Our Teachers

Our emphasis is on the high quality of our teaching. All our teachers pass rigorous examinations to an international standard after at least three years of study and then two years of teacher training. This training includes the study of anatomy as well as yoga and yoga teaching. Most of our teachers have a more advanced stage of yoga teaching qualification and most have also studied personally with Yogacharya Iyengar at his Institute in Pune, India.

All our teachers hold and display the international Certification Mark you see here. This tells you that the teacher is an approved teacher of Iyengar Yoga, is properly trained and supervised to teach safely and well, is insured and holds an up to date registration. Only those who hold and display this Mark are qualified to teach Iyengar yoga.

Teacher qualifications in the UK are at three levels - Introductory, Junior Intermediate and Senior Intermediate. They are supervised by the Iyengar Yoga Association (UK)

Elaine Pidgeon. Director of the Centre

I started studying Iyengar Yoga with my teachers Bob and Kathy Welham in 1976. I began teaching in 1980 and in 1981 I first visited the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune to be taught by BKS Iyengar. It was an inspirational and life changing experience and I have since been back many times. I am Senior Intermediate teaching certificate holder, a teacher trainer and a senior examiner for the IYA(UK). From 2000 to 2003, I chaired what has now become the Iyengar Yoga Association of the UK. I love seeing the transformation that Iyengar Yoga can bring. Through its thoroughness and focus it opens our awareness of body mind and spirit, bringing stability and poise whatever our age and stage of life.

Agracitta

Born in Glasgow in 1959 - a giant safety pin now marks the spot (yes, really!). Discovered eastern philosophy, Buddhism and Yoga, about 20 years later. Almost 30 years after that, the truth still proves elusive. I started teaching introductory Iyengar Yoga in 1987 and moved up to the Junior Intermediate qualification in 1997.

Stuart Anderson

I trained at the Edinburgh Iyengar Yoga Centre with Elaine Pidgeon and studied in India with Rajiv and Swati Chanchani. I qualified as an Introductory Iyengar yoga teacher in 1992 and as a Junior Intermediate teacher in 1999. I am particularly interested in the link between yoga philosophy and practice and try to make this link in my teaching.

Anne Bevan

I have been practicing Iyengar Yoga since I started as an art student in 1983. I qualified as an Introductory Iyengar teacher in 1991, as a Junior Intermediate teacher in 1997 and more recently has travelled to India to study with the Iyengar family. I also continue my work as an artist and sculpture tutor.

Claudia Cotronei

I discovered Iyengar Yoga when I first arrived in Scotland from Italy in 1985 and came to the Edinburgh Centre. I took my Introductory teaching certificate in 1992 and have been studying with Senior Teachers from the Edinburgh Centre and with other International Teachers since then. Yoga is my anchor in life; the Edinburgh Centre is like a family.

George Glen

I fell in love with yoga when studying at Art College in 1986, and a few years afterwards got interested in teaching. My first visit to Pune to study with the Iyengars in 1991 opened my eyes to the spirit of practice, which felt like a home coming and has led me to go on to become a Senior Intermediate teacher and teacher trainer. The practice of yoga is a wonderful way of exploring our inner worlds, finding a growing intimacy with the frontiers of our being. Yoga has been at times a lifeline and route into the unknown for me; it’s a wonderful journey that’s constantly awakening a fresh sense of inner poise and joy in life.

Alan Gould

I have been practising Iyengar Yoga now since 1990. I gained the Introductory teaching certificate in 1994 and completed the Junior Intermediate certificate in 2006. I have spent a few years living in Spain where I had the experience of teaching Yoga in another language. My Yoga practice is a growing discipline, helping me with all aspects of health and the ability to face the world with more positivity.

Catero Hawkins

Yoga stimulates, soothes, challenges and delights me. Teaching Yoga offers me the opportunity to share with others my understandings of what I find an extraordinary art and science. I have enjoyed teaching at the Edinburgh Iyengar Yoga Centre since moving to Edinburgh in 1983 and have held the Junior Intermediate qualification since 1986

Catriona Instrell

My introduction to yoga came through my daughter's ballet teacher in Broughty Ferry in 1971 and I have been an Iyengar yoga teacher since June 1979, teaching classes in the Centre ever since Bob and Kathy Welham set it up that year. They were my first Iyengar yoga teachers, getting me to Pune twice in the eighties and a Junior Intermediate certificate in 1983. Yoga doors opened onto a vista that I am still exploring with excitement and enjoyment. The quote on BKS Iyengar's 90th birthday calendar is the reason I am still learning and teaching yoga - "Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured."

Lesley Johnston

I have been practising Iyengar Yoga since 1980 & qualified as a Teacher in 1989. Since then I have been immensely privileged to have further studied under the expert guidance of Senior Teachers both in Britain and Pune & now teach Intermediate Classes at the Centre. Yoga has and continues to play a major part in my life & I hope to be able to disseminate some of the skills and enthusiasm which I have learnt from my many years of practice and membership of this unique yoga centre.

Meg Laing

I started Iyengar Yoga in 1972 as a student. I first went to Pune in 1977 in the early days of the Institute there – very exciting – and came away with an Introductory teaching certificate from Guruji himself. It seemed I had to become a teacher, so I took my Junior Intermediate (in 1983) and finally (in 1996) my Senior Intermediate certificates. I love teaching my Monday evening class and learn a huge amount from doing teacher training on Saturday mornings with Elaine Pidgeon and George Glen. I am also a senior examiner for new teachers, and a member of the Assessment and Teacher Training Committee of the Iyengar Yoga Association (UK).

Jean Reid

Having suffered back pain for a number of years I decided to attend Iyengar Yoga classes as advised by a nurse. It was three months before my 50th birthday that I started attending classes at the Edinburgh Centre. The improvement began immediately and gradually the pain disappeared. I decided then to become a Yoga teacher and enjoyed the learning experience very much, gaining the Introductory Certificate in 1988 and later the Junior Intermediate Certificate.

Katie Rutherford

I was lucky enough to find my first Iyengar yoga class in the late seventies while I was a postgraduate student in the north-east of England and was very quickly convinced that this was something I should integrate fully into my life. I trained as a teacher with Elaine Pidgeon in 1987 and completed the Junior Intermediate certificates in 1995. In 2001 I started to teach yoga full time and have since had the privilege of visiting India every year to further my studies. As well as making me stronger, healthier and more confident, yoga makes me more at peace with who I am. I consider us all very fortunate to have an established Iyengar Yoga Centre in Edinburgh.