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.

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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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To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Inauguration of RIMYI in Pune (the mother Iyengar Yoga Institute), Glenys Shepherd will hold an Intermediate and general level yoga day. The day will include a morning session of Asana practice and a (10am -2pm, Restorative and Pranayama practice after lunch. 3pm – 4,30pm.

The Asana programme will require stamina, with the focus to be on Inversions (Virarita Sthiti) and Backword Extensions (Purva Pratana Sthiti), following Guruji’s sequence of  asanas whilst being mindful of his words of guidance: “Long uninterrupted practice done with awareness brings success”
This is a day in gratitude to Guruji and Geetaji for the founding of RIMYI. 

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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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In honour of the anniversary of Geeta S Iyengar’s (Geetaji’s) birth, Glenys Shepherd will teach a yoga day of Yoga Kurunta - using the support of ropes to give greater freedom of movement and upliftment in yogasana practice.

You will discover the imaginative adaptation of yogsanas with ropes beyond their more familiar use in ‘ rope dog’ (Adho Mukha Svanasa) and ‘rope headstand’ (Sirsasana) to assist in achieving increased range of movement and flexibility.

The yoga day is for beginner and general level students.

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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

As part of her regular ‘unpick a pose’ sessions exploring a set of related poses, Glenys Shepherd will be teaching a session focusing on inversions - hand stand, head stand, shoulder stand and elbow balance.

The session is aimed at experienced intermediate level students with good stamina who are confident practitioners of inversions.

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 27 Feb, 11am-2pm

Session cost: £25

Please email info@iyisl.com if you would like to book a place

To celebrate Geetaji’s (Geeta Iyengar’s) birthday on 7 Dec this year Glenys Shepherd will be running a small and energetic live workshop aimed at general and confident beginner level students.

Geetaji loved yoga ropes work (Yoga Karunta) which is an integral part of Iyengar yoga where wall ropes are used for the practice of yoga. Glenys will be teaching an introduction to Yoga Karunta in this workshop.

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!

* Tues 7 Dec, 10am-4pm with a break for lunch, aimed at general and confident beginner level students

Workshop cost: £30

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

Sophie Carrington, who is a regular teacher at IYISL, will be running the Iyengar yoga teachers’ professional development session for us this year.

Sophie's workshop will run on Sunday 31st October 2021 from 2-5pm. Spaces are limited - we are running small classes at the moment and can have 10 people joining the live workshop. We will have a further 15 places available online to ensure the online experience is as integrated as it can be.

Both studio and online places cost £25.

For more information and to book a place please email info@iyisl.com

We are extremely pleased to welcome back US teachers Mary Obendorfer and Eddy Marks who have taught very popular workshops for us in the past. They have invited students to join them in a hybrid workshop that they will teach live in their centre in San Diego as well as online.

The theme of this workshop is the ‘lightness of being’. Good yoga practice can create an incredible physical and mental buoyancy and lightness. What exactly are the qualities of practice which bring that wonderful lightness of being? In this workshop Mary and Eddy will explore how to create this.

The Friday session will be available as a recording from Saturday morning - because of the time difference between London and San Diego the Friday session is too late for us to join from London. The other sessions can be joined live online at the times shown below. Recordings of all the sessions will be available for two weeks after the workshop.

The workshop is best experienced as a complete workshop.

The price for all five sessions is £140. It is also possible to drop into individual sessions.

• Friday 8 Oct, ‘Expansion and Convergence’ available as a recording from Saturday 9, single session £32

• Saturday 9 Oct, 4-5:30pm, Pranayama, single session £24

• Saturday 9 Oct, 6-8:30pm, ‘Twists from hard to easy’, single session £40

• Sunday 10 Oct, 4-5:30pm, Pranayama, single session £24

• Sunday 10 Oct, 6-8:30pm, ‘The Great Divide’, single session £40

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

This restorative session will show you ways to help your heart rest and recuperate from physical fatigue and emotional stress.

Guruji (BKS Iyengar) once said that the heart can rest when the whole back bank of the heart is supported.

This session will run from 5-7pm on Monday 31st May, the late May bank holiday, and is aimed at students with some experience of Iyengar Yoga and restorative practice.

The session requires access to a good range of props to do these restorative poses.

Join us for a quiet, restful and soothing session.

Click on the title for more information on the class and props needed and to book a place.

If you have invested in yoga props over the last months to help your home practice this session will teach you how to use them to best effect for the classic restorative sequence developed by Geeta Iyengar.

Glenys Shepherd really is an expert in the use of props for restorative poses. She first learnt by helping in the medical classes run by Geeta Iyengar in the Iyengar Yoga Institute in Pune India over many years and continues to develop techniques for yoga prop use in her own practice.

Saturday 20 March 2-4:30pm

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