Yoga Link Centenary Edition 2018

Yoga Link

Centenary Edition 2018 Iyengar Yoga Association of New Zealand (IYANZ)

iyengar-yoga.org.nz

Invocation to Patanjali

Sage Patanjali has penned the ancient Indian heritage of Yoga through his treatise the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, an encompassing study of the subject which consists of just 196 sutras (aphorisms).

This version is from Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

by B.K.S Iyengar, with the addition of approximate pronunciation guides. The translation in English is: Let us bow before the noblest of sages Patanjali, who gave yoga for serenity and sanctity of mind, grammar for clarity and purity of speech and medicine for perfection of health.

Above: Patanjali.

Photo credit: Catherine Adam.

Cover Image printed with permission of RIMYI.

Let us prostrate before Patanjali, an incarnation of Adisesa, whose upper body has a human form, whose arms hold a conch and a disc, and who is crowned by a thousand-headed cobra.

Contents I Welcome From the Chair Jo Peden..................................................................................................................3

I Dedication to Guruji A Brief History of BKS Iyengar's Life Hella Bauer & Kathleen Powell..............................4

I Practice Guide Home Practice Sequence Monica Haar.......................................................................................8

I Reflections from RIMYI Abhijata Sridhar Interviewed by Rebecca Wadey................................................................. 10 Gulnaaz Dashti on Teaching, Fun and Balance Rosie Percival......................................... 13 Visiting RIMYI, July 2018 Jo Peden..............................................................................................17 Pune Days, June 2018 Eira Kramer.............................................................................................. 18

I Personal Stories My Iyengar Yoga Journey Sylvia Goff....................................................................................... 23 Yoga Workshop and the Clutha Gold Cycle Trail Jyoteeka Cummings ....................... 25 Why Attend a Yoga Retreat? Hella Bauer................................................................................27 Workshops—A Teacher’s Perspective Rosie Holland......................................................... 29

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IYANZ Convention Alan Goode Interviewed by Duncan Catanach...................................................................... 32 Sue Scott Interviewed by Kathleen Powell...............................................................................37 Melodie Batchelor Interviewed by Hella Bauer.....................................................................40 Suzi Carson Interviewed by Kathleen Powell......................................................................... 43

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IYANZ Directory of Iyengar Yoga Schools............................................................................................ 46 Directory of NZ Certified Teachers............................................................................................49 IYANZ Committees........................................................................................................................... 52 About IYANZ....................................................................................................................................... 53

Acknowledgements

BKS Iyengar, born 100 years ago, transformed lives across the world, practicing and teaching all aspects of yoga. His teachings at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute and at international workshops inspired students until his death in 2014. There are many who learned from him who now continue his teachings of yoga for the next generation.

2018 is the year the International Iyengar yoga community celebrates with profound reverence our beloved teacher, BKS Iyengar. The Iyengar Yoga Association New Zealand (IYANZ) celebrates and commemorates BKS Iyengar with this publication, and with a three-day centennial convention held in Raglan in November.

Thank you to all our contributors who have written articles or agreed to be interviewed and photographed for this commemorative issue. Thank you also to Hella Bauer for writing, researching and editing many of the articles, as well as proof reading the final copy.

Thank you to Corina Schurmann of Iyengar Yoga Australia for providing us with the photographs of Guruji and to Abhijata for granting permission for their use in this publication.

Finally, sincere gratitude goes to Catherine Adam and Rosie Percival for once again producing a Yoga Link of exceptional quality. Your professionalism, attention to detail and passion for Iyengar Yoga have made working on this project both rewarding and fun.

Namaste, Kathleen Powell Joint Editor

To be featured in the next Yoga Link please send your contributions to the Editor by email on IYANZyogalink@gmail.com

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Jo Peden

From the Chair

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BKS Iyengar’s teachings have had a major impact on yoga and the wider world, and have touched many lives, often in profound and personal ways. His life and teachings are celebrated around the world and we have our own Association’s centennial convention in Raglan with close to 100 participants. I look forward to learning from, and being inspired by, our convention teachers Sue Scott, Alan Goode, Melodie Batchelor and Suzi Carson.

However, this is an opportunity not only to learn and practice together but to meet each other and make connections. The new Exec team (myself, Eira, Jyoteeka, Kathleen and Erica) will be at the convention. We are keen to build community, and look forward to meeting you and hearing your aspirations for our Association.

Being new to the Executive committee I was curious to know how many members our Association has—the answer is 242 members; 108 of whom are teachers.

Although the NZ association is relatively small we are part of a much wider

community with strong Iyengar Yoga associations in many countries including our neighbours Australia, who support us particularly with more senior assessments.

As members we can enjoy being part of this wider community.

The primary goal of our Association is to spread the teachings of BKS Iyengar. To build awareness of Iyengar yoga in NZ, particularly with respect to a younger audience, the Executive committee is looking to use social media more effectively. I hope you took the opportunity to engage in the recent survey as your answers will help to inform our team on what you think differentiates Iyengar Yoga from other styles and what attracted you to Iyengar Yoga.

I wish you well as you prepare for the festive season, summer holidays and for the New Year.

With warm wishes, Jo Peden

Welcome

I am honoured to welcome you to this special commemorative issue of The Link, dedicated to celebrating the centenary of the birth of BKS Iyengar. Many thanks to the talented team of Rosie Percival, Catherine Adam, Hella Bauer and Kathleen Powell who have worked to make this beautiful Link happen and to all others who have contributed.

Dedication to Guruji Hella Bauer & Kathleen Powell 2018 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of BKS Iyengar. Yoga was virtually unknown in the Western World until BKS Iyengar began to promote yoga with demonstrations and workshops in the mid 1950s, and later with his books, notably Light on Yoga. This collection of photographs and milestones provides a glimpse into his remarkable life.

1918 Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar was born on December 14 as the 11th of 13 children in Bellur.

1923 The family moved to Bangalore.

1934 Iyengar moved to Mysore to study with his brother-in-law, the yogi Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, to improve his health through yoga practice.

1937 Krishnamacharya sent Iyengar to Pune at the age of eighteen to spread the teaching of yoga. He spent many hours each day learning and experimenting with various techniques.

1943 Iyengar married his wife, Ramamani.

1944 Their first child, daugher Geeta, was born. The couple had four other daughters—Sunita, Vanita, Suchita and Savita and one son.

1949 Their son Prashant was born.

1952 Iyengar befriended the violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

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2. Early photo of the Iyengar family.

3. Early demonstration preparing for Urdhva Mukha Paschimottanasana.

Dedication

4. Adjusting Yehudi Menuhin in Sarvangasana.

2. Iyengar teaching Viparita Dandasana.

‘The primary goal of yoga is to restore the mind to simplicity and peace, and free it from confusion and distress.’—B.K.S. Iyengar

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3. The Iyengar children in Namaskar.

Below: 1. Iyengar as a young man.

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Left: 1. Krishnamacharya (centre) and Iyengar (far right) at Mysore Palace.

1954 Menuhin invited Iyengar to Switzerland. From then on Iyengar visited the West regularly.

1956 Iyengar made his first visit to the United States.

1958 Iyengar was introduced to Queen Elizabeth of Belgium—he taught her Sirsasana when she was in her 80s.

1966 Iyengar published his first book Light on Yoga. It has been translated into 17 languages.

1973 Ramamani became ill and passed away aged 46.

1975 Iyengar opened the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune, named in honour of his wife.

1984 Iyengar officially retired from teaching, but continued to teach special classes, give lectures and write books.

1992 Iyengar visited New Zealand.

He gave a demonstration and taught a workshop in Auckland.

2005 Iyengar visited the United States to promote his book, Light on Life, and to teach a special workshop at the Yoga Journal conference in Estes Park, Colorado.

During his lifetime Iyengar authored and co-authored 14 books.

2014 On August 20th BKS Iyengar died in Pune at the age of 94.

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Yoga Link | Dedication

'You do not need to seek freedom in a different land, for it exists with your own body, heart, mind, and soul.'— B.K.S. Iyengar

Left: 1. Teaching Sirsasana to the Queen Mother of Belgium.

2. BKS Iyengar with his book Light on Yoga, 1966.

This page: 1. BKS Iyengar in Natarajasana overlooking the Grand Canyon, USA. 2. Portrait of Guruji, 2014. Photo credit: Martin Brading.

3. Teaching Marichyasana III with Geeta demonstrating, RIMYI. 4. BKS Iyengar in Virasana, 2014.

Guruji said 'I always tell people, live happily and die majestically.' Our appreciation for all he did to show us the way is beyond expression. We honour him each time we practice.

Home Practice Sequence Monica Haar

The sequence contains all elements given in general classes; it can be practiced safely at home or while away on holiday. You can add poses in the same category as shown, for example, add Janu Sirsasana after Bharadvajasana 1.

If you are confident with Salamba Sirsasana you can slot that in between Prasarita Padottanasana and the second Adho Mukha Svanasana. You can also add familiar variations in Salamba Sarvangasana.

1. Swastikasana / Seated cross legs pose 2. Baddhanguliyasana & Gomukasana arm variations / Upward Bound Fingers Pose & Cow Face Pose arm variations 3. Adho Mukha Virasana / Downward facing hero pose 4. Adho Mukha Svanasana / Downward facing dog pose 5. Uttanasana / Intense forward stretch

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6. Tadasana / Mountain pose 7. Urdva Hastasana in Tadasana / Upward hands in mountain pose 8. Utthita Trikonasana / Extended triangle pose

9. Utthita Parsvakonasana / Extended side angle pose

10. Ardha Chandrasana / Half moon pose

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With wall support if needed.

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With head support on brick or chair.

12. Adho Mukha Svanasana / Downward facing dog pose 13. Urdhva Mukha Svanasana / Upward facing dog pose Repeat Adho Mukha Svanasana & Urdhva Mukha Svanasana 3–4 times 14. Ustrasana / Camel pose 15. Bharadvajasana 1 / Bharadvaja's twist On floor or chair.

16. Adho Mukha Swastikasana / Forward bend from cross legs 17. Sarvangasana / Shoulderstand Or supported by chair. (5–10 minutes).

18. Savasana / Corpse pose (5–10 minutes).

Monica Haar is the Director and Principal Teacher at the Iyengar Yoga Centre, Auckland. She holds an Advanced Junior II Certificate. www.yogacentre.co.nz

Practice Guide

11. Prasarita Padottanasana / Intense leg stretch

Abhijata Sridhar Iyengar Interviewed by Rebecca Wadey

Abhijata Iyengar, BKS Iyengar’s granddaughter, visited New Zealand in May 2015 where she taught an intensive three day workshop in Auckland to over 150 Iyengar yoga devotees. She was interviewed by Rebecca Wadey for the New Zealand Herald Viva magazine.

Explain to us the Iyengar system Iyengar yoga is essentially B.K.S. Iyengar’s interpretation of Ashtanga yoga.

He himself said, ‘I do not call what I teach Iyengar yoga. Yoga is one. I teach what Patanjali (the sage who wrote the Yoga Sutras more than 1700 years ago) has imparted. But people wanted to identify it so they started to call it Iyengar.

The philosophy is the same as Pattabhi’s Ashtanga yoga; asana posture is breath control, sensitivity control, concentration, meditation, and samadhi dance. Asanas are modified using props. It’s not just doing things mechanically, your mind is present in whatever you’re doing.

Have you always felt that yoga is in your blood?

I was born into yoga. But I grew up in Chennai, not Pune (where the Iyengar institute is based). As a child I didn’t like yoga much. I never practiced so I couldn’t do the asana that I would see the other kids doing. But in the year 2000 after finishing school I moved to Pune and started attending classes every day. I was still young, 16, 17 years old. I practiced there with Guruji (her grandfather, as B.K.S. was known to his friends). I started getting a hold of the asanas—when I could balance on one leg, go onto my head, it was comforting.

At university I thought that standing on my head helped me perform better in exams. After graduation I wanted to do a doctorate in computational biology.

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Left: Abhijata teaching Trikonasana at the IYANZ Convention, May 2015.

Photo Credit: Ella James.

| Reflections from R IM YI

But the study was intense and meant I wouldn’t be able to practice yoga.

In 2005 I decided to take a year’s break from my academics and spend it at the institute. And that year never stopped.

Tell us about the Institute People come from all over the world to study for one or two months.

The wait list is four years the first time, then you can go every two years; senior teachers can go annually. Locals attend throughout the year. It’s skin to skin with no space between them. Many attend yoga therapy classes, the postures are used to alleviate suffering; if somebody has a skeletal or muscular issue, the asana is modified using props and using the principle of that asana to give relief to that area. There are four levels at the Institute.

People come in as beginners and graduate up. Once in the fourth level you continue; people have been in the institute since it started in 1975.

Do you have a preferred asana?

Guruji always said the practice of Sirsasana (headstand) is a must because it regulates the entire body system, metabolism and it immediately touches your mind. I remember one time I did Sirsasana for 20 minutes and told him so proudly ‘I did it, I have accomplished!’ He said, ‘But what did you do?'

I said, ‘20 minutes of Sirsasana!’ He said, ‘No, the moment you went up onto your head, you were in the headstand. What did you do for those 20 minutes?' I said, ‘Nothing! I was waiting for the 20th minute!’ And he said, laughing, ‘What a waste of time’. It’s about the awareness in each moment.

Left: Abhijata adjusting Monica Haar, observed by Paul Barton and Louisa Potter.

Photo credit: Ella James.

How do you become an Iyengar teacher There are several years of practice and 2–3 years of teacher training before you can go for certification. When people come in and say I want to become a teacher we say, ‘First you start learning’. A child goes to school, completes the school and then decides they may want to become a teacher. That’s the same system. You don’t start your kindergarten saying I want to become a teacher.

Half-baked knowledge is dangerous; the human body is unique and the mind adds another level of complexity to it.

Is the Institute on social media?

(Laughs). No. Not in Pune. Other Iyengar centres around the world use it, of course. But the mother institute has never had an advertisement, we don’t do Facebook or Instagram.

This article was originally written for the New Zealand Herald Viva magazine by Rebecca Wadey.

RP: Do you enjoy teaching abroad and travelling?

Teaching is enjoyable in itself. I really enjoy teaching, whether it’s home, whether it's at the institute, whether it's around anywhere in the world.

I really enjoy it; it’s a passion for me, to teach, to do, to be part of it.

RP: Are there any observations you have about yoga in different parts of the world?

The only thing is that, Guruji, Iyengar, the name itself is known around the world, but now it’s becoming known more for the props. That’s the only thing, props of course we use them, no doubt about it, but we do so much more.

Reflections from R IM YI

RP: How do you think things have changed at the institute over the last few years since Guruji’s passed away?

Everything is so far, so good. Changes are happening, Abhi is organising things really well, the office is much more organised, classes are well taken care of, and training is very good with teachers. Juniors and young teachers are coming up. She’s doing an excellent job, so everything is good.

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Gulnaaz lives in Pune, India and has taught at RIMYI for the last 20 years. She visited New Zealand in May 2017 at the invitation of Cornelia Regnier to teach a workshop in Raglan. During her visit Rosie, Cornelia and Louie Galloway had a candid chat with her while drinking chai tea at Cornelia's house. Gulnaaz shares her experience and wisdom about teaching on the world stage, and how we can bring fun and balance to yoga.

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Rosie Percival

Gulnaaz Dashti on Teaching, Fun and Balance

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Left: Gulnaaz surfing the wave of Yoga in Raglan. Photo credit: Cornelia Regnier.

Guruji has taken care of everybody, but props are becoming a habit for some people, that’s what I feel, without a prop, they don’t want to sit, they don’t want to stand, so that’s not a nice thing. Props will come later, if you really need them.

LG: Is it more a Western phenomena?

Yes, I think around the world Iyengar is known for props. That’s what people come to know, when you say Iyengar, they say 'oh using this and that prop'.

CR: It was called furniture yoga for a while.

Yes, exactly, furniture, I was thinking of the word! Because we have so many things around us, so you wonder from where this name has come.

It’s up to us now, to minimally use props, or to use them only when it’s really needed. Up to a certain age we don’t need props, of course after a certain age we need them, you need help, then props should come into the picture.

Right: Local student and teacher trainee, Louie Galloway being guided in handstand. Robert Hitchcock from Hamilton observes.

That fun should be there in yoga, Geetaji would say, when maturity comes, then you can look at that pose differently.

RP: So how do you think that teachers over here, can bring more balance?

The word balance is very interesting, and very complicated (laughter). It’s very easy to talk about, but it’s very difficult to achieve it. The approach has to change a little bit, to make it much more fun, happier, allow people to just come and do. Let them do

Reflections from R IM YI

Not everybody wants to become a teacher. So let the students do what they can, give them a chance to do something. I think that’s Abhi’s point, you know, her classes are so joyful, she makes it fun, and all the students in the class love it. They do everything.

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RP: So in terms of the responsibility of teachers to attract youngsters, what are some things we could do?

So, your practice, for the teacher who is going to attract them, the teacher should be presentable enough to show the asanas every now and then, and allow the students to do it, more than explaining perhaps, let

LG: So don’t hold them back so much?

They are students, you have to understand the concept of a studentship, you should always be a learner, yes if she’s a teacher and she decides she wants to be a teacher, then perhaps teaching will be a little bit different.

I will look at her in a different way, polishing her, with a little bit more details and things, but in a group not everybody wants to become a teacher!

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So when you say what is a youngster?

There is an age for it, so why should we stop you. Why should we give you a block to block you. That word should be deleted, it’s a brick. I think that’s what Abhi means, I understand she’s really picking up good students, younger generation to come up, training them.

the flow happen, let the movement happen, to understand what they are doing, maturity will come later, then you talk about the subtle points, details, of course it’s there, but as I said, if they are young and capable of doing these dynamic poses, let them do.

RP: It keeps coming up a lot, and Abhi mentioned this last year in Pune, about attracting youngsters, obviously it’s important, but can we define, what is a youngster, and how do you attract them?

When I say youngsters in the class, everybody becomes young! Everybody does dynamic things, they try to do their best.

But youngsters we have that age from 16–19, when you’re mature enough to understand what you’re doing, until the age of maybe 40. I would put it in that standard, at least a healthy body can do so many things— dynamic things, more mobility things, more motions are there, so many flows are there, balancings are there, so that particular part, I think age, is like that, are you able to do it? The body cooperates. Whereas, of course everybody has their own difficulties, I think after 40 you have a limitation perhaps, you realise as a woman, your body changes, and male body perhaps different.

Left: An intimate class with Gulnaaz at Cornelia's studio in Hamilton. A Friday evening class before the workshop in Raglan with minimal props.

Photo credit: Rosie Percival.

first, let them feel it, let them understand it. Then perhaps you’re going to be aligning them more, correcting them more, talking to them in detail, things like that.

CR: So, what do you think, say five years of consistent classes?

Definitely, Guruji would say, this Trikonasana or any asana, you will not understand before 5 years. He was right, and if you look at the constitution also, he has written a time there, don’t come to Pune before 8 years.

He has thought of something, that if you come to Pune you at least have some experience, to understand, why he has said? Because he was teaching then, to stand in front of Geetaji, to stand in front of Guruji, that much experience you should have. Understand what this muscle is doing, what the skin is doing.

RP: Do you have any last thoughts to share?

Always practice, and be happy in your practice. Don’t just keep crying, 'This is paining, that is paining!' That’s a part of it no doubt, people have problems. But just practice and be happy in your practice!

Gulnaaz will return to New Zealand in May 2019. She will teach at the Association Workshop to be held in Christchurch.

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Jo Peden

Visiting RIMYI, July 2018

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We were privileged to be taught a few times by Geeta—her brilliance as a teacher shone through despite her being unwell. She took us for the most amazing forward bend session which was many short holds of: classic forward bends; wide-leg variations; seated twists; lateral extensions; and standing forward bends (repeating many poses). She also got us to transition quickly between poses. In the final Paschimottansana I think practically all of the 150 students in the class would have been in their deepest-ever pose.

Prashant's classes, steeped in the breath, observation and philosophy, also gave a great feeling of consciousness and awareness within the practice.

Raya gave us a beautiful image in Uttanasana—the trunk has a close proximity to the legs but does the trunk have an intimacy with the legs?

Sunita led a pranayama class reminding us to not let the breath hit into the sides of throat which led to a quiet quality in the breath and in the throat.

I have been challenged and inspired and hope to bring this to my practice and teaching (especially now I am happily over my 'loose bowel' and jetlag).

Jo Peden is a Junior Intermediate Level III teacher in Wellington.

She is also the Chairperson of the IYANZ Executive Committee. www.wellingtonyoga.co.nz & www.embraceyoga.co.nz

Reflections from R IM YI

I greatly enjoyed my visit to Pune in July. It was my second visit which meant there were a lot of familiar paths. India was, of course, busy, noisy, colourful, beautiful, chaotic and at times confronting. I felt privileged to study and practice with the Iyengar family once again. I loved being with other Iyengar yoga practitioners from around the world. And I enjoyed being part of the tradition of yoga practitioners, inspired by BKS Iyengar, who have practiced over the years at RIMYI.

Pune Days, June 2018 Eira Kramer

Mumbai airport is spectacular: new, modern, angular, glass and marble, sparklingly clean. It’s a bit like a 'changing room', a place where you transition from the first world to the third world (even though, technically, India isn’t the third world). It’s like an episode from Dr Who where you step out of the telephone booth and into another world.

This is our third trip to Pune and everything is comfortable and familiar. The airport doors glide open and Jane and I are assaulted by a wall of heat, a swirl of colour, a cacophony of hooting horns, people calling out, others waving cardboard placards with the names of expected arrivals. And there is Vikram, our driver, a calm and still presence amidst the bustling airport crowd.

Four hours later Vikram deposits us at our Pune flat; familiar faces await us; the flat is comfortingly familiar too and not much has changed since last year. After satisfying ourselves that everything is in order—apart from the fact that we don’t seem to have any keys for the flat, and the second toilet is locked from the inside—we set out on a foray in search of provisions.

No undertaking is impossible and no problem insurmountable, and in true Indian fashion the toilet door is opened; even though the door no longer works and the doorknob lies, a forlorn brass lump, next to the basin, along with the screws that have been removed to solve the problem. We get our keys too, after sharing one key for a week.

With contentment we settle back into last year’s routines. We sample the food at our favourite locals: Charo’s and the Ambience: the dhal is as we remember it and the salt lime sodas are cold and refreshing. Leftover food can be taken home in a 'parcel'. Paper is used for this purpose. India has gone plastic free since we were here last year. At the supermarkets you get reusable muslin

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Yoga Link | Reflections from R IM YI

Top: A city cow.

Bottom left: Water urns at RIMYI.

Bottom right: The local vege market.

I learn to let go of attachments in these classes: to let go of expectation, to let go of attachment to a mat, a prop, a spot, or a posture. Once you have done this, once you are empty (figuratively speaking) Prashant pours his wisdom into you. shopping bags; shopkeepers frenetically remove all plastic coverings from their goods. Large fines await anyone caught in contravention of the new rules. One doesn’t question what becomes of all the plastic removed and thrown out, often into the road; eventually, the mess on the sides of the roads will be cleaned up and India will be truly plastic free. We could take a leaf out of India’s book in this regard.

RIMYI is refreshingly familiar too; our bags are stacked in overhead racks in the asana hall. There are no water bottles in sight.

Ironically, and despite the heat, we drink less water in India and no one walks around clutching bottles of water. We are also less attached to our cell phones. How satisfying this is.

The hall is full and our first class is with Prashant. Last year I found Prashant’s classes confusing and a bit frenetic; this year I begin to enjoy and even look forward to them, partly because he is undemanding or, rather, demanding in a different way from the other teachers: he offers his teachings to us, and it’s up to us to take them up, or not. I learn to let go of attachments in these classes: to let go of expectation, to let go of attachment to a mat, a prop, a spot, or a posture. Once you have done this, once you are empty (figuratively speaking), Prashant pours his wisdom into you. Some people look bored, some confused, some doze and others sit in worshipful contemplation at his feet.

I buy Prashant’s books, and read, and

understood more. I give up grasping for a spot in the room, a mat of my own, a turn on the ropes, (which is his intention I suspect) and instead I start to soak up Prashant’s wise words.

We have classes with Geetaji three times a week; she sees everything and misses nothing. It’s no good trying to hide in the back row. Her classes are strong and we work hard. We are too scared not to.

Somehow Geeta manages to get much more out of us than anyone else can: she screams and cajoles and pushes us to our limits; but, as someone wisely commented: 'She only wants what’s best for us!' It’s a bit difficult to keep this in mind and to keep things in perspective when her eagle eye is upon you.

International Yoga Day occurs whilst we are in Pune. Last year we did a practice led by Sunita. This year Geeta gives a speech; she sits in the front of the hall with a large pile of handwritten notes before her. Oh my, I think, this is going to be a long evening.

I am quietly grateful that I had taken a bolster to sit on, and a blanket to put under my crossed legs. 'Yoga itself is a means to reach yoga,' she commences and I forget the heat, the squash of bodies in the room, the hum of the ceiling fans. All I hear is her voice; she barely glances at her notes. For two and a half hours she talks about yoga, rooted in Patanjali’s yoga sutras, and how: 'Through yoga, the light of knowledge will come.'

| Reflections from R IM YI

'Through yoga, the light of knowledge will come.'— Geeta.

He drives us around Old Pune, we see crumbling, old colonial buildings, and even older temples. Down a tiny alley tucked away on a quiet street he shows us the copper workers. Sitting on the floor with copper bowls between their knees they beat out the metal to the rhythm of their pounding hammers, keeping in tune so that the beat of their bowls takes on an hypnotic quality; it’s a kind of meditation in motion. Isn’t this the Dhyana we strive to realise in our practice,

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Photo: A copper crafter. Photo credits: Eira Kramer.

Three hours a day are allocated to practice time in the hall. It’s usually crowded with students hard at work on their practice.

The teachers, among them Abhi and Raya, usually practice in what used to be Guruji’s corner of the studio. Students come and go, use the props, or work quietly on their mats. After our daily class and practice our time is free to utilise as we see fit. At times we return to our flat and read, or make notes from the day’s classes. At other times we venture out into the city and explore. We have a wonderful rickshaw driver, who takes us on many outings. With him we see parts of Pune we might otherwise never have discovered.

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Hours later and somewhat subdued we walk home, a heavy rain has been falling and some of the paths have become rivers or lakes. We wade barefoot, through ankle deep water trying hard not to think what we are walking on or through. What has become of all the dirt, spit, rubbish, dog poo and that huge dead rat that had lain in the street for days?

I wonder? Yet here squat a collection of copper artisans for whom this Dhyana is an integral part of their day’s work.

Around the corner from the copper workers we see two Brahmin cows, tethered and standing patiently in the hot street. They aren’t thin or neglected, but don’t look particularly happy. Our driver tells us that efforts are being made to remove all cows from the city centre.

In contrast to the busyness of the daytime city, the early mornings are quiet and peaceful. As we sip our early morning tea, gazing down from our second floor balcony, we see the early morning street sweeper as she moves along the street in her sari, hips swaying gently in rhythm to the movement of her handmade grass broom. Like the copper workers she is totally engrossed in

the task at hand. Every morning we see her humming and swaying. Also peaceful is the quiet walk through the park to RIMYI for our daily class.

It’s a beautiful park: the paths tree clad, flowers blooming in British style herbaceous borders. There is a walking track, a gym area, benches where people sit and carry out their daily meditation, children laughing and shouting in the playground.

After class we sit on makeshift stools at the side of the dirty, littered street, amidst the cigarette butts, paper scraps and fallen leaves. We sip sweet, hot chai served in small shot glasses by the chai wallah who has a makeshift stand at the corner of our street.

Then we buy milk and curd from our local street vendor, and stop at the fruit wallah for fresh mangoes, papaya, pomegranates and ripe figs that, along with the fresh curd, constitute our early morning breakfasts.

Pune, with all its rich variety, grows on you. If I could, I would go more often and stay longer. But all too soon the month is over and it is time to return to New Zealand. We depart for Mumbai on a rainy day; sad to leave Pune but looking forward to going home too. I would encourage anyone who is able, to go to Pune, to visit the institute and study with the Iyengars.

It will be an experience of a lifetime, and one you will never forget.

Eira Kramer is a Junior Intermediate Level III teacher based in Auckland.

She teaches at North Shore Yoga and The Yoga Room in Kumeu. www.northshoreyoga.co.nz & www.theyogaroom.co.nz

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Sylvia Goff

My Iyengar Journey

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| Personal Stories

In 1993 I followed my daughter Fiona from England to Auckland, where she introduced me to a group of Iyengar yoga teachers. This was the beginning of my 25-year journey to become a certified Iyengar yoga teacher.

I was 50, my body was starting to tighten up. As a result of an injury to my foot years earlier I was walking badly. X-rays revealed I had arthritis in both hips. I tried numerous things to alleviate the pain, including many styles of yoga. Iyengar yoga improved the alignment of the pelvis and helped to bring my body back into balance.

I joined Joy Sanders at the North Shore Yoga Centre, started a regular Iyengar yoga practice and took advantage of the Iyengar yoga retreats and workshops in England, Italy, Australia and New Zealand. I practised hard, took extensive notes and learned a great deal, especially from the teachings of Pixie Lillas, Glenn Ceresoli and Geeta Iyengar.

As I overcame my body’s multiple problems through regular practice, I learned and gained knowledge, enabling me to help others. BKS Iyengar said that teachers learn from their own practice and from their students.

Despite huge reduction in pain and improved flexibility, I was still unable to walk far, or perform standing poses. I wanted to become a certified Iyengar yoga teacher, but was unable to demonstrate many of the asanas necessary for Assessment.

Finally, at the age of 71, I was persuaded that if I was to progress, hip replacements were essential. I was lucky that my surgeon, Paul Whittaker, understood what was required for me to maintain my yoga practice. In the space of twelve months I had both hips replaced.

Thanks to daily practice, great surgery and good body awareness, within weeks of the final surgery I was able to do standing asanas without support, which had been impossible before the operations.

On the last day we were given the results and feedback individually. Of the seven candidates, four of us passed. The assessors admired what I had achieved and suggested ways in which I could improve my teaching.

In 2014, I applied to join Pixie’s Teacher Training in Balmain, Sydney. Recognising the progress I had made in the 18 years she had known me, she was delighted for me to join the group. I have been able to stay with family on many occasions over the past four years as I completed the training course with Pixie.

This is what being a certified Iyengar yoga teacher is all about; we are forever learning.

The practice has given me freedom in body and mind, and improved the quality of my life.

Early in 2018 my application was accepted and I took the final assessment during the first week of May. All of my students helped my assessment preparation, particularly Matt Wilkey who practised with me daily for the last six months and helped me with the computer presentations.

Yoga is life; it is a different journey for each of us. Enjoy your journey.

Namaste, Sylvia

Arriving in Sydney on the 1st of May, I felt ready but extremely nervous. On the first day, I enjoyed demonstrating my practice before a panel of senior Australian Iyengar yoga teachers, the assessors.

The practice has given me freedom in body and mind, and improved the quality of my life.

The teaching component the next day was very different. Teaching a room full of unknown students with health issues while the assessors looked on was terrifying. I told myself, 'Show them what you know, and demonstrate the love you have for this practice.' Other than a slight left and right issue, all went well.

Top: Sylvia in Hanumasana.

Bottom: Sylvia in Urdhva Dhanurasana.

Photo credits: Matthew Wilkey.

This retreat is a family affair. Arriving at Dunedin airport, my Dad picks us up in a van and drives out to Lawrence to our accommodation. He’s the designated support and drives the van with cycle trailer. My Mum has organised the Yoga props we need in a lovely local hall. On four mornings we start the day with a 1½ hour yoga class before setting off to cycle the trail.

The cycle trail, one of the first to be opened, follows the beautiful Clutha River from Roxbough Dam to Millers Flat on one day and from Millers Flat to Lawrence on another day. On the 3rd day a historical tour of the Lawrence

Personal Stories

My Mum first encouraged me to do this tour—she wanted yoga classes, and she knew that my students were interested in cycling. She thought we could make a fun trip. We choose the end of April as that is when the trees are turning colour and everything looks spectacular, and ANZAC day gives that extra day.

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For the last four years I have taken a small group of yoga students to my home town, Lawrence, in Central Otago for a combined yoga and cycling retreat. Less famous than the Otago Rail trail, the Clutha Gold trail offers 2 days of gentle cycling (a total of 73 km) through stunning landscape and magical autumn colours, with the opportunity to explore quaint places.

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Jyoteeka Cummings

Yoga Workshop and the Clutha Gold Cycle Trail

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Above: Overlooking the Clutha River from Roxborough.

township, site of the Gold rush in Gabriels Gully, provides insight into the history of the place. Having an extra day allows us to adapt if the weather turns against cycling.

Cycling tightens the hips and hamstrings, bending over the handle bars for several hours rounds the shoulders and narrows the chest. The yoga classes work to support the body in those challenges—students comment that the cycling is easy after the classes, they are not as sore as expected. Having four consecutive days of yoga allows me to to progress, to link the sessions for maximum benefit.

This yoga/cycling tour combines a focussed yoga workshop with exploring the beautiful landscape with cycling. For me it’s a welcome opportunity to run a workshop and catch up with my family. I already look forward to next year’s tour.

Jyoteeka is a Junior Intermediate III teacher and teaches full-time at Yoga on the Square in Palmerston North. If you are passing through Palmy please feel free to drop into a class. If you are interested in a Yoga Cycle trip, visit www.yogapalmerstonnorth.co.nz

Like most students I started with weekly classes. First one, then two, occasionally three classes for a couple of years. Then I attended my first two-day workshop — I still remember that workshop. In a room full of teachers and experienced yogis I felt like a fraud—a newbie of barely 2 years of two classes per week, with no natural strength nor flexibility. Yet , I was perfect teaching material —the beginner, who can be adjusted. Attending teachers were able to see how adjustments improved my asana, they learned how to support their tight and inflexible beginner students. My imbalances and weaknesses had a purpose in that workshop—I was adjusted, I was given pointers and advice on how I might best go from status quo— unbalanced and struggling — to a place where my body was in alignment. My self-consciousness didn’t last long—I loved the adjustments that provided memorable Aha! moments; they were given with kindness, and despite being the least physically capable person in the group I felt very much part of it.

At the end of that first workshop my hamstrings had lengthened considerably; for the first time my fingertips reached the floor in Uttanasana. Yes, I was physically exhausted, but emotionally and mentally I was on a high. I’ve been hooked on workshops ever since.

Personal Stories

Yoga has been instrumental in keeping me sane and balanced in the chaos of life for decades. Yoga was the support, the therapy, the stabiliser that allowed me to get through raising three children on my own in an adopted country. Yoga supported me through marriage breakup and moving town, and today it keeps me mobile when job pressures demand that I’m glued to a computer screen for long periods. Yoga shows me what I don’t want to know. I’m so tense — why’s that?

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A yoga retreat — seven days of starting at 6am, hours of practice, hours of silence—a friend commented ‘I’m glad it’s you and not me’. What’s so good about retreats?

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Hella Bauer

Why Attend a Yoga Workshop or Retreat?

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Workshops allow focused attention, to really explore specific asanas or areas of the body. Workshops of several hours a day allow participants to talk, to observe, to ask questions, rather than to simply follow instructions and do.

Workshops also allow yogis to explore the use of props, and how to assist each other by working in pairs or threes. The result is a deeper understanding, a stronger connection to your own body, its strengths and limitations. This understanding is invaluable for home practice.

Every teacher I’ve studied with and every workshop I’ve attended stick in my mind because of one or two main points I’ve gleaned, and often for a breakthrough. After that first workshop my fingertips reached the floor. My first headstand was at the end of a workshop. Oh and I remember one workshop space with a wall of mirrors: I could see that my knee in Virabadrasana II was bent at anything but a right angle. Adjusting the position to that right angle, and staying long enough imprinted what the correct asana feels like into my muscle memory.

Yes, the early workshops were hard, physically challenging. Yet, I left not just the first workshop but every one after that on an emotional high that reverberated through my life for weeks. Over the years, the workshops I attended got longer—from 2 or 3, to 4, to 7 days and more. After 20 years as a yoga student I realized in 2017 that I’d like to learn to teach, to pass on what I’ve learned. With no Iyengar school nor senior teacher close to where I live, I attended an

8-week intensive full-time teacher training. eight weeks away from home, entirely focused on the eight limbs of yoga—what a gift!

Workshops allow me to experience what it feels like when I incorporate intense practice into every day for an extended period of time.

No time for a holiday yet feeling exhausted and depleted? A yoga workshop is the best way to restore my energy, to rebalance my life. Even just 2 days in the company of other dedicated yogis, filled with pranayama, asana practice, healthy food and inspiring conversations—I highly recommend it.

Yoga workshops have the power to be truly transformative, affecting your body and your life. The gift of those 8 weeks still resonates nearly a year on—my body is stronger and more flexible, and I’ve never in my life felt as grounded, as content. Yoga is my stabiliser; workshops inspire my regular home practice more than classes ever can, and their combined benefit is invaluable.

Left: Hella Bauer in Sirsasana.

Hella Bauer is a writer and trainee teacher currently based in Tauranga, New Zealand's 5th largest city that is still without a dedicated Iyengar yoga studio. www.hellabauer.com

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Rosie Holland

Workshops —A Teacher’s Perspective

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Personal Stories

Why do I like teaching workshops? When asked if I would write for the Link on this topic I only hesitated for a moment. And now as I sit to write a flood of reasons pour in. As I analyse these the bottom line is work satisfaction.

For many years I ran a yoga school and was its main teacher. For those who are in this position, you understand what comes with running a school.

You are responsible for the classes you teach, the day-to-day running of a business, for training teachers. Bills to be paid, timetables to be tweaked, cleaning of the premises and upkeep of the space, advertising, banking, administration, the ups and downs of student numbers—and on and on it goes.

After decades of teaching and many years of running the school I began running weekend workshops at Kimi Ora, Kaiteriteri, near Nelson, to make ends meet.

Left: Rosie adjusting a student in Adho Mukha Svanasana.

Left: Rosie teaching Jared White in Sirsasana II.

Right: Rosie teaching a variation of Pincha Mayurasana with the chair.

And so began my love of working this way: — The spaciousness of having time to really explore an asana.

— The fun of that exploration.

— The commitment of a group of students wanting to deepen their

understanding of yoga.

— The fun of a group brought together with a common purpose.

— In some cases living away from your every day life.

— As a teacher, the satisfaction of taking students to places you may

never have time for in a general class.

— The challenge to work in this way—how it broadens and opens

up your own horizons.

Rosie Holland, a Junior Intermediate III teacher, has been teaching for over three decades, and ran a school in Nelson. She’s trained many teachers, and now runs workshops and retreats in New Zealand, Fiji and Bali. She still teaches a weekly classes when she happens to be in Nelson. www.rosiehollandyoga.com

Centenary Celebration Raglan, New Zealand November 9–11, 2018

The New Zealand Iyengar Yoga community is gathering in beautiful Raglan to celebrate the birth centenary of BKS Iyengar.

We are honoured to have Senior teachers Alan Goode and Sue Scott from Australia, and Melodie Batchelor and Suzi Carson from New Zealand, teaching classes at our Centenary Celebration.

www. iyengar-yoga.org.nz

Alan Goode Interviewed by Duncan Catanach

Alan Goode, a Junior Advanced Level II teacher and director of the Yoga Mandir Institute of Iyengar Yoga in Canberra regularly visits New Zealand to teach intensives. Duncan Catanach spoke with Alan in July 2018 when he was teaching a backbend intensive in Auckland.

When and how did you first start yoga?

I started yoga in 1975 by accident. A friend of mine, a guy named Danny, injured himself playing soccer. His mother suggested that he do yoga for his bad knee. I was in the kitchen when she said this. We both went to the yoga class. Danny walked out and never did yoga again. I walked out and yoga changed my life.

From that very first class, it was clear to me that I’d had an extremely significant experience. I was 15 at the time; my mother had died when I was 13. Looking back on those two years after her death, I was distressed and I couldn’t make sense of the world.

The first time I did yoga I had an experience where I could let go of my distress. I walked out of that room and knew that yoga had changed my life.

I didn’t understand what it was. I didn’t know anything about yoga and there was no one in my experience who had done yoga, but it had a profound emotional release or letting go.

I started to attend classes in Sydney. In those days, most yoga was taught to older females (70+)—the 'blue rinse' brigade with fishnet stockings over

By this time, I’d read a lot about yoga and done a lot of yoga. The style of yoga I had been doing, which wasn’t Iyengar, was more thinking about things. In Iyengar yoga I experienced them. The moment I got exposed to Iyengar yoga, it became clear that this was what I wanted to do.

What was also extraordinary in the early years was that when you hopped on the plane to India, you would fall off the earth for a month. There were no phones and no internet available. Anything you read in the newspaper was possibly days old. In the middle of your visit you would send an aerogramme home, but you would often beat it home by a couple of weeks. You literally had no contact with the outside world. The experience was quite monastic, focused and it was profound as you were completely immersed in the practice and the learning.

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How did you come to Iyengar yoga?

My introduction to Iyengar yoga was some years later. I travelled to Europe for a couple of years. Throughout this period I practiced, but it was only when I came back to Australia and moved to Sydney in 1982/83 that I came across Iyengar yoga.

How has RIMYI changed over the years? What draws you back year after year?

When I first started going to RIMYI I went to intensives. They were extraordinary, for their mix of intensity—the number of hours and the intensity of Iyengar and his teaching—and the humility and generosity Iyengar brought to what he did. An example of this was on the last evening of the intensive, the Iyengar family would cook for all of us. Iyengar (and Prashant and Geeta) would then stand and serve food to each student on the intensive.

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Within a couple of years, my father also took up yoga. I used to go off 2–3 nights a week, catch a train for half an hour to where the teacher was, and then would come home and practice. I’m sure my father thought I was doing something strange so he decided to join me, mostly I think to make sure that I wasn’t involved in a cult! It was very nice for me. He’d come once a week and drive me to yoga before I had my driving licence. At yoga he usually fell asleep and snored while I became sane.

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Right from the beginning I started practicing.

It helped me to live with myself through this period. In a short time, I was practicing daily. Certainly by the time I was old enough (18) to go to a pub, I had given up drinking and was practicing daily.

What was your first experience of RIMYI? The first time I went to India to the Institute was in 1983. I had been told that a place was available on an intensive at Pune with a South African group in two weeks time.

Patricia Blundell, a teacher from Perth, was taking a group from Perth to join the South African group. I had never been to India, but in the naïve way that you do, I thought, 'That would be great'. And so I jumped on a plane.

their leotards—and then there was me, aged 15. For some reason, I didn’t notice this. It didn’t seem to be an obstacle and I knew that, whatever this thing was, it just made sense.

These days it’s harder to have such an intense experience. India has changed.

I now take a computer with me and set up an office. I continue to interact with people back in Australia. I’m often involved in meetings and international discussions and I catch up with old friends.

Photo: Alan Goode teaching Trikonasana.

I go to India now for the practice and the time out. I go to be in the 'primary relationship'—I’m there in the hall with my practice. In my life, I’m often in the role as a teacher where I tell people, direct things and have a certain level of control. When I go to India I step away from my life and my teaching commitments and I become a student again.

To be a student is the centre of yoga— you are in the practice, learning from the practice, looking at yourself through your practice. Going to India is the discipline of being a student.

How has your practice changed over the years?

My commitment to practice is more enduring now. Early on you have expectations and hopes. Over the years you have high and low points—things happen in your life, they happen in your body and you age. Some of what you set off with may be fulfilled, but it also changes.

Over time, your experience starts to broaden and on many levels you become a more mature practitioner. That maturation in practice is a rich and lovely experience.

Early on, you are trying to learn the techniques and improve through them.

Later on, you learn through your practice.

The practice brings you closer to who you are and what you do know. And so the

relationship to practice changes. It is about trying to understand yourself, trying to make sense of the world you live in and the way the world affects you. Yoga as a practice supports this process but also goes with you.

Being a full-time yoga teacher is not an easy path. When did you become a full time yoga teacher, and what motivated you?

When I started in 1975, there were no schools of yoga, no yoga mats and many of the things that we associate with becoming a yoga teacher today didn’t exist.

In the early-mid 1980’s schools of yoga started to appear. I opened my first school in 1984 in Sydney. To practice as much as we wanted to practice it was hard to have a full time job. In other countries such as

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a bit more about your relationship with the Yoga Sutras?

One of the things I’ve spent decades with, apart from trying to make sense of yoga and myself, are the Yoga Sutras.

the UK, institutes were set up as voluntary organisations, but in Australia, individual teachers started schools because they wanted to practice and needed a place to do so. The last time I had any other job was 1989.

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There is a link between teaching and practice. When you start to teach you have to be clearer. When you teach, it provokes questions that you have to take back to your practice to get clarity. That loop is a significant discipline—practicing, communicating your practice through teaching and the questions that you take back into your practice from watching your students.

I’ve worked most of my life as a teacher.

Teaching is not an easy path. It’s often not well understood, recognised for its role, significance or its demands. But yoga teachers teach in spite of all of this. You’re inclined to practice, and you’re inclined to teach—in some ways teaching is an expression. It is all consuming. It touches our primary relationship with our practice, our desire to understand.

I’ve been lucky enough to attend a couple of your intensives in New Zealand. One of things I’ve loved is the way you deeply infuse yoga philosophy into the practice and teaching of asana. Can you tell me

I first started to look closely at the Yoga Sutras when I was walking in the Indian Himalayas in the late 80’s. Two ten-day walks with a short break in-between to get supplies, but basically it was three weeks of walking. Unlike in Nepal, you have to carry your own equipment and so everything you carry has to have use and value. You don’t carry anything extraneous so the idea of carrying a book was a luxury. You wouldn’t take a novel because you’d read it and then very quickly it would become a dead weight. But I thought, 'I will take a copy of the Yoga Sutras'.

As I walked each day, I would have my copy handy and when I stopped I would read three or four sutras. Then I’d walk for another two or three hours and ruminate over the Sutras and my practice. It was a great discovery to find that this was a good way to deal with the Sutras.

The Yoga Sutras are not an easy read, yet for the practitioner they are illuminating.

I walked and I reflected. When I came back from India, I continued. I would read a bit, practice and reflect. Over time I began to see that a lot of Patanjali’s writings could be seen right there in the practice and through the practice. As I became exposed to Iyengar, I found almost everything that he was talking about could be read in the Yoga Sutras.

My reflection on the Sutras is done in the first person. When I teach I try to talk about the Yoga Sutras but I talk about them in a

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‘One of the debates in yoga is: is teaching yoga a vocation or a profession? I think it sits more in line with a vocation. The passion to teach is driven out of one’s own practice.’

way that they can be experienced. For me, the Sutras are experiential philosophy. If I’m trying to highlight an example of something in the Sutras, I look for an example in the practice so I can link it to what Patanjali is talking about. Whether or not it has meaning for the individual is whether or not they experience it.

Yoga testimony is one of three valid forms of knowledge. Testimony is not something you believe, but it may be the basis for inquiry.

Meaning is found through practice.

How do you think you, as a teacher, and we can best carry on Guruji’s legacy?

Over the decades that I have been going to India, their teaching has constantly changed. But on another level it hasn’t. The techniques change, come and go, but there is a constant and that is that practice is the source of knowing.

There’s a beautiful quote from Iyengar something along the lines of this: 'Most people study yoga from an academic point of view, but I, through my practice, have examined my experience'.

Iyengar used rigour in practice—he didn’t just practice for pleasure or comfort. Practice is a discipline conducted with rigour using repetition, application and dedication. These factors are at the heart of Iyengar yoga; they inspire students to take up the practice.

Ultimately it’s not what people teach that’s most important. Instead, it’s their own

Photo: Alan Goode adjusting a student in Eka Pada Galavasana.

relationship to their practice that is the inspiring quality that brings a student to get in touch with their own experience.

Throughout his lifetime, BKS Iyengar had a passion to communicate his practice. At some level, with his death, an era has ended.

But there is also a freedom that comes with his passing. We are now able to have our own experience, applying his methods and following our understanding.

The lineage of Iyengar yoga is the lineage of teacher to student. BKS Iyengar taught a generation of people. It’s now the duty of those people to teach their students. Not exactly what Iyengar taught, but having practiced, they inspire the next generation to take up the practice. These people, inspired by the practice, will teach their understanding to the following generation and so on.

Iyengar yoga will change and evolve but the heart of Iyengar yoga—the practice—will remain unchanged.

Alan has written extensively on the subject of yoga. For information on his teaching schedule, and to access his articles, view www.yogamandir.com.au

Yoga Link |

Interviewed by Kathleen Powell

Sue Scott

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Sue Scott, a Senior Intermediate III teacher, began teaching in 1991, and is founder, director and senior teacher at Yoga Jivana in Melbourne. She enjoys travelling within Australia and overseas to teach yoga and train yoga teachers. Kathleen Powell interviewed Sue via email.

How and when did you discover Iyengar yoga?

I had been living & working overseas for many years and had returned to Australia in 1990 to rest & rehabilitate after sustaining a spinal injury.

My brother and sister were both going to Iyengar Yoga classes at the time and encouraged me to try it.

While at first I had to work therapeutically due to my vertebral disc herniations & related injuries, I immediately gravitated towards a regular practice as the depth of this philosophically based technique had a huge appeal for me.

Who have been your teachers and how have they inspired you?

My father was incredibly knowledgeable about how the human body functioned and moved. When I started ballet he devised a home training system that developed my practice and helped overcome my inherent stiffness. He also insisted I sleep with toe separators to ensure that my feet didn’t become deformed from wearing point shoes! I am forever grateful for his support and insights.

Photo: Sue Scott in Parsvaikapada Sirsasana at Yoga Jivana.

'I was privileged to first meet Guruji in 1992 when he taught in Australia. His generosity and compassion was overwhelmingly present in everything he did.

He taught me how to listen to my body and practice deeply and creatively; it was a great gift'.

A few years later, meeting Geetaji and being in her classes was for me, a revelation. Her profound abilities to teach and shed light on her father's legacy while supporting each student’s needs was something truly inspiring.

At what point did you decide to become a teacher?

I began teaching dance when I was young; teaching is something I have always loved doing. One of the best ways to really get to know a subject is to work with it, share it, and teach it to another person. Teaching yoga opened up for me as a natural progression from my evolving practice.

Over the years I have come to appreciate just how fortunate I am to be able to do what I do.

When a new student comes to your class, is there any specific thing you try to convey about (Iyengar) yoga to inspire them to return?

As teachers I think it is important to be receptive to the student who is joining a yoga class for the first time. To assuage their nervousness and imbue the class with a sense of communal support and acceptance for what our bodies and minds can manage in the beginning of the journey.

A student who is new to yoga needs an experience that appropriately challenges and inspires them to continue.

Do you have a favourite quote or mantra that keeps you focused?

'Yoga does not just change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees' and 'Nothing can be forced, receptivity is everything'. — BKS Iyengar Aside from yoga, what do you do for fun?

Spending time with my daughter is a great delight. We enjoy long walks with our dog, and on occasion our cat joins us too!

For information on Sue's teaching schedule visit www.yogajivana.com.au

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discovery, compassion, acceptance and deeper understanding.

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My injuries have of course been frustrating and at times demoralising, but ultimately they have been instrumental in leading me on a path of

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When we attempt any asana or sequence we are immediately asked to face our personal limitations or prejudices, and over time, go beyond them. Through a committed practice we learn to bring our self fully to the experience of yoga.

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Have you worked through any injuries and what was your experience with this?

A yoga pose is perfect. It simply is.

Melodie Batchelor Interviewed by Hella Bauer

Melodie Batchelor, a Senior Intermediate II teacher, founded Herne Bay Yoga in 1997. She runs teacher training and teaches workshops around New Zealand and in Indonesia. Hella Bauer spoke with Melodie at a seven day workshop they both attended.

When and how did you find yoga?

In 1992, Melodie, at the time a dancer, dance teacher and occasional choreographer, attended a workshop with Shandor Remete.

She was amazed by the emotional effects— ‘I saw all these dancers, bursting into tears in Viparita Dandasana in the chairs, such a release to the opening of the chest.’

Melodie realised that, while her dancer’s body was capable of ‘making shapes’ she had no understanding of the effects of the asanas on organs, the neurosystem and emotional well being.

Her two sons had, or were just about to, flee the nest and she needed a new direction.

Dance contracts were becoming rare, and her passion for dance was subsiding. ‘In dance you get old early, and you can’t do it any more—the body aches and pains, and the desire to continue with daily physical torture decreases.’

Melodie attended classes with Mande White.

6 months later she began teaching—built on

nearly two decades of teaching dance the transition to teaching yoga was not too hard.

‘In dance you can be whoever you want to be,’ she said ‘in yoga it’s different. Yoga helps to strip the layers away; I discovered who I really was, and what I really wanted.’

‘In yoga when you experience pain, you learn how to heal it with yoga. Yes I got injured through bad practice, and then I learned how to heal myself with yoga, through daily exploration I learned the techniques that allow asana without injury.’

Melodie was amongst the first students to be assessed as Iyengar Yoga teacher in NZ in 1996—senior teachers from Australia took that first assessment.

The year of BKS Iyengar’s centenary coincides with celebratory dates of her own: Melodie’s school Herne Bay Yoga turns 21 in June 2018. It opened in 1997 with 3 teachers and 16 classes. It has now grown to 6 teachers offering 21 weekly classes.

In the last 10 years I’ve been attending the therapy sessions. They are just marvellous.

So much to learn. I always look for how I can help my students.

It's quite magical. I learn something new, and a student who needs just that turns up not long after.’

‘There’s a signficant change after every visit to India. How else can I learn? It is no use being in a fool’s paradise…’

And then there are the festivals. ‘It doesn’t matter what time of year you go to India, there’s always a festival…’

Melodie’s enthusiasm for yoga is infectious.

‘I can keep learning, keep studying, there’s always more to learn. How to adapt practice when the body changes, how to run your own business, how to train teachers, how to assess… yoga is all I do, and all I want to do.’

Geetaji is demanding, caring, passionate, honest, all the qualities I aspire to.’

What changes did you see over the years at RIMYI? I would have expected to see more changes at RIMYI since Guruji’s passing. I have discovered there is a strong presence of him at the Institute. The teachers Sunita, Abhijata, Raya have taken the mantle strongly. When Geetaji teaches it is a blessing. There will be so much to gain by attending the RIMYI for many years to come. So much to learn from these inspired teachers.

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Why do you always go back?

‘I always leave with something new. The classes at the Institute, the difference in the classes and attitudes keep me grounded and focussed. I always bring something back to my students.

Who has been your major inspiration besides BKS Iyengar?

Geetaji has been my main influence other than Guruji. For 15 years I have been privileged to study with Geetaji. In the general classes her passionate and unique teaching style takes everyone in the room to a higher level. In the women's classes on Wednesday and Saturday she gives so much information about the hormonal stages of women, child birth, menstruation, menopause whilst teaching a high level, demanding yoga class. In the medical classes she is equally demanding of her assistants.

As she sets the sequences for each individual patient/student, the assistant must memorise the sequence and know how to take the patient through their sequence.

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Since 1998 Melodie has returned to Pune for a month of yoga at the Institute every year, unruffled by India’s challenges of chaos, poverty, pollution and sickness.

She has inspired her family too—one brother is an Iyengar teacher with his own school in Sydney, another brother and her sister are dedicated Iyengar students.

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2018 marks Melodie’s 20th visit to Pune.

‘I have this vision of myself —when I’m old and dottery I can still teach chair yoga in the retirement home, $5 per class for a bit of extra pocket money…’

Melodie herself has 10 teaching slots per week, which include classes, teacher training, private and therapy classes.

In addition, she teaches workshops in New Zealand, Indonesia and Brazil, and all the work she does for the Association.

Melodie in Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana.

Photo credit: Tessa Chrisp.

Melodie makes an adjustment in Urdhva Dhanurasana. Photo credit: Susanna Brow.

What’s your mantra or quote?

These change from time to time. I often share a mantra I used when going for my first assessment, Introductory Level 1 & 2 'I will be very nervous but I will do a good job anyway.' Simple, but I must have said it to myself 1,000 times in the days leading up to assessments. The quote on my website resonantes: 'Yoga is my passion, my art, my life. To practice and teach is my only goal, to be inspired and inspire others is my only aim.'

‘Yoga is all I’ve done for years, and it’s all I want to do. I have no time for anything else, and no desire to add anything else either.’ Yes, there is a little time for her family, children, grandchildren and the garden.

Her idea of slowing down relates more to conserving her energy, to mspend less time on administration, and offer more workshops instead. It’s a call for younger yogis to step up, to keep the Association going.

At a time when other people plan to retire Melodie shows no sign of slowing down.

To the contrary, she’s preparing for her next assessment, Senior Intermediate Level 3.

For information on Melodie's teaching schedule visit: www.yogahernebay.co.nz

Yoga Link |

Interviewed by Kathleen Powell

Suzi Carson

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Suzi Carson, a Junior Intermediate III teacher, started Ponsonby Yoga in 1996. A name change in 1997 launched Four Winds Yoga where Suzi is the Director and Principal Teacher. Kathleen Powell interviewed Suzi via email.

How and when did you discover Iyengar yoga?

I was 20 years old and had just returned to New Zealand after living in London. I was visiting my uncle in the Coromandel in summer. We had gone out to the coast and I was doing handstand drop-backs on the beach…as you do when you are 20! A woman came up to me and said I should come to yoga, so that I would be able to do handstand/backbends for the rest of my life. That woman was Monica Haar, the yoga class was Iyengar Yoga. Moni had a house in Colville and was teaching a summer class in the local hall.

I remember that first yoga class, hardest thing I’ve ever done, haha! But the seed was sown.

Who have been your teachers and how have they inspired you?

Moni inspired me to start yoga and through her guidance I attended Mr Iyengar’s demonstration in Auckland in 1992. Mr Iyengar was incredible, I was so inspired by this small but hugely courageous, highly accomplished man. I really did not know what I was seeing, but felt the intensity of what he represented. I attended his workshop that weekend and again the seed of Iyengar yoga was embedded.

My official 3 years teacher training was at the Yoga Academy with Peter Nilsson and I became certified in 1995. Later that year I travelled to India, for the first time, as part of the Australian Intensive at RIMYI with Mr Iyengar.

There I met the Australian contingent including my current teacher, Peter Thomson. Each day I would position my mat close to where Peter was to

watch him practice. Again I was aware of witnessing something that was very significant but with no idea why.

In June 2014 we traveled to India, and for the first time Mr Iyengar was not in the hall practising with us. The last time I saw him he was sitting on his doorstep with his great granddaughter, laughing. I came over to pay my respects (touching the guru’s feet) and we laughed as his great granddaughter reached up to play with my earrings. He died in August that year, we were all so grateful to have had this last moment with this incredible man.

Which teacher aside from BKS Iyengar has had the greatest influence on your yoga journey?’

Some of my family was living in Australia so I started attending classes with Peter Thomson at the Glebe Yoga School. One day I questioned him after class why everyone used so many props to do Janu Sirsasana.

He replied: 'I didn't ask you to'. I wondered what that meant for a long time! Now I realise he knew I didn't have the mental capacity to take it on. Youthful folly!

22 years ago IYANZ invited Peter to teach in Auckland and a year later we started hosting him at Four Winds Yoga. He has been coming twice yearly since.

At what point did you decide to become a teacher?

I think I always knew I was going to be a teacher but ‘right time and right place’ I ended up teaching at age 24 at the Yoga Academy. However when I was 28 I had to stop work due to RSI (repetitive strain injury) caused from excessive computer work.

At this stage I was teaching in our local

community centre in Ponsonby, twice weekly.

I had since met my partner Paul Groom and he convinced me to stop work and start teaching full time. He joined me at Ponsonby Yogashala (now Four Winds Yoga) where we continue to grow the school to 17 classes and jointly taught and raised our family.

Have you worked through any injuries and what was your experience with this?

As previously mentioned my wrists and forearms were most problematic. Interestingly it was supported Chaturanga Dandasana that helped me the most. A few years ago I came off a surfboard, into very shallow water, hitting my head, my neck took the impact. The first thing I did was Adho Mukha Svanasana on the beach, putting my head and neck into traction. I was bleeding from my face (face scraped along the sand) but it was my neck I was concerned about. From there I worked extensively with preliminary headstand variations (mainly with thoracic support, sticks and blocks). It was absolutely the only thing that felt right to lessen the impact of the injury.

When a new student comes to your class, is there any specific thing you try to convey about (Iyengar) yoga to inspire them to return?

I guess I say Iyengar yoga is limitless, it has no boundaries in the practice realm. Mr Iyengar never stopped experimenting with his practice, right up to his 95th year. You can move, restore, jump, flow, invert, long holds, short holds, meditate, remediate.

Iyengar yoga is for all ages, in all conditions.

No other practice offers this.

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Photo: Geetaji teaching Suzi in Virabhadrasana II. Photo credit: Paul Groom.

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Do you have a favourite quote or mantra that keeps you focused?

I’m not sure this is my favourite, more that it is currently on my mind. Mr Iyengar said: 'In your discipline, if doubt comes let it come. Do your work— let doubt carry on with its work and see which gives up first!'

Peter Thomson and Iyengar Yoga have taught me to practice perceptually, especially in relation to what comes first and how to proceed from that place.

There is so much there in that place that I have fewer doubts today than I had 10, 20 years ago, and I look forward to what the next decade reveals.

Aside from yoga, what do you do for fun?

Everything, I do like testing the limits! Sailing is our favourite family pasttime. We have a Stewart 34 yacht. Paul races weekly and we cruise as often as we can. We sail from Auckland to the most incredible places.

Our favourite is Great Barrier where we fish, jump off rocks, spear fish, SUP board and sail. The rhythm of life changes. I feel very fortunate.

It truly is an honour to be invited to teach at the Raglan convention for Mr Iyengar’s 100th Birthday year and to spend this weekend together as a community. It is full of wonderful people that I am thankful to have in my life.

For information on Suzi's teaching schedule visit: www.yoga.net.nz

Directory of Iyengar Yoga Schools Auckland Breathing Space Yoga Studio 19 Mauranui Ave, New Market, Auckland.

Ph. (09) 377 4544 / 021 800 078 www.breathingspaceyoga.co.nz

Four Winds Yoga 20 Ponsonby Terrace, Ponsonby, Auckland.

Ph. (09) 482 2901 / 027 482 2901 Director: Suzi Carson www.yoga.net.nz

Herne Bay Yoga 230C Jervois Road, Herne Bay, Auckland.

Ph. (09) 376 5477 / 021 895 988 Director: Melodie Batchelor www.yogahernebay.co.nz

Iyengar Yoga Centre of Auckland 147 Great North Road (Trades Hall Building) Grey Lynn, Auckland.

Ph. 021 033 0645 Director: Monica Haar www.yogacentre.co.nz

Iyoga Studio 200 West Coast Rd, Glen Eden, Auckland.

Ph. 027 541 4810 Director: Vanessa Greenwood www.iyoga.co.nz

Mt Eden Yoga 597 Mt Eden Road, Mt Eden, Auckland.

Ph. (09) 630 6950 / 021 072 0510 Director: Heidi Napflin www.mtedenyoga.co.nz

North Shore Yoga Level 1, 34 Barrys Point Road, Takapuna, Auckland.

Ph. 021 362 454 Director: Joy Sanders www.northshoreyoga.co.nz

Stephanie Hall Yoga 2 Kenmure Ave Milford, North Shore, Auckland.

Ph. 027 429 6969 Director: Stephanie Hall www.stephaniehallyoga.co.nz

The Yoga Room 3/4 Grivelle Street, Kumeu.

Ph. 021 161 4336 Teacher: Eira Kramer www.theyogaroom.co.nz

Corner Norton and Seddon Roads, Hamilton.

Ph. (07) 846 7600 / 021 791 250 Director: Matthew Smart www.iyengaryoga.co.nz

Iyengar Yoga Centre of Waikato

Yoga Essence

61 McFarlane Street, Hamilton.

Ph. (07) 856 4932 / 027 389 4987 Director: Cornelia Regnier www.yogahamilton.co.nz

1A Cinema Street Birkenhead, Auckland.

Director: Marcia Leite Ph. 027 226 6981 www.yogaessencecentre.co.nz

Scout Hall, 49 Cliff Street, Raglan.

Ph. (07) 856 4932 / 027 389 4987 Director: Cornelia Regnier

yogamoves

Sandspit Yoga Studio

Jubilee Avenue, Devonport, Auckland.

Ph. 021 446 089 Director: Wendy Norwood www.yogamoves.co.nz

Wellington Iyengar Yoga Centre of Wellington 6 Swan Lane, Wellington.

Ph. (04) 384 7364 Director: Tessa Meek www.wellingtonyoga.co.nz

Wellington Yoga Centre 1a Kensington St, Wellington.

Ph. 04 387 1107 Director: Susanna Brow www.wellingtonyogacentre.co.nz

Raglan Yoga School

7 Creek Street, Sandspit.

Phone: (09) 422 3134 Director: Yan Stam

Taranaki Yoga Kings Building, Level 2, 36 Devon St, New Plymouth.

Ph. 027 757 2122 Director: Tria Peters www.taranakiyoga.com

Village Iyengar Yoga 1448 Tukituki Rd and 32 Havelock Rd Havelock North.

Ph. 021 032 5600 Director: Wendy Dawson www.iyengaryogawithwendy.com

I YA NZ

529 West Coast Rd Oratia, Auckland.

Ph: 027 284 1178 Director: Stephanie Anderson www.westaucklandyoga.co

Iyengar Yoga Centre of Hamilton

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West Auckland Yoga

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34C Anzac Rd, Brown’s Bay, Auckland 0630 Ph. 021 081 15324 Director: Neil McKay www.theyogastudionz.co.nz

Rest of North Island

The Yoga Studio

Whanganui Yoga Centre 72 St Hill Street, Whanganui.

Ph. (06) 347 1941 / 021 0272 5921 Directors: Sue McBride & Norman Gruebsch Sue: suevince@paradise.net.nz Norman: yogavrksa@yahoo.com.au

Yoga Central Level 2, 69 Bank St, Whangarei.

Ph. (09) 438 6887 / 027 333 6858 Director: Taya Van Roon www.yogacentral.co.nz

Yoga on the Square Westside Chambers, The Square, Palmerston North.

Ph. (06) 355 1197 Director: Jyoteeka Cummings www.yogapalmerstonnorth.co.nz

Yoga Studios Bay of Plenty 1148 Pukuatua Street, Rotorua.

Ph. (07) 349 1654 / 027 439 3910 Director: Paul Barton www.yogabop.co.nz

Yoga Studio Kerikeri 3 Homestead Rd, Kerikeri.

Ph. (09) 407 7759 / 027 540 9937 Director: Kim Robertson-Barnes www.yogastudiokerikeri.co.nz

Yogabody 73 Smith Road, Matakana.

Ph. 021 039 4483 Director: Susie Lever www.yogabody.co.nz

Christchurch Yoga Base Within the Wilding Park Tennis Complex Woodham Rd, North Linwood, Christchurch.

Teachers: Anne-Marie Tweedie, Hollie Tang, Sally Mekalik, Erica Viedma www.yogabase.co.nz

Christchurch East Yoga 38 Bowhill Road, North New Brighton, Christchurch.

Ph. 027 475 0090 www.chchyoga.squarespace.com

Rest of South Island eternally YOGA 4 Faraday Rise, Richmond.

Ph. 027 540 3944 Director: Anna Timms www.eternallyyoga.com

Iyengar Yoga Dunedin King Edward Court, Room 211 291 Stuart Street, Dunedin.

Ph. (03) 454 4414 / 0274 500 567 Director: Demelza Campbell www.iyengaryogadunedin.co.nz

Nelson Yoga Room 32 Bridge Street, Nelson.

Ph. 027 652 7377 Teacher: Susan Lamont www.nelsonyogaroom.nz

Queenstown Yoga Studio 46 Boyes Crescent, Frankton, Queenstown.

Ph. (03) 442 2345 Director: Loris Mills www.queenstownyogastudio.co.nz

Yoga Link

Directory of New Zealand Certified Teachers

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Levels of Certification The system of teaching Iyengar Yoga is methodical and progressive emphasising correct alignment with a focus on detail and precision in the asana. Certification is based on a process consisting of five levels with several sub levels.

Teacher training and assessment standards were developed under the guidance of BKS Iyengar. The assessment process applies the same Iyengar/ RIMYI standards are applied world wide.

Junior Advanced Level I Monica Haar

Grey Lynn, Auckland

021 215 6544

Senior Intermediate Level 2 Melodie Batchelor

Herne Bay, Auckland

021 895 988

Rotorua Matakana Christchurch

027 439 3910 021 039 4483 03 388 9080

Auckland Ponsonby, Auckland Auckland Palmerston North Nelson Auckland Hamilton Auckland Wellington Wellington Bay of Islands Hamilton Takapuna, Auckland

027 308 4360 027 482 2901 021 995 880 021 149 7633 027 499 5823 021 161 4336 07 846 7600 09 810 9644 04 473 0722 027 230 6738 027 498 1018 027 389 4987 021 362454

Senior Intermediate I Paul Barton Sue Lever Anne-Marie Tweedie

Junior Intermediate III Fran Campbell Suzi Carson Delwyn Cranston Jyoteeka Cummings Rosie Holland Eira Kramer Jackie Kesby Pat McDonald Tessa Meek Jo Peden Louisa Potter Corry Regnier Joy Sanders

Junior Intermediate Level II Clare Davenport Cheryl Farthing Jude Folkard Vanessa Greenwood Frances De Haas Jane Hillary Jones Neil Mackay Tamar Munch Wendy Norwood Kathleen Powell Michelle Robinson Matthew Smart Anna Timms Jane Von Roy Mande White Catherine Young

Christchurch Auckland Hibiscus Coast West Auckland Christchurch Auckland North Shore, Auckland Auckland North Shore, Auckland West Auckland North Shore, Auckland Hamilton Richmond, Nelson North Shore, Auckland Auckland Wellington

03 942 9789 09 445 2979 027 472 4408 027 541 4810 03 313 6773 021 115 6299 021 0811 5324 021 659 349 021 446 089 021 189 3818 027 320 9340 021 791 250 027 540 3944 021 322 656 021 345 882 027 777 1212

Junior Intermediate Level I Stephanie Anderson Kate Coull Mass Dioli Paul Gillick Norman Gruebsch Sue Hallas Marcia Leite Sandra McLellan Julia McDonald Lee McGarva Loris Mills Heidi Napflin Rosie Percival Tria Peters Michelle Polglase Lucinda Sherratt Rachael Thompson Taya Van Roon

West Auckland Christchurch Whanganui Auckland Whanganui Nelson Auckland Nelson Auckland Auckland Queenstown Auckland Wellington New Plymouth Christchurch Wellington Auckland Whangarei

028 284 1178 03 329 9139 027 665 5001 021 943 940 021 0272 5921 027 688 4775 027 226 6981 0220 589 251 022 657 4840 021 761 231 03 442 2345 021 072 0510 022 016 1962 06 757 2121 027 686 5146 021 506 604 021 311 988 027 333 6858

Christchurch West Auckland

027 475 0090 021 213 2220

Introductory Colleen Adamson Sofia Athineou

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027 387 0357 021 277 1500 021 369 495 04 387 1107 021 221 1042 04 576 9402 0274 500 567 027 255 1998 021 893 392 021 258 5174 021 0325 600 021 168 4618 022 191 0196 021 051 6415 027 8776316 027 429 6969 021 158 3443 021 0819 0420 022 163 4901 027 235 5819 027 652 7377 03 526 8554 021 479 708 021 073 9613 021 946 660 021 206 8444 027 654 6526 022 080 0621 021 375 642 027 427 6535 021 314 624 021 235 7056 021 443 949 021 064 7073 027 438 7116 021 498 555 027 540 9937 022 680 9405 021 210 9174 027 414 2684 027 341 4535 021 662 2497

Yoga Link

Palmerston North Auckland Blenheim Wellington Hamilton Wellington Dunedin Christchurch Tauranga Lower Hutt Havelock North Nelson Wanaka Hamilton Havelock North North Shore, Auckland Kerikeri Christchurch Auckland Auckland Nelson Motueka Auckland Auckland Auckland Christchurch Wellington Auckland Christchurch Wellington Auckland Auckland Auckland Great Barrier Island Auckland Auckland Kerikeri Northland Wellington Hamilton Christchurch Christchurch

Lynne Atkins Barb Baird Ket Bradshaw Susanna Brow Michelle Brown Roger Brown Demelza Campbell Sean Carr Duncan Catanach Pam Crisp Wendy Dawson Zack Domike Sirpa Gardner Gabriella Gini Sylvia Goff Stephanie Hall Monika Heid Nadine Holinski Francesca Hopkins Marshar Kaye Susan Lamont Mechthild Laufkotter Denise Lewis Pamela McDonald Glenn McBeth Sally Mekalik Penny Mitropoulos Sally Nauta Christiane Nordt Agata Orlowicz Philippa Payne Hilary Phillips Louise Poutiki Bryant Linda Power Wendy Purdon Hayley Roberts Kim Robertson-Barnes Joanne Rome Philip Savage Annette Springer Hollie Tang Erica Viedma

IYANZ Committees Executive Jo Peden Erica Viedma Jyoteeka Cummings Eira Kramer Tessa Meek Kathleen Powell

Chairperson Secretary / South Island Rep Treasurer North Island Representative A & TT Representative Membership / Website

jojopeden@gmail.com erica.viedma@gmail.com jyoteeka@hotmail.com eirapunt@outlook.com tessa@wellingtonyoga.co.nz kath@kiwibok.co.nz

Assessment & Teacher Training Tessa Meek Sue Lever Rosie Holland Clare Davenport Tamar Munch Wendy Norwood

Chairperson

tessa@wellingtonyoga.co.nz suelever@gmail.com yogarosie@gmail.com yogaclare3@gmail.com tamarmunch@me.com wendy@yogamoves.co.nz

Moderators Advisory Group Monica Haar Melodie Batchelor Sue Lever Anne-Marie Tweedie

haarmonica8@yahoo.com melodiebatchelor@hotmail.com suelever@gmail.com amtweedie17@gmail.com

Communications & Resources Glenn McBeth Jyoteeka Cummings Kathleen Powell Erica Viedma Rosie Percival

Bookshop Library Yoga Link Public Relations Social Media

glenndimcbeth@gmail.com jyoteeka@hotmail.com kath@kiwibok.co.nz erica.viedma@gmail.com calicoanne@gmail.com

If you have any particular skills or ideas for the association (our main purpose is to promote Iyengar yoga) then please contact Jo Peden (Chair of the Executive) by email on jojopeden@gmail.com. Also, help keep our community strong by supporting Association events and attending the AGM when it is held in a location near you.

Benefits of Membership — Subscription to the Yoga Link (the IYANZ Newsletter).

— Access to the Association Library and Book Shop.

— Access to and discounts on events sponsored by the Association.

— Facilitated subscription to Yoga Rahasya (International Iyengar

yoga journal published in India).

— Access to classes at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga

Institute (RIMYI) in Pune, India.

— The facility to commence and complete Teacher Training

in the Iyengar method.

Annual subscription for General Membership is $35. To join the Association please visit our website www.iyengar-yoga.org.nz and complete the online Membership Form.

Becoming a Teacher A student wishing to train as a teacher must have been practicing Iyengar Yoga regularly for a minimum of three years before undertaking training with a teacher accredited by the IYANZ. For more information about Teacher Training programmes please visit the website www.iyengar-yoga.org.nz or contact a member of the Assessment & Teacher Training committee. IYANZ Membership for teachers and teacher trainees is $40 per annum.

I YA NZ

The Association has continued to maintain its foundation aims to protect, promote and foster the words and teachings of Guruji. It has also established a thorough Teacher Training programme and Assessment procedures for New Zealand teachers. IYANZ is part of the world-wide network of Associations that aim to bring together students and teachers who are interested in the work of BKS Iyengar, and to protect, promote and foster his words and teachings.

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The B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Association of New Zealand (IYANZ) was established in 1993 to bring together teachers and students of Iyengar yoga.

Yoga Link

Mission Statement

The B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Association of New Zealand (IYANZ)

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Editors Kathleen Powell Hella Bauer Design Catherine Adam Design & Photography www.catherineadam.co.nz www.studiocdesign.nz Rosie Percival Design & Yoga www.rosie-percival.com Printing Printed on sustainably sourced paper at Pivotal Print, Wellington.

Typography The typefaces used throughout this publication are Gotham and ITC Slimbach.

Follow IYANZ on Facebook! @iyengaryoganz Keep up to date with the latest articles, events, and be part of the Iyengar yoga community in New Zealand and beyond.

The Yoga Link is the Iyengar Yoga Association of New Zealand's (IYANZ) annual publication. The IYANZ is part of the world-wide network of Associations that aim to bring together students and teachers who are interested in the work of BKS Iyengar, and to protect, promote and foster his words and teachings.

This issue is dedicated to the memory of our beloved Guruji in celebration of his birth centenary. Our gratitude for his life and the wisdom he brought to the practice of Yoga is immense. May his legacy live on in your practice and his wisdom illuminate your path.