All our Iyengar Yoga teachers are fully qualified with extensive teaching experience.
Marion Sinclair
I still remember my very first Iyengar Yoga class taught to university students by a lecturer who was also a yoga teacher and believed we needed the physical and mental benefits that yoga brings. From the first pose –Tadasana - I was hooked. Who would have guessed that standing on your two feet carefully aligning the body starting from the feet and working up you could feel grounded, uplifted and calm all at the same time?
I have attended IYISL for many years and have benefitted hugely from the teaching which has been both strongly challenging and genuinely encouraging. I have also really enjoyed the feeling of a community.
I am now an intermediate level teacher. It makes me very happy to be able to play my part on passing on the practice of yoga which has so much real wealth to offer to anyone who is prepared to get on a yoga mat and start trying to learn with an open mind. I aim to pass on an understanding of the Asana and how to improve our practice of them as clearly as I can.
Priscila Diniz
I started attending Iyengar Yoga classes at the IYISL in 1997 with Glenys Shepherd. I was ‘infected’ very quickly with the yoga bug and became passionate about this discipline and by 2002 had my Introductory Teacher Certificate. I felt good, energised, balanced and healthier the more I practiced and felt a strong urge to share this with people. I love the therapeutic effects of the Asana and Pranayama.
I have been an intermediate level teacher since 2012. My classes are challenging, inspiring and fun with an emphasis on precision, alignment and a wise use of equipment to help reach an effortless expression of the poses. I aim to teach with both firmness and compassion but also with a sense of humour!
Vianney Faudemer
Glenys Shepherd, the founder of IYISL, awakened my curiosity in yoga during my first ever class at the South London Institute in 2015. From this point on, I have become intrigued with this 5000- year-old practice.
At first, whenever I had some free time, I tried to remember and repeat the āsanas I had learnt in Glenys’ weekly classes. Gradually, as I gained more confidence and understanding, this became a daily practice for me. Today, thanks to the guidance of my mentor, Marion Sinclair, and the other senior teachers of IYISL, I have become a Level 1 Iyengar Yoga teacher.
In my classes, we will learn together from the many āsanas, with an aim to not only strengthen both physical and mental well-being, but also to give you the tools to embark on your own yoga journey.
Yoga is a journey of the self, through the self, to the self (Bhagavad Gita 6.2)
Anna Argiros
I have been practising Iyengar yoga since childhood when I’d attend my father’s (Marios Argiros) classes. I consider myself very lucky to have been introduced to the method at such an early age. I began my teacher training with Sheila Haswell, Edgar Stringer and Lydia Holmes in Bristol in 2017 and passed my assessment in 2019 and have been teaching regularly ever since. I am currently working towards my Level 2 with my father, Marios Argiros as my mentor.
Yoga can be an anchor of stability for us through life’s challenges and can help us maintain calm and a sense of perspective. I love teaching and consider my classes to be fun and explorative! When I am not practising yoga I’m either working in Film/TV, making stop motion animation or playing the cello.
Rebecca Rawsthorne
My yoga education began in Australia where I started out in the Ashtanga tradition and thereafter was taught by many teachers who were to greater or lesser extent influenced by the Iyengar tradition. On arrival in London I sought out the local Iyengar school, realising this was the approach for me, and was fortunate to be taught by Glenys Shepherd for nearly two decades. I started teaching in 2007 and became a level 2 teacher in 2018.
I have greatly benefited from being taught by the Iyengar family in Pune, many visiting teachers from India and around the world, and I have just come back from a year of teaching and practice in Australia.
I am currently studying Physiotherapy which goes hand in hand with my interest in yoga for its medical applications.
Jake McLellan
Jake started Iyengar yoga in 2013 doing his first class with Glenys Shepherd at IYISL. He came with many medical issues, from multiple surgeries and radiation therapy undergone to treat cancer, and much skepticism that yoga would be of any help. He noticed considerable improvement, both physically and mentally, within weeks; he was hooked.
Jake completed his teacher training with Jayne Orton in Birmingham and qualified in 2018. He believes strongly in the transformational power of yoga and in the ability of the Iyengar system to make this transformation available in a safe and inclusive manner for as many people as possible regardless of age, race, creed or physical ability. His classes are taught carefully, definitely with a sense of humour and he is no longer always a skeptic!
Paul Jackson
Paul originally started attending yoga classes to help with his posture for meditation. Wanting to go deeper into his practice, he trained at the Iyengar Yoga Institute Maida Vale and qualified as a teacher in 2019. He particularly resonates with the method’s precision and attention to detail.
Through his engagement with all aspects of yoga, he has witnessed its transformative power. He seeks to share this passion with his students.
His calm, focused teaching style combines precise instruction and explanation with clear demonstration. In his classes you can expect challenging physical work followed by deep relaxation with attention to the more subtle levels of yoga practice.
Ika Kazek
Ika has been practicing yoga for almost 19 years, but it wasn’t until she started practicing the Iyengar style of yoga that she started noticing positive changes happening within her body, started understanding the asanas better and deepening in her own practice.
Ika is an engaging, positive and enthusiastic teacher focusing on clear and precise instructions when she teaches asana. She says she particularly loves having the opportunity to teach students of all ages, body shapes and fitness levels.
Lois first started to learn yoga at the age of 23 after the birth of her first child. ‘I was fortunate that I found an Iyengar Yoga teacher who was both inspiring and encouraging teacher. Iyengar yoga has helped me to gain a better understanding of myself and the world around me. In 1998 I attended my Introductory level 1 assessment at IYISL and I have been teaching and learning since then and I am now a level 3 teacher.
My yoga practise has evolved over time and I enjoy sharing what I have learned, hopefully encouraging others to make their own discoveries and benefit from them. I believe that, through the study of interactions and responses, chiefly in asana and pranayama, we can learn how to draw closer to a yogic state.’