Yoga Now studio

07/12/2025

Inspired by Katie’s recent visit to RIMYI, we had a practice session at the studio yesterday. It is SO GOOD to practice together!

We would love to have regular practice sessions at the studio and have tried to do it many times. It is really helpful to have others around when you need help or advice but it is also community building and friendly. Get in touch if you would like to join us next time!

06/12/2025

Give them yoga classes this year!
Our term passes bring the joy of yoga for weeks to come.
Under 30 pass - £30, for the young ones
Beginners Course - £65 for a 6 week course
Term passes from £120 for 12 classes
One to one session £50 for an hour

Visit yoganowstudio.co.uk for more info

05/12/2025

Our next Beginners Course starts on 8 Jan and runs for 6 weeks, every Wednesday, 5.45 - 6.45 pm. The ideal introduction to Iyengar yoga, this course teaches the foundation poses which bring health and vitality.

This course is suitable for anyone interested in a fresh start. It will get you moving and feeling better in your own body. Develop better habits and start feeling better. No previous experience required. All equipment provided.

It is expected that you attend each week to progress.

6 weeks for £65 or £30 for those Under 30.

03/12/2025

Lovely rainbow outside the studio window today!
We don’t get many hours of daylight at this time of year, but today is making up for that in quality and spectacle.

27/11/2025

Proof! They DO all fit!
All the bolsters, put away neatly. And all the chairs. Plus the blankets are properly folded and neatly stacked. It’s the little things. I love a tidy storage area.

Take care of the equipment that takes care of you 😊 It’s all ready for your next class.

24/11/2025

Come and play with us!
We don’t always look very smiley when we practice but that’s because we are concentrating! It’s a good thing. It’s how it works to quieten our minds and refresh us.

Talking to a friend who swims for her fitness and wellbeing and finds it a bit hard to keep going at this dark, cold and damp time of year reminded me of another advantage of being a yoga practitioner; you do it inside, in a warm and clean studio. You don’t need to get wet, dry your hair, remove your makeup or deal with dark streets. You can do it anywhere; hotel rooms, your bedroom in your pjs. You don’t need expensive kit (you don’t even need a mat). And you become part of a community - people of all ages, learning (and laughing) together. But you don’t have to laugh or smile if you don’t want to. It’s great for introverts!

As someone who didn’t do much sport as a kid and has an aversion to organised fun, it has suited me for nearly 40 years, consistently. The key is to find something you can realistically keep doing, regularly. Maybe yoga would suit you too.

15/11/2025

More news from Katie in Pune!

Abhijata’s Wednesday class is now a teachers class and is a rich source of learning on many levels. She addresses firmly but sensitively some of the misconceptions that have arisen over the decades about Guruji’s teaching. Iyengar yoga is often associated with “alignment” and this is what she said in Wednesday’s class:

“ There are questions that come from those on the way to becoming teachers - - an assessor or senior teacher has told me “use alignment when teaching in classes”. Now “use alignment when you teach in classes” cannot be your starting point. Alignment will come. When Guruji was expressing what he has done he used the word alignment. When he taught a class he didn’t say “align your hip and thigh”. He gave the modus operandi whereby the alignment came. Last week’s class we focused on firmness of the legs - “Keep the legs firm” - as an adage that is fine but, as teachers we need to explore how to get that firmness. If you are going to say “Keep aligned in trikonasana”. Why is a teacher needed? The teacher is there to show how to bring that. So “use alignment for Level 2 teachers”. “Intermediate class you have to teach alignment” - no! No you don’t have to teach alignment. You please teach the asana - that is all - alignment will come like a shadow. You teach the asana. Alignment is not the point. What to do is the point.”

13/11/2025

10/11/2025

Abhi’s class was strong and simple - working the legs. It was all partner work and at the end she linked this practice to the yoga sutras and a heartfelt plea for authenticity in our teaching.

We had the great good fortune to be allowed to observe an intermediate workshop - the students came from all over India and currently do online classes with RIMYI teachers - some several times a week. RIMYI run online classes that begin with “Newcomer Beginner” then progress to “Continuing Beginner”, “Introduction to Intermediate” and “Intermediate” - the Advanced online classes are hybrid and the ones many of us attend from overseas.

The whole thing was a joy. Abhijata and Raya conducted the sessions with the other teachers assisting and sometimes being given parts to teach. The students were so enthusiastic and were working mostly on things that can’t be taught very well online. Adho Mukha Vriksasana, especially helping those who are not able yet to get up independently, Sirsasana and the variations and, on the last day, dropping back into Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana and from Sarvangasana into Setubhandasana…… which the majority did on their own. (Abhi said that soft mats are much better to use than sticky mats - or Indian cotton mattresses as an alternative (providing no neck issues). In the old days at EIYC we had these soft mats - perhaps we should be looking for a supplier again as they are good for lots of things).

The style of teaching is so flexible and dynamic and non-linear with just the right measure of student autonomy - they were so encouraged and motivated to feel and learn from what was happening in their own bodies - to ask questions, to be curious. One finds oneself muttering “Yes! Yes! Yes!”when Abhijata articulates how the effects of asanas flow into our daily lives, how they culture our minds and make us more fearless, less in thrall to the senses, less careless, less creatures of habit - better human beings. At the end they couldn’t wait to know when the next one was and neither could we!

08/11/2025

Katie is in Pune! She sent these photos of two of our favourite shops. One sells everything you might need in your home - stainless steel boxes and containers in every size and shape - and is very close to the institute. The other, an institution itself, the old incense shop, a family business for many generations and it smells divine.

16/10/2025

Our recent Yoga School session was looking at inversions.

Look at how vertical and lifted Lorna is here in Sarvangasana!

We spent time learning the arm action to stabilise our shoulders and create a firm base for our asanas. We floated up!