A general workshop for those practising and attending Iyengar Yoga classes for over two years. Students should be able to do Salamba Sarvangasana (shoulder stand) and be able to do or be working towards Sirsasana (Headstand). In this workshop we will look at a range of poses some new, some probably well known to you. Come with an open mind, an open heart and be prepared to have a go and have some fun. Stay on afterwards for tea and cake or Indian snacks!

Lizzie is a Senior Iyengar Teacher, Mentor and registered Therapy Teacher teaching in Bristol since 2004. She loves to help people see their potential and grow through their yoga. Lizzie teaches classes of mixed abilities, experienced workshops for teachers and also takes personal classes for people with injuries or physical difficulties.

“I always say it’s not quite so much about what you can do, it’s about understanding what you should be doing! Once you know that you can work out how to help yourself achieve your goal!”

• Cost: £30. Price to include tea and cake or Indian snacks after the workshop. Concessionary rates available for those in financial need. Please enquire by email

• venue: Redland Halls, next to Redland Green, BS6 7ER

• please bring your own equipment: mat, blocks, bricks, a belt and a blanket

The second in a series of workshops to assist mentors and their trainees across the West in the newer elements of training and assessment in the Mentoring Manual. We will form a peer group to provide trainees with access to group discussion and practical work which may not naturally arise in the context of shadowing a class with their mentors.

There will be a group practice session, discussion time and presentation of modules content, for example, philosophy discussion, teaching skills, helping students with ailments or inversions etc. Only suitable for IY(UK) registered trainees and Level 2 teachers eligible to mentor.

Cost: £25. Concessionary rates available for those in financial need. Please enquire by email.

• Venue: Mackenzie Hall, Brockweir, NP16 7NW

• Any queries, please email avoniyengar@gmail.com

The workshop will be lead by Richard Agar Ward who is a Level 3 teacher and mentor.

The new format EOL workshop includes group discussion and sharing of practical skills. All teachers and trainees are welcome to attend. The day will form 5 of the required 10 Specialised Training hours.

An information pack will be sent to participants in advance of the workshop.

• Cost: £25. Concessionary rates available for those in financial need. Please enquire by email.

• Venue: Twerton Village Hall, Landseer Rd, Twerton, Bath BA2 1DX

The workshop is lead by Edgar Stringer who is a Level 3 Teacher, Mentor and IY(UK) Assessor. 

The new format EOL workshop includes group discussion and sharing of practical skills. All teachers and trainees are welcome to attend. The day will form 5 of the required 10 Specialised Training hours.

An information pack will be sent to participants in advance of the workshop.

• Cost: £25. Concessionary rates available for those in financial need. Please enquire by email.

• Venue: Otterford Parish Hall, Bishopswood, TA20 3RS

• Any queries, please email avoniyengar@gmail.com

The first in a series of workshops to assist mentors and their trainees across the West in the newer elements of training and assessment in the Mentoring Manual. We will form a peer group to provide trainees with access to group discussion and practical work which may not naturally arise in the context of shadowing a class with their mentors.

There will be a group practice session, discussion time and presentation of modules content, for example, philosophy discussion, teaching skills, helping students with ailments or inversions etc. Only suitable for IY(UK) registered trainees and Level 2 teachers eligible to mentor.

·       Cost: £25. Concessionary rates available for those in financial need. Please enquire by email.

·       Venue: Mackenzie Hall, Brockweir, NP16 7NW

Avon Iyengar Yoga are excited to welcome Level 3 teacher, Alaric Newcombe, to Bristol, to teach a day-long in-person Asana and Pranayama workshop at Yogawest, Bristol’s renowned Iyengar Yoga studio.

Alaric has a dynamic and flowing teaching style which is focused and insightful. His experience enables him to give precise individual adjustments and maintain concentrated group focus. He challenges inertia and ignorance with sharpness, compassion and humour.

His detailed knowledge of Pranayama makes for an engrossing experience for beginners and experienced practitioners alike. Alaric’s teaching has inspired numerous students, many of whom have trained with him to become teachers themselves.

AIY are very excited to have Level 3 teacher, Tamara Hockey, lead our March workshop.

In this workshop, Tamara will bring her wealth of teaching experience and clear, thorough teaching style to challenge, inspire and nourish each student. 

After a lifetime of lethargy and ill health, Tamara felt completely transformed by the practice of Iyengar Yoga and is dedicated to passing on the benefits to her students regardless of their current state of fitness and flexibility. 

Tamara trained and taught at Yogawest in Bristol for 12 years; ran Eastern Yoga studios for a further 3 years and upon its ‘pandemic’ closure, established Iyengar Yoga Online. She is both an assessor and mentor for IYUK. 

Tamara has studied at the Institute in Pune on numerous occasions and had the great privilege of studying with BKS Iyengar himself in general classes and one to one in the medical class.  

This workshop is suitable for people with at least one year regular practice of Iyengar yoga.

• Cost: £25.00

• Venue: Bristol School of Yoga, 16 Backfields Lane, St Pauls, Bristol BS2 8QW

This workshop will focus on techniques to refine positioning and alignment for better balance in a range of inverted asanas.  

We will learn some helpful preparatory work and explore different approaches to ‘going up’.  For those who can stay inverted, we will look at methods to introduce the variations and uses of different supports to improve stability and balance.  Adaptations and alternative poses will be given when needed.  

The workshop is suitable for anybody who would like to learn more about the benefits of practising different versions of Sirsasana and Salamba Savangasana.  

Edgar brings a wealth of knowledge and is a Level 3 Senior teacher with over 25 years experience. He has studied at the Iyengar institute on many occasions and is co-director of Yogatree studio in Corsham.

• Cost: £25.00

• Venue: Yogatree, Alexander Terrace, Corsham SN13 0BW

AIY are delighted to be hosting a workshop with Bristol based Level 3 teacher Jess Wallwork. 

This will be an absorbing and uplifting workshop for those students keen to try more challenging and less often taught asana from ‘Light on Yoga’.Jess remembers looking at photographs of BKS Iyengar in his book Light on Yoga as a young child. Then at age 7, after falling from a tree and hurting her back, it was her unexpected good fortune to be given a series of yoga poses, hand drawn by her doctor who happened to be Indian. The poses helped to relieve the pain, correct her spine and taught her to focus inward. Jess began regular classes with the Iyengar Yoga Society at Edinburgh University, liking the focus on precision and alignment in the poses and the feeling of well-being after class. Since then yoga has been part of her life. Jess has studied with BKS Iyengar at RIMYI in Pune, India. Jess feels that yoga keeps her healthy and balanced and hopes to pass the benefit of yoga to her students.

This Level 2/3 workshop is suitable for teachers and experienced practitioners.

• Cost: £25.00

• Venue: Redland Quaker Meeting House, 126 Hampton Road, Bristol BS6 6JE

The PD day is 'in-person' and the content of the programme is 'hands on' so that teachers can practice helping each other in the inverted asanas. It is a great opportunity for teachers to rebuild their community, getting together to share knowledge and experiences, seeing old friends and colleagues again.

The morning session will be looking at teaching ’new’ asanas on the Level 1 syllabus such as Adho Mukha Vrksasana and Pincha Mayurasana. After a hour’s break for lunch the second part will deal with some additions to the Level 2 syllabus such as Uhrdva Padmasana.

The format includes time for discussion and working in groups to share experiences and methods for introducing these asanas safely and effectively. Teachers will not be not expected to do all of the asanas to participate. Richard will include suggested preparation poses as well as alternatives and adaptations for anyone who doesn’t currently practice those asanas, whatever the reasons may be.

Cost £25.00

Venue: Twerton Village Hall, Landseer Rd, Twerton, Bath BA2 1DX

AIY are delighted to be hosting this day-long, in-person workshop with the wonderful Marios Argiros. 

Marios was inspired early on in his yoga journey by Tricia Booth and Jeanne Maslen, who both encouraged him to take his dedication to Iyengar yoga further and follow the teacher training course at Manchester and District Institute of Iyengar Yoga.  As a professional classical musician, he found that the concentration, discipline and self-practice needed in music could be applied to yoga in the same way.  He qualified in 2002. 

He has been a Senior 3/Level 3 teacher for several years, and continues to make regular visits to India to study with the Iyengar family at the Ramamani Memorial Institute in Pune, and also with Jawahar Bangera and Firooza Ali. 

He now divides his time between Hertfordshire and Greece and combines teaching local classes and yoga therapy while giving workshops all over the UK and Europe.  He has also taught in the USA. 

He is inspired not only by his teachers, but also by his students, and the power of Iyengar yoga to work with and improve some very challenging conditions. 

Yoga was instrumental in his own recovery from a serious car accident a few years ago, and he feels enormous gratitude to have worked with Guruji in the medical classes in Pune.  In late 2018 Marios spent several weeks in India, culminating in the Iyengar centenary celebration in Pune where he was very fortunate to experience Geeta Iyengar’s last teachings. 

His teaching is clear, strong and humorous with his absolute love and dedication to Iyengar Yoga always shining through. 

The workshop is open to teachers and keen students of Iyengar Yoga - all participants must be regular attendees of Iyengar classes and practice the inversions (or know their alternatives).

Equipment required - 4 blocks, 2 bricks, 2 blankets, 2 belts and a yoga chair. If you do not have any of these props, please let us know and we can assist. 

Cost                                 £40.00

A number of concessionary £20.00 places are available for those in financial need. Please email avoniyengar@gmail.com

Venue                              Twerton Village Hall, Landseer Road, Bath BA2 1DX

AIY are delighted to be hosting this day-long, in-person workshop with the much-loved Sheila Haswell at Long Ashton Village Hall.

Having taught for over 40 years, Sheila is one of the UK’s most experienced teachers. She has devoted much of her life to the study, practice and teaching of Iyengar Yoga and is the director of The Iyengar Yoga Shala, High Wycombe. 

Sheila has studied at RIMYI, Pune on many occasions since 1990, as well as taking classes with BKS Iyengar and Geeta S Iyengar in Europe and USA. 

Sheila has trained teachers since 1996 and was a Moderator and Assessor for IY(UK).  Now she continues in her role nurturing students and teachers as a Mentor. She sits on the board of the IY(UK) and is currently the Chairperson of the Therapy committee. Sheila is very skilled at teaching a group with different levels of experience. From beginners to the very experienced, each will learn about yoga in more detail and depth. Her knowledge is vast and always shared with great warmth, compassion and humour.

We look forward to sharing this celebratory day of Iyengar Yoga with you, led by and under the ever wise and watchful eyes of Sheila.

Cost £40

AIY Professional Development for teachers and trainees.

The Menopause is a natural stage in a woman’s life. It marks the end of the reproductive phase. The word menopause means cessation of menstruation. Menopause, however, is seldom abrupt and is often preceded by a peri-menopause state which may last up to 8 years. This workshop will explore how yoga can support a woman during this phase of her life.

Price £28

This workshop, specifically for teachers and trainees, will explore aspects of the new Levels and Mentoring arrangements, including the new manual.

 Kirsten has been a dedicated practitioner of Iyengar yoga for over 30 years and is one of the UK’s most senior Iyengar teachers. She has been an assessor for fifteen years, is a Moderator and has many years experience of training teachers.

More recently, as Chair of the Certification and Assessment Working Party of the IYUK, Kirsten has been key in the development and writing of our mentoring manuals so is well placed to guide us in this area.

We invite questions from those booking regards any aspects of the new Levels and Mentoring that you would like Kirsten to consider for inclusion in her workshop. The workshop will be mostly practical.

 Cost                 £25.00

Teaching Women Iyengar Yoga During Pregnancy

Moderator: Sallie Sullivan

You are warmly invited to attend the 2019 PD day organised by Avon Iyengar Yoga. This year the programme will be about Teaching Women Iyengar Yoga During Pregnancy

The workshop will be mainly practical with some discussion. Asanas will be taught by Sallie. You will be provided with details of the programme on the day. There will be a short break for lunch at a suitable point in the day. Hot drinks and snacks will be available but please bring your own food.

You do not need to be a member of AIY, but must have teacher membership of IY(UK).

The cost of the day will be £25.

Eileen has been teaching Iyengar Yoga for 18 years in her home studio by the sea in South County Dublin. She is a founder member of the DIYI and continues to work for the development of Iyengar Yoga in Ireland. She is a teacher trainer and assessor for the IY UK and has recently been made a moderator. Eileen has a deep understanding of Yoga, which she shares with care, precision and joy.

AIYI members £20 / non members £40

Cost of joining the AIYI: £10 - annual membership runs till April 2019

If you would like to become a new member of AIYI and the National Iyengar Yoga Association IY UK please pay total of £30 for workshop with members’ discount.

For teachers only.  This year the programme will be “The Practice and Teaching of Supported Backbending Asanas”.

In accordance with guidelines given by the IY(UK) the session will run with a couple of short breaks rather than with a longer break at lunchtime, so please organize your sustenance needs accordingly. Hot drinks will be available during the day.

You do not need to be a member of AIYI, but must have teacher membership of IY(UK). Attendees will be provided with details of the programme on the day, but please come prepared to teach a randomly selected pose to the group.

Your place will be reserved once we have received both form below and cleared payment, and we will send you confirmation and a receipt by email once this is the case.

The cost of the day will be £25.