In this Friday evening mini workshop Marton Vass will be focusing on making arm balances accessible for all. This workshop will combine forward bends, hip openings, core strength, and arm balances in a progressive practice designed to build both mobility and stability. He will explore the key actions that make some challenging arm balances feel lighter and more accessible, with plenty of options to suit different levels of experience.

This is a beginner and general level workshop.

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This session with Glenys Shepherd covers the first steps in learning Pranayama - the subtle art of yogic breathing.

Pranayama is a calming practice that promotes health and well being.

This is a continuation of the yoga day in June on managing stress. It can also be done as a stand alone session.

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This workshop will focus on poses to thoroughly prepare you for inversions, both physically and mentally. It will also include safe ways of getting into and out of poses with composure and the use of props and actions to enhance your stay in head and shoulder stand.

The session is aimed at all levels of Iyengar yoga students with a minimum of one year’s experience.

Sun 19 Jul, 10am-4pm with a break for lunch

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Glenys Shepherd will be teaching a sequence of asana devised by BKS Iyengar for managing stress. He says -

"Instead of advising to relax the brain I take stressed people and put them in certain asana  [sequence of 'poses']. The brain goes automatically silent. ....... (These) not only quieten the brain and mind and cool the nerves, they refresh more than sleep. ..... These asana allow the energy of the brain to be passive and rejuvenate nerves. "

After a break for lunch Glenys will finish the day with a pranayama (yoga breathing) practice.

Students attending this workshop should be able to do inversions (headstand and shoulder stand). Beginners who are new to inversions should attend the Saturday afternoon restorative class to become familiar with restful inversions.

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In this workshop Rebecca will be exploring a range of poses using special elastic belts. Props increase our understanding of how to work correctly in poses as well as help us to go beyond our normal limitations. They are also fun to use!

This is a beginner and general level workshop.

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This 3 week course with IYISL teacher Marion Sinclair is an introduction to Pranayama - the subtle art of yogic breathings and is a chance to become familiar with a basic practice.

Pranayama is a calming practice that promotes health and well being.

The session will include some restorative poses to prepare the body and mind for Pranayama and is a very restful session. Book for the whole course or for drop in sessions.

Dates and times:

Fridays 1, 8, 15 May 6.15 - 8pm

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Spring is the season of regeneration and growth. The spring workshop will be an exploration of new ways of approaching familiar poses as well as introducing manageable steps to help approach less practised ones.

In these sessions you can expect to develop your understanding of how to work effectively in yoga Asana.

This is a general level workshop aimed at students with one or more years of regular Iyengar Yoga practice.

Workshop dates and times: Sunday 19 April, 11am-4.30pm with a break for lunch

Workshop cost: IYISL members £40, non-members £45. (IYISL annual membership £35)

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This yoga day with Glenys Shepherd will focus on safe and effective preparation of beginner and general level students for backbends. These important and beneficial poses can seem challenging to yoga students and this yoga day will help students practice beginner backbends with confidence.

In Yoga a Gem for Women Geeta Iyengar talks about the overall effects of backbends:

“ Our daily tasks often involve forward-bending movements. These stretch the posterior side of the spine. Rarely do we bend the other way. [Backbending asanas] stretch the spinal column in a concave movement and are very important, as the anterior spine extends in backbends making the blood extend more freely. The opening of the chest in these particular poses energises the lungs and breathing becomes deep with the result that oxygenated blood circulates all over the body.”

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Join us for an informal gathering of candlelight chanting. This is an opportunity to practise some mantras together which is said to encourage deeper and more measured breathing, which helps to bring a feeling of relaxation and peacefulness. 

We will be chanting the Patanjali sloke including the second verse, the Guru chant and the Gayatri mantra. The chanting will be led by Rebecca Rawsthorne and Rachel Webster.

No prior experience is necessary and everybody is welcome.

There is no charge for this event but please email info@iyisl.com to confirm you are attending.

On 7 Dec, the anniversary of Dr Geeta S Iyengar’s (Geetaji’s) birth, we are celebrating with a beginner and general level workshop taught by Glenys Shepherd.

The ‘forward bending’ group of asana (Paschima Pratana Sthiti) are approached with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Pupils with tight hamstrings often feel the prospect of ‘touching their toes’ a stretch too far! Flexible pupils having caught their toes are at a loss what to do next. All of us are prone to stretch one part to the neglect of another.

Making friends with forward bends means learning how to stretch all parts of the back, hamstrings and hips evenly. A goal equally challenging to all. This evenness of stretch is best understood and achieved by the intelligent use of props.

Beloved Geetaji writes -

Before one enters the asana the mind should be fresh, similar to a baby looking at its toys.

The toys are here waiting for you!

Glenys is the teacher who originally established IYISL 28 years ago and her teaching reflects decades of learning from Guruji and Geetaji as well as her own teaching experience. Her teaching is always both inspiring and fun!

The yoga day is for beginner and general level students.

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