PAULINE SCHLOESSER, PHD, CIYT-3, IAYT
DIRECTOR
My interest in yoga has always been more than physical. For me it was the way toward a spiritual life. Working with only the Sivananda Companion to Yoga book while in college, I loved how the postures made me feel –warm, light, supple, strong, and light-hearted.
It was a pregnancy that brought me to the Iyengar Yoga method, in 2002. It was known even then that Iyengar Yoga is the best method for pregnant women. In Iyengar Yoga, proper technique for aligning the joints is taught, to avoid injury and to maximize the flow of prana or vital energy. I stayed with Iyengar yoga afterward and sought out the best senior teachers. In 2004, I quit a tenured position at a local University, and began to teach yoga classes in Houston. A few years later I undertook teacher training with Patricia Walden in Cambridge, MA. I became certified (CIYT) in 2008. During the second year of teacher training with Patricia Walden, I became pregnant, and this presented a wonderful opportunity to learn yoga practices for pregnancy. I also attended National Iyengar Yoga conventions during pregnancy, and was adjusted several times by B.K.S. Iyengar himself in 2005. I have studied with the Iyengars several times in Pune, India, and in the United States. In the past several years, I have benefited greatly as a student of Lois Steinberg and David Meloni.
Striking a satisfying balance between personal practice, teaching, and family is important to me. The practice of yoga helps me to see myself clearly and gives me a better sense of my deepest values. I work to help my students become strong, sensitive, and intelligent in their bodies; and to penetrate the outer layers of being, to get closer to the essence of who they are, with hard work, compassion, and self-love.
Certification
Certified Iyengar Yoga teachers like Alcove Yoga owner Pauline Schloesser are held to uncommonly rigorous technical and ethical standards. Aspiring teachers must first develop a strong practice as a student for 3 years. Then they can apply to be assessed for teacher certification, by a 3-member committee which does not include one’s own teacher. CIYTs are then accountable for a specific body of knowledge and ethical standards. It’s what sets Iyengar Yoga apart from the rest.
Iyengar Yoga
Iyengar yoga is classical yoga from the lineage of Patanjali, developed in the 20th and 21st centuries by BKS Iyengar and his family in India. In the Yoga Sutras, the sage Patanjali described eight steps toward physical mastery and spiritual absorption. Iyengar Yoga guides students along this journey in a way that’s practical, experiential, and intensely personal.
Traditional Yoga of Patanjali
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali states that yoga is the complete stillness of the mind, intelligence, and ego. Yoga is also a form of spiritual devotion. When the mind is still, the pure light of awareness reveals the true Self. Once this happens, a union with cosmic consciousness, or the Divine, is possible.
In Iyengar Yoga, this search for mental quietude and spiritual union begins very practically with what we can see and touch: the physical body and ancient body postures, called asanas (AH-sah-nahs).
The Asanas
The asanas are physical postures that create channels and boundaries for the energy of our bodies. When you are new to yoga, the practice is mainly physical, involving muscles, bones, and joints. You do it for health of the body, and to relieve stress. But your practice will also help your digestion, circulation, respiration, and sleep quality. The regular practice of inverted asanas also boosts the immune system.
Your teacher will introduce you to postures through clear, step by step instructions. This might be to stand in a certain way, or to align the feet, ankles, knees, trunk, shoulders, and head in a specific manner. You will be instructed to press here and extend there, and feel the resulting experience, breathing normally. In this way we take you on a guided tour inside your embodiment.
Asana practice is Meditation in Action
It can be vigorous, dynamic, slow, supported, unsupported, but always mentally quieting. The more you practice, the more ease and familiarity with the postures. Gradually you penetrate the inner body–your breathing, circulation, digestion improve. Your immune system becomes robust.
Asana practice helps us heal disease and injury from the past; maintain the health of the present; and prevent ill health of the future. CIYTs know how to help you practice to avoid injury.
You also learn meditation in action. By concentrating the mind on specific body parts, you learn to quieten the thought waves, relax deeply, and experience a blissful state. This is why yoga is so important for relieving stress and anxiety. Yet, the deeper purpose of yoga is meditation and complete absorption for an experience with divine presence.
Distinct Hallmarks of Iyengar Yoga
What you can expect in an Iyengar Yoga Class
- clear demonstrations
- precise instructions
- focus on alignment and safety
- guidance for adaptation where needed (including use of props like bolsters, blankets, blocks, etc.)
Gimmicks and distractions you will not find in an Iyengar Yoga Class
- “hot” practice areas
- mirrors
- music
- fragrance or aroma
The Iyengar family
The Iyengar family in Pune – B.K.S. Iyengar, Prashant, Geeta, and Abijata – propogates this tradition at the Institute in Pune, India. His son Prashant and daughter Geeta ran the institute after his retirement. After Geeta died (2018), Abhijata, Guruji’s granddaughter, is now in charge with Prashant Iyengar. Both of them are regular teachers to students from all over the world.
Pauline Schloesser, owner and Director of Alcove Yoga, has been to Pune several times and studied with the Iyengars, and continues her studies with them and other senior Iyengar teachers in the U.S. and abroad.
Please contact us to discuss which class is best for you.
About B.K.S. Iyengar
Called the “Michelangelo of yoga” and the “king of yogis,” named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people, B.K.S. Iyengar is widely acknowledged to have been one of the world’s greatest yoga teachers. Yogacharya (yoga master) Iyengar brought yoga to the West with his pioneering teaching in the 1960s and 70s, the beginning of today’s explosive growth in yoga. His Light on Yoga, called “the Bible of yoga,” has been the sourcebook for generations of yoga students. His most recent books are Light of Life, and Yoga Wisdom and Practice. Mr. Iyengar pioneered the use of yoga props. Now ubiquitous in yoga studios of all styles, yoga props revolutionized the art of asana. Certified Iyengar Yoga Teachers are trained to teach modifications of or alternatives to classical yoga postures to meet the specific needs of students.
Certification
Certified Iyengar Yoga teachers like Alcove Yoga owner Pauline Schloesser are held to uncommonly rigorous technical and ethical standards. No one can train to be an Iyengar teacher without having first developed a strong practice as a student for 3 years. Then he or she may apply to be assessed for teacher certification, by a 3-member committee which does not include one’s own teacher. Our certified teachers are then accountable for a body of knowledge and experience. It’s what sets Iyengar Yoga apart from the rest.
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