Malvern Iyengar Yoga

06/01/2026

January 6th
Day 6

vibrahdrasana II

05/01/2026

January 5th
Day 5

uttitha parsvakonasana

In Light on Yoga, after trikonasa, BKS Iyengar put uttitha parsvakonasana. This is described as fully extended sideways pose.

I still remember the intense stretch of this posture when my teacher, Stella Craven taught it to us in Edinburgh back in 1990/1991? I felt so much intensity in something that seemed to look relatively simple.

Stella had recently returned from India studying with Mr Iyengar. I later realised she was bringing the subject to us like an Olympic torch burning brightly.

Asanas are become like friends to us. We return over and over. Sometimes we neglect them a little, but when we nurture them they teach us so much, again and again.

04/01/2026

January 4th
Day 4

uttitha trikonasa

This starts the wide legged poses. The benefits of taking the legs to a wide standing stance are simple yet profound.

Mostly people stand with feet not far apart. By taking the legs wide instantly there are numerous benefits to the body. My focus in teaching and practice, at the moment is the space and organic lift.

Mostly people stand with feet not far apart. By taking the legs wide instantly there are numerous benefits to the body. My focus in teaching and practice, at the moment is the space and organic lift wide legged standing poses give us.

The Iyengar method is signified by the importance of standing asanas. In my notes from Yoganuasanam 2018, Geeta Iyengar's last weeks on this planet teaching to celebrate her father's 100 birthday, I wrote, "Geeta is in love with the standings."

I did know this because my teachers taught her teachings, but, it was the experience of her teaching at first had that pointed on this message.

Standings bring physical and psychological support to us and all. There are many ways to access and further develop our understanding in standings.

Iyengar Yoga UK

03/01/2026

January 3rd
Day 3

vrksasana
Tree Pose

When we transfer our weight to one leg, we learn to find an inner strength of that one leg.
It leads us towards further and onward exploration.
If balance doesn't come easily at first, it tells us how we can develop.
Practice is beneficial at all ages and stages of life.

02/01/2026

New Year challenge
Post one asana each day on this page
Starting with January and see how long I can keep it up

Missed January 1st, day one, but it's never too late

Let's start at the beginning

tadasana

urdvha hasta tadasana

31/12/2025

08/12/2025

Notes from Geetaji's teachings

In honor of Geetaji on this anniversary of her birthday.

Her question “ Why do you stop?”

Her comments:

“ stopping the mind is an impurity… you have to catch the purity step by step. Burn your impurities…. When the body stops, the mind stops, the intelligence stops, the consciousness stops. You need body awareness, mind awareness, consciousness awareness. When will you find the soul? The goal is the soul.

There is an emotional feeling to it. The feeling and sensitivity. Sensibility is important during the practice of yoga. The body is seen by us, the mind is seen by feeling. The soul cannot be seen.

You think yoga is for the soul. Why don’t you try to touch your soul. Then my job will be done.”

Notes of mine from Geetaji’s last classes in Pune at the 100th anniversary celebration of Guruji.

With deep and eternal gratitude Geetaji ❤️🙏❤️

Sequences and notes from Geeta’s last classes can be found here https://clearyogapractice.com/blog/page/2/

08/12/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16wcQTmkd1/

“Yoga is meant for everyone. Nobody is excluded from it. Whether they are men, women or children, elderly or aged people, diseased or disabled, the path of yoga is open to everyone. However, you have to practise according to your physical, mental and spiritual capacity. Yoga is meant to give us a way to discover or rediscover ourselves. It teaches us how to find the great margin of maximum capacity that we have inside us so that we are able to expose ourselves to ourselves and find out what we really are. When I say that you have to adapt according to your capacity, I mean that you have to find out the potentiality, or the potential energy, that you all have inside and how to bring it to the surface in order to utilise it properly. Yoga exposes inner hidden potentialities. In fact, there is nothing in yoga which dictates who has to do what. Yoga is universal in this sense. It is inappropriate to say, “Do and do not do”. We do not say that this is not to be done or that is to be done. To make such differentiation there has to be some cause. Patañjali says that we have to find out what stage we are at and what our level is. We need to know what our energy is, what our po-
tency is, what we can do and so on. As we proceed further, we have to see that we achieve every step gradually.

In other words, there is no barrier, there is no restriction, no demarcation as such. The words Patañjali uses like potentialities or capacities, are certainly very meaningful, since not everyone has the same energy levels, not everyone can put in the same amount of effort. The power to grasp is not the same in everyone. The practitioner has to understand subjectively the potentialities he or she has and try to expose them to the yogic path rather than exploit them.”

~ Geeta Iyengar
(7 Dec 1944 - 16 Dec 2018)

31/08/2025

Indian classical dance and tabla playing in Malvern last night.

Always good to experience the culture of India

28/08/2025

Iyengar Yoga Institute of Birmingham
Great to be back at class after a long break.

Thank you Jayne Orton for your deep commitment to yoga ensuring we continue to have an excellent place to deepen our practice.

27/08/2025

Look at her eyes. Look at her face. People say they want to come to yoga for all sorts of body mind reasons. I've never been told, "I want to look and feel simple and humble to my last day." That's the art, when the body is undoing all the pains it bears, the face will light up.

13/06/2025

Tomorrow morning
Online with Sushama Chitale
9am-10.30am
Saturday 12th June

Also
Saturday 14th July
With Devki Desai

Proceeds to support families attending Yogapushpanjali, Iyengar Yoga Family Camp

YOGAPUSHPANJALI, IYENGAR YOGA FAMILY CAMP Join us for these online classes to help raise money for families to attend the camp. Sunday 27th April, 9am-10.30am: Annie Beatty Saturday 14th June, 9am-10.30am: Sushama Chitale Saturday 12th July, 9am-10.30am: Devki Desai £10 for Midland Counties, Kent a...