonyogacentre.com

Christina Niewola

01260 279565 / 07970186109

Edinburgh Iyengar Yoga Centre www.yoga-edinburgh.com

info@yoga-edinburgh.com

0131 229 6000

Hereford Yoga Centre www.herefordyoga.co.uk

Jenny-May While 01432 353324

Iyengar Yoga Studio East Finchley

Patsy Sparksman

www.theiyengaryogastudio.co.uk

020 8815 1918

Iyengar Yoga Centre for Essex

Susan Long www.iyce.com

07460 101510

Knutsford Iyengar Yoga Centre www.knutsfordyoga.co.uk

Margaret Carter 07807 348441

Iyengar Yoga in Maida Vale www.iymv.org

Alan Reynolds 020 7624 3080

Maidstone Yoga Centre www.iyengar-yoga.co.uk

Lin Craddock 01622 685864

Putney Iyengar Yoga Centre www.putneyyogacentre.co.uk

Julie Hodges 07974 690 622

Sheffield Yoga Centre www.sheffieldyogacentre.co.uk

Frances Homewood 07944 169238

YogaSouth Sussex www.yogasouth.com

Randall Evans & Cathy Rogers Evans, 01903 762850 / 07774 318105

Iyengar Yoga Studio West Bridgford www.iyogawestbridgford.uk

Isabel Jones Fielding & Geoffrey Fielding 0115 9749975

Yogatree www.yogatree.co.uk

Edgar Stringer and Lydia Holmes 01249 247071

IY(UK) Executive Council

Officer Rep. Name Email

Chair Jill Johnson chair@iyengaryoga.org.uk

Deputy Chair Preeti Sekhon preetiudas@yahoo.com

Secretary Philippe Harari philippe.harari@runbox.com

Deputy Secretary Charlotte Everitt secretary@iyengaryoga.org.uk

Treasurer Velika Krivokapic velika_krivokapic_4@hotmail.com

Deputy Treasurer Michelle Pendergast abacus94@yahoo.co.uk

Membership Sec. Julian Lindars julian@96belmont.co.uk

Deputy Memb. Sec. Elaine Morrison elainemorrison.yoga@gmail.com

Constitution Officer Sarah Delfas sarahandnick@hotmail.com

Chair of AT Jayne Orton jayne@iyengaryoga.uk.com

Chair of Therapy Sheila Haswell therapy@iyengaryoga.org.uk

Chair of EA Ailsing Guirke aislingyogaea@gmail.com

AT Rep. on Board Julie Brown julie.brown61@live.com

AT Rep. on Board VACANCY

AIY Ginny Owen ginnyowen@hotmail.com

BDIY  Helen White white.helen@btinternet.com

CIY Shaili Shafai shshaili@yahoo.com

DHIY Pauline Green pauline.yoga@outlook.com

DIY Melanie Taylor melaniet4@gmail.com

ESIY Sue Cresswell sue.cresswell@hotmail.com

iYG Yvonne Valerio yvoffpiste@aol.com

IYS Bev Appleby bev.appleby.yoga@gmail.com

KIY Margaret Hall margaret.rosehall@yahoo.co.uk

LIY Minna Alanko-Falola minna@iyengaryoga.org.uk

MCIY Nicola Vesper nicolavesper@aol.com

MDIY VACANCY

MDIY Charlotte Everitt c_a_everitt@yahoo.co.uk

MIY Perry Simpson simpsonperry@icloud.com

NEIY Caroline Earl carolinejpearl@yahoo.com

NELIY Sally Lee purpleslee@gmail.com

NOTIY VACANCY

ORIY Tanya De Leersnyder tanya@guyellis.com

SADIY Peter Durkin peterd.sadiy@gmail.com

SWIY Sarah Pethybridge sarahboopethy@hotmail.com

SWLSIY Elaine Morrison elainemorrison.yoga@gmail.com

Individual Maria Chrysocheraki goldy.yogaonline@yahoo.gr

Individual Geoffrey Fielding geoffrey@movement4health.co.uk

Individual Ingrid Olsen ingridolsen@gmail.com

Individual Preeti Sekhon preetiudas@yahoo.com

Individual Elaine Spraggett elainebev@me.com

Individual Helen Townsend helen.townsend@hotmail.com

IY(UK) Committee Members

Board

Julie Brown, Gerry Chambers, Sarah Delfas, Charlotte Everitt, Aisling Guirke, Philippe Harari, Sheila Haswell, Jill Johnson, Velika Krivokapic, Julian Lindars, Michelle Pendergast, Preeti Sekhon

Assessment & Training:

Management Committee

Kirsten Agar Ward, Margaret Austin, Debbie Bartholomew (Deputy Chair), Julie Brown, Sheila Green, Aisling Guirke (Secretary), Marion Kilburn, Jayne Orton, Judi Sweeting

Assessments and Timetabling:

Debbie Bartholomew, Penny Chaplin, Sheila Green, Judy Lynn, Sallie Sullivan

Professional Development Days, MAT and

Specialised Training:

Brenda Booth, Eileen Cameron, Lydia Holmes (coopted), Judith Jones (Secretary), Marion Kilburn

Manuals and Assessment Paperwork:

Kirsten Agar Ward, Tricia Booth, Helen Graham, Meg Laing (Secretary), Sasha Perryman, Cathy Rogers-Evans

Test Papers and Syllabus

Richard Agar Ward, Margaret Austin, Tricia James (Secretary), Alicia Lester, Susan Long, Christina Niewola

Moderators

Kirsten Agar Ward, Richard Agar Ward, Margaret

Austin, Brenda Booth, Tricia Booth, Julie Brown, Eileen Cameron, Penny Chaplin, Diane Coats, Helen Graham, Aisling Guirke, Sheila Haswell, Tricia

James, Judith Jones, Marion Kilburn, Meg Laing, Susan Long, Christina Niewola, Jayne Orton, Sasha

Perryman, Cathy Rogers Evans, Sallie Sullivan, Judi Sweeting

Archives

Membership to be confirmed.

Children, Young Adults & Families

Membership to be confirmed.

Communications & Public Relations

Joan Abrams, Minna Alanko-Falola, Alice

Chadwick, John Cotgreave, Jill Johnson, Sally Lee, Katie Owens, Poppy Pickles, Perry Simpson

Equity

Membership to be confirmed.

Ethics & Appeals

Aisling Guirke, Toni Elliot, Gael Henry, Frances

McKee, Amparo Rodriguez, Jane Walker

Finance & Membership

Velika Krivokapic, Julian Lindars, Michelle Pendergast, Katie Owens, Andy Tait, Jess Wallwork, Kate Woodcock

Iyengar Yoga Development Fund

Isabel Jones Fielding, Laura Potts, Elaine Spraggett, Helen White

Research

Membership to be confirmed.

Therapy

Sheila Haswell, Elaine Martin, Lorraine McConnon, Larissa McGoldrick, Lynda Purvis, Edgar Stringer, Judith van Dop

Note: the Chair of each Committee is in bold

Advertising in IYN

You can order a full page advert (170mm wide by 246mm high), a quarter page advert (80mm wide by 118mm high) or a half page advert (170mm wide by 118mm high. Either send the completed artwork (as a ‘press quality’ PDF, a high resolution JPEG or an Adobe InDesign document) OR you can send the images (as high res. JPEGs) and wording and we will make the advert up for you.

Please send all text, photographs or artwork by the next issue deadline of 31st July 2020 to cotgreavej@gmail.com

Advertising rates: quarter page £50; half page £100; full page £180. Small ads 60p per word.

NB. the Editorial Board reserves the right to refuse to accept advertisements or parts of advertisements that are deemed to be at variance with the stated aims of Iyengar Yoga (UK). IY (UK) does not necessarily endorse any products etc. advertised in this magazine

SMALL ADs FOR SALE YOGA SHOP STOCK:

Ladies t-shirts, Pune shorts, Patanjali statues (designed by BKSD Iyengar), assorted Iyengar props (including bricks, belts, pranayama bolsters, books (including rare publications). Suitable for a microbusiness on-line entrepreneur. Entire stock for sale, negotiable terms, all offers considered. Contact for details of inventory:

John Ferrabee

john.yogaworks@gmail.com mobile 07876 194942

Yoga Retreat at Penpont Brecon with Sasha Perryman

14 - 20 August 2021 £630

Contact: sashaperryman@yahoo.co.uk

On Sunday 7th March 2021, a group of Iyengar yoga teachers will be offering two online yoga workshops : 10:30 to 13:00 and 14:30 to 17:00. The workshops will be suitable for students of all levels, apart from complete beginners. There is no fee but we are asking for donations to African Rainbow Family (ARF), a registered charity that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender and intersexual (LGBTIQ) people of African heritage and wider Black Asian Minority Ethnic groups. They aim to challenge anti-gay laws; persecutions and environments which seek to criminalise LGBTIQs for their preference of whom they choose to love.

To book your place and donate please visit: https://www.facebook.com/IyengarYogainAction