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 is specifically for the health of the male reproductive system, in particular the prostrate gland and its close neighbour the urethra.

Attendees will find this program both useful and refreshing.

Glenys is the teacher who originally established IYISL and her teaching reflects decades of learning from Guruji and Geetaji as well as her own teaching experience. Glenys loves teaching yoga, excels at inspiring beginner students and combines clarity, inspiration and fun in her very unique teaching style.

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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.

To celebrate BKS Iyengar’s (Guruji’s) birthday and also to celebrate the day he came to open IYISL 28 years ago we are running a workshop focusing on helping improve your immune system and beat the bugs! Suitable for all levels of student.

‘There are two types of immunity: natural and acquired. Yoga strengthens both and regular practice of the recommended asana-s can help to counter the disorders that affect them.’

 B.K.S. Iyengar - ‘Yoga the path to holistic health’

In this gentle class the recommended sequence will be closely followed. However each attendee will have time to learn how to tailor the general guidelines given for the use of props to their individual needs. This programme can also alleviate fatigue. Perfect in the pre-Christmas rush.

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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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We are very pleased to welcome Julie back to IYISL.

Julie Hodges is a senior Iyengar yoga teacher who runs our sister South West London Iyengar yoga centre in Putney. She is an experienced, knowledgeable, clear and compassionate teacher and we are very happy to welcome her to IYISL.

In this half day workshop she will teach use of the yoga ropes (Yoga Karunta). Karunta is the Indian name for a wooden puppet manipulated by strings. Using the support of the ropes more difficult asanas can be practiced with more ease and safely, allowing you to adjust your body in poses more effectively.

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Prop work can change our experience of familiar poses. In this workshop Rebecca will be using elasticated belts which were developed by a teacher in Melbourne Australia which she had experience of using while living there.

Rebecca will be looking at a series of general poses and finding different ways of improving and extending them through creative belt work.

This is a general level workshop aimed at students with one or more years of regular Iyengar Yoga practice. There are limited places on this workshop.

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Exchange of learning days are a chance for Iyengar Yoga teachers and trainees to come together to explore a theme relevant to Iyengar Yoga teaching.

This year the theme is ‘Yoga For All Bodies’ - exploring practical approaches that develop Iyengar yoga classrooms, practice environments and communities to be diverse, body positive and inclusive.

The workshop will last approximately 5 hours with a short break for lunch.

Workshop date and time : Sunday 23 Nov, 10.30am-4.30pm

Cost : £40

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This half day yoga workshop with Richard Ward will include a pranayama practice followed by an asana class which will link to the work done in the pranayama class.

In this workshop Richard will be introducing ways in which you can experience, use and learn from pranayama informed breathing in asana to improve your practice and understanding.

Richard is senior Iyengar yoga teacher well known for his reflective and detailed approach to teaching yoga. He first started going to yoga classes in 1975 and then started studying yoga with BKS Iyengar in 1976. He started teaching yoga in 1977.

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Pixie Lillas is an advanced level teacher who first visited the Ramamani Iyengar Yoga Institute in Pune India to study with BKS Iyengar in 1977 and went on the found the Balmain Iyengar Yoga Studio in Australia in 1980 and has been the director and principal teacher there since this time.

She teaches workshops in Australia and Europe and is held in high regard by her students.

This is a general level workshop aimed at students with two or more years of regular Iyengar Yoga practice and is a great opportunity to learn with a highly experienced and engaging teacher.

Sunday 13 July, 11am-4.30pm with a short break for lunch

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This is the second of a series of yoga days with Glenys Shepherd aimed at beginner and general level students with 6 months or more Iyengar yoga experience.

Glenys is the teacher who originally established IYISL and her teaching reflects decades of learning from Guruji and Geetaji as well as her own teaching experience. Glenys loves teaching yoga, excels at inspiring beginner students and combines clarity, inspiration and fun in her very unique teaching style.

Click on the title to see further details and book a place.

This popular workshop offers a focused practice that can transform menopause into a positive and meaningful experience. The workshop will focus on the three phases of menopause: perimenopause, menopause, post-menopause.

Learn to identify and manage with yogasanas some of the most common menopausal symptoms.

This workshop is open to women of all ages and levels of yoga experience.

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This yoga day is aimed at confident beginners and general level students ready to improve their practice. It is a great way to boost your yoga practice and your understanding.

The yoga day will be taught by Glenys Shepherd - the teacher who originally established IYISL. Her teaching reflects decades of learning from Guruji and Geetaji as well as her own teaching experience and her passion for helping everyone learn how to benefit from Iyengar yoga.

Expect to work hard, be inspired and laugh!

Sunday 22 Sep 11am-4.30pm

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After our special Kathak dance performance at IYISL on 16 March, created and performed by Vipul Bhatti -  people have been asking how they can donate to our collection for the local Deptford charity (the 999 Club) working with people facing homelessness.

We have already raised £350 and will continue to accept donations for the next few days.

Please click on the title above to see further details

Aidan first started learning yoga at IYISL. He is now an experienced and popular teacher, teaching in both Turkey and the UK. This workshop is aimed at confident beginners and general level students ready to improve their practice.

Workshop dates and times: Sunday 11 Aug, 11am-2pm

Aidan started yoga classes at IYISL in 1997 and is very happy to visit us as a teacher! He completed his Iyengar introductory teacher-training programme in 2006, and has since continued his training. He currently holds a Junior Intermediate level 3 certification.

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This yoga day will include approaches to and ways of practicing intermediate level inversions like hands stands and elbow balance as well as other intermediate level poses to inspire you to include them in your own practice.

The day will be taught by Glenys Shepherd - the teacher who originally established IYISL. Her teaching reflects decades of learning from Guruji and Geetaji as well as her own teaching experience and her passion for helping everyone learn how to benefit from Iyengar yoga.

Sunday 3 Mar 11am-4.30pm

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Exchange of learning days are a chance for Iyengar Yoga teachers and trainees to come together to explore a theme relevant to Iyengar Yoga teaching. This year the theme is ‘The Art of Adjustment’. Adjustment is an integral part of Iyengar Yoga and it is an art. This day is a chance to explore how, why and when to adjust students and will be led by Sophie Carrington.

The workshop will last approximately 5 hours with a short break for lunch.

Workshop date: Sunday 12 Nov

Times: 11am-5pm

Cost : £25

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Ayurveda means ‘knowledge of life’. It gives extensive guidelines on how to live, eat, sleep and be healthy. Ayurveda and Yoga are sister sciences with roots going back a few thousand years, both based on Vedic philosophy and knowledge. Together they can help with your body, mind and health.

This half day workshop will introduce the basic principles of Ayurveda and the Dosha (metabolism) system. It will help you understand your body type and your body’s needs. It will end with a yoga practice to help guide you in how to practice according to your body’s needs.

Sine is an experienced Iyengar yoga teacher and an Ayurveda consultant. We are very happy she is able to run this workshop for us.

This workshop is aimed at all levels from confident beginner Iyengar Yoga students.

Workshop times :1:30-4:30pm

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Marios has been teaching Iyengar Yoga since 2002 and, as a professional classical musician he found early on that the concentration, discipline and self-practice needed in music could be applied to yoga in the same way.

He has been a Senior Intermediate Level 3 (now level 3) teacher for many years. He is a sensitive, patient and encouraging teacher able to help his students develop a deeper understanding of Iyengar Yoga practice.

He now divides his time between Hertfordshire and Greece and has been teaching summer yoga courses in Crete, much loved by all who attend them, for many years. He also runs workshops in the UK and Europe. We are very pleased that Marios is able to reach a workshop at IYISL this year

This workshop is aimed at general level and intermediate level iyengar Yoga students.

Workshop times 10am-1pm

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This year the theme of the professional development day is ‘Exploring some of the new asana on the Level 1 and 2 syllabus’. The day is being held ‘in-person’ only so it is a chance to focus on adjustments as well as to catch up with local teachers.

The workshop will last approximately 5 hours with a break for lunch.

Trainee teachers are welcome to attend the day.

Workshop date: Sunday 13 Nov

Times: 11am-5pm

Cost : £25

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This workshop will bring your focus to the way the back body is activated and how it responds in a range of Asanas including inversions, standings, forward bends, seated poses, twists and supine poses. This allows the mind to become more introverted and peaceful even when the poses require quite a bit of effort. The workshop will also include some simple Pranayama

Aidan started yoga classes at IYISL in 1997 and is very happy to visit us as a teacher! He completed his Iyengar introductory teacher-training programme in 2006, and has since continued his training. He currently holds a Junior Intermediate level 3 certification.

Click on the title to see more details and to book a place

Join some of the IYISL teachers for a Sunday morning led yoga session based on a sequence created by BKS Iyengar. His yoga sequences are long and start with basic yoga poses progressing to more challenging poses for more experienced students. Feel free to do what you can!

All the money raised will go to a local Deptford charity, the 999 Club, for their work with local homeless people.

The full sessions will run from 11am-2pm and a light lunch will be served after the session.

Prices:

£10 donation or £20 donation - choose what you can afford

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*** please note this yoga day has now been rescheduled to 10 April

This yoga day with Glenys Shepherd will focus on preparing for inversions - head stand and shoulder stand.

The session is aimed at general and beginner level Iyengar yoga students with a minimum of one year experience.

Glenys is the teacher who originally established IYISL over 25 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!

Sun 10 Apr, 11am-4pm with a break for lunch

Session cost: £30

Click on the title to book a place