"Do not aim low, you will miss the mark. Aim high and you will be on a threshold of bliss.”
—B.K.S. Iyengar
As we begin another year as an association, I am filled with energy and optimism. IYASE, like so many other regional associations, has had to adapt and change over these past two years during the pandemic. It is time to move forward as an association, finding new ways to serve our members with valuable resources.
On Sunday, January 30, 2022, we had our first board meeting of the year. To orient new board members, we revisited our mission statement: “The purpose of IYASE is to build community and facilitate the learning and teaching of yoga based on the teachings and philosophy of BKS Iyengar, supporting the IYNAUS mission in the Southeast Region of the US.” This mission gives us great latitude to develop projects, as well as our annual and strategic plans.
My fellow board members and I are ready to serve. We will continue efforts started in 2021 to reach out to the 13 different states in our region, highlighting the teachers and studios of those areas in our newsletters. Also, we will continue to share Iyengar yoga through social media and eblasts - events, pictures/videos, and thought–provoking posts all designed to share BKS Iyengar’s teachings and build our Iyengar yoga community.
This year, we look forward to adding content to our newsletter and website; sponsoring continuing education and membership events both locally and regionally; and, above all, continuing to support IYNAUS-sponsored events through promotion and scholarships.
The IYASE board has been discussing ways to address the changing needs of our members and expand our outreach efforts. We anticipate that some assessments may require travel, and financial assistance may be needed to support certification.
Our fundamental mission statement remains the same: serve the Iyengar Yoga community of the Southeast Region and support IYNAUS.
In order to better serve our members and build our membership, I would love to hear your thoughts. Please reach out to me directly at iyase.president@gmail.com.
I look forward to serving you.
In Gratitude,
Laura Plofchan
IYASE - President
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IYASE Newsletter Tour of our states:
Mississippi
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Our newsletter spotlight is on Mississippi for this issue. There are 3 CIYTs in this area. |
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Nichole Baker (CIYT Level 3) |
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Nichole Baker moved StudiOm Yoga to its current location in Jackson, MS, 11 years ago from Belhaven, where she lives with her husband, Jay, and their son, Miles. Nichole began her yoga studies 30 years ago to help her understand how to strengthen and stretch her back. She felt she needed more than weights and swimming to treat her scoliosis, so she choose Iyengar yoga, with its precision and focus on alignment and understanding of how and why we do yoga poses. For 29 years, Nichole has been sharing her love of teaching and has attended numerous workshops and teacher trainings with senior teachers all over the U.S, and has spent seven weeks in Pune, India, studying at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Institute (RIMYI). Nichole holds a Level 3 Iyengar Yoga Teaching certification (CIYT) and is also a certified yoga therapist through the International Association of Yoga Therapist (IAYT). After seven years of exclusively providing Iyengar yoga classes at StudiOm, Nichole decided she wanted to offer different classes, like Mat Pilates and Tai Chi. Currently, she has been renting out StudiOm to other teachers who have lost their teaching jobs due to closure of local studios or gyms as a result of the pandemic or decided they wanted to be their own boss.
For Nichole, scoliosis has been the root cause of a degenerative disc, bulging disc, and bone spur in her neck. She does backbends often, if not daily, to keep the bulging disc in her SI in and all the muscles around it strong. When doing twists, she has to move her externally rotated lumbar in where it has degenerated between L3-L4 before twisting, and make sure she des not just twist from where it is the easiest to move.
The following inversion sequence has been working for Nichole over the past couple of years to take compression off of her bone spur:
Sirsasana ( head supported on a tri-folded blanket , chin slightly tilted down)
Uttanasana with Paschima Baddanguliasana arms
Adho Mukha Vrksasana
Pincha Mayurasana
Salamba Sarvangasana (on 4 blankets; neck not supported after the seventh cervical spine)
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Susanne Bulington (CIYT Level 2) |
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Susanne Bulington began her practice of yoga in 2012 with Level 3 teacher, Lou Hoyt, and the local Iyengar yoga community in Memphis, TN. She earned her Introductory 1/2 certification in 2017 and is now a level 2 CIYT.
Based in Meadville, MS, a small town surrounded by the Homochitto National Forest, Susanne teaches weekly in-person adult classes at her business, Meadville Yoga. She is the office manager and a chess instructor for the Southwest Mississippi Chess Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation devoted to providing chess education to public school students in Franklin County, Mississippi. In addition to providing chess instruction, Susanne teaches weekly kids and teens classes for students in the chess program.
Susanne has a special interest in yoga and aging and recently completed a Yoga for Healthy Aging certification through Dr. Baxter Bell and Nina Zolotow. She teaches a weekly online Yoga for Healthy Aging class on Tuesdays at 10:15 -11:30 AM Eastern at Community Yoga & Wellness in Fernandina Beach, FL.
In addition to teaching yoga and her non-profit work, Susanne is a speech-language pathologist.
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Susanne’s instagram is @meadville_yoga |
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Lauren Thompson (CIYT Level 1) |
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Lauren’s path to yoga began at a local YMCA class after graduating from architecture school 22 years ago. While it was not an Iyengar yoga class, the instructor had an Iyengar yoga background that clearly influenced her teaching. “I was immediately drawn to the way the poses were taught - with detail and structure, a clear purpose and benefit for each pose,” says Lauren.
Because Lauren’s career as an intern architect was stressful, yoga was the perfect way to manage her mental well-being as well as my physical strength, stamina, and flexibility. Her boss at the time introduced her to Nichole Baker, now her mentor and the owner of the studio where she teaches, StudiOm. Studying with Nichole deepened her interest in and dedication to the practice of Iyengar yoga and, after a few years, Lauren found herself wanting to share what she had learned with others. She began teaching 12 years ago and received her Introductory 1/2 (Level 1) certification in 2015.

“While the pandemic has proven challenging for StudiOm, it has also provided the unexpected and invaluable opportunity to teach and study with others outside the walls of our studio, state, and country via the Internet,” says Lauren. In addition to teaching twice a week, she is a licensed architect and project manager for a local bank.
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Spotlight on Community Outreach:
Mariana Scotti, Miami Shores, FL
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Marianna Scotti has been teaching yoga at Brockway Memorial Library in Miami Shores for four years. In the beginning, classes were held outside the library building, but now are held down the street to Optimist Park. The classes are advertised in the library’s newsletter which, along with affordable pricing, helps Marianna reach a wider audience in the community. Many of Marianna’long-term students have come to her through these classes. There is truly something special about taking our practice outside and into the community.
How are you bringing Iyengar yoga into your community? We’d love to share your stories! Email Alixe at iyase.members@gmail.com.
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Our April newsletter will feature Louisiana! Attention teachers in those areas! Please send information and photos about classes, yoga and life in Louisiana.
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**For Teachers and Studio Owners**
Please fill out our very short survey to help us publicize you and your classes.
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Do you have a favorite sutra that has inspired your life and your practice? Do you have questions on the application of philosophy? We want you to share your questions and ideas on any philosophical topic. Please email your contributions to Continuing Education.
For now, check out this interesting podcast from 2020, in case you missed it, talking about the Iyengar and Ashtanga lineages, both stemming from Krishnamacharya’s teachings. Rosa Santana (CIYT), owner of Yogarosa in Miami, and Tim Feldman, from Miami Life Center Ashtanga Yoga, engage in a lively and interesting exchange. Here is the link to the podcast: Chat & Chai. The conversation begins at time code 1:27.
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YOGA LINEAGES: A FREE WEBINAR John Schumacher, Monique Schubert, and Gary Kraftsow Come Together for a Round-Table Discussion Hosted by Kim Weeks |
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Date: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28
When: 2:00 PM ET
With: John Schumacher, Monique Schubert, Gary Kraftsow, Kim Weeks
Cost: FREE
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Upcoming Workshops and Events |
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Tuesday, March 8, 2022, 1:15-2:30pm
Explore the Unpanishads, one of the most ancient, insightful and inspiring spiritual texts that have come out of India! All are welcome.
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The Knee and Its Kneeded Alignment with Doerthe Braun
Sunday, March 20th, 2022
10:00AM-12:00PM
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This knee workshop will focus on how to prepare and increase the flexion of the knee. We will look at misalignments such as knock and bold knees and how these relate to our feet. Students will get a better understanding of how to improve pain and how to prevent the knee from injuries.
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Iyengar Yoga Intensive with Aretha McKinney |
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Cove Yoga will host Aretha McKinney for a weekend of yoga in Panama City, Florida. Aretha is a certified Iyengar yoga instructor and the current owner and director of the Iyengar Center of Nashville. She began her studies in the Iyengar tradition in 1996 with K-lea Gifford. She currently studies under the guidance and mentorship of Patricia Walden. Warm, yet disciplined, Aretha has a steadfast practice and a kind heart. This workshop is in-person only.
Workshop Address: Cove Yoga, 105 S Palo Alto, Panama City, FL 32401 US
Phone Number: (850) 628-0145
Workshop Level: All levels
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Click the button below to email the details of your workshop
if you would like to be listed in the next newsletter.
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Call For Photos and Videos of Iyengar gatherings |
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Help us build our IYASE community and share images, audio, articles and video clips that you may have of events, workshops or other Iyengar gatherings. We are building an IYASE Archive so we can continue to share and enjoy those memories with our members and for the promotion of the legacy of BKS Iyengar.
Please make sure when submitting content that you own the copyright to the content. You can submit your items by clicking the button below.
Thank You and Namaskar,
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