Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco
"The history of Iyengar Yoga in Northern California began in 1973 with one of Guruji’s first trips to America. A yogini named Rama Jyoti Vernon was at the YMCA in Ann Arbor, MI where BKS Iyengar taught. She flew home to California completely changed by the experience, determined to share her learning with others.
"The next year, Guruji made his first trip to Northern California. Iyengar Yoga was still relatively unknown. He taught to a small group of students in Oakland; of 60 available places in the small hall, only 56 were taken.
"But momentum had begun to build. Together with Mary Dunn, Felicity Hall (now Felicity Green), Judith Lasater, Glen Moyer, and others, Rama created a community of students interested in studying Iyengar Yoga. This group began the Institute for Yoga Teacher Education (IYTE), which operated under the auspices of the California Yoga Teachers’ Association. That comprehensive program, the first Iyengar Yoga teacher training program in the U.S., has been a beacon of light and learning for people all over the world.
"In March 1976 Ramanand Patel, who had met Guruji in 1968, moved to California and joined this group. He was immediately welcomed as a teacher of teachers and helped fine tune the teacher training program by holding weekend workshops and classes at his South Bay home where the staff of the teaching program regularly met.
"In 1976, the first Iyengar Yoga association in the U.S was established. Called the Light on Yoga Association, its early leaders included Mary Dunn, Keshava Kronish (its first president), Larry Hatlett, Melinda Perlee, and other aforementioned founding members. The Association was established primarily to promote yoga education in accordance with the techniques “evolved and developed” by B.K S. Iyengar."[1]
Trustees[2]
- Athena Pappas, Board President
- Jim Scacchetti, Treasurer
- Lauren Fogel, Secretary
- Brian Hogencamp
- Jeff Sikand
- David Sirgany
- Marc Stiglitz
- Richard Weinapple
Resources and articles
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- Rodney Yee
- funding from the Bernstein Family Foundation and the Lucinda Foundation
