A little over 50 years ago Ken Thompson led Wilfred Clark into the basement of Acacia House in London. He recorded the founder of the British Wheel of Yoga talking about Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), his guided Lake of Peace meditation, and an introduction to the Bhagavad Gita. Ken thinks this audio could be the only studio-quality recording of Wilfred Clark that still exists.
Lake of Peace by Wilfred Clark (1972)
I recently chatted with Ken (a founding member of the BWY himself) about how this recording came about. He told me that he doesn’t know quite what motivated him to record audio of Wilfred in the summer of 1972, but he’s glad he did. However, he now wishes that he had recorded a video of Wilfred too.
Ken later added music and an introduction to the recording – which he now has on CD and Minidisc – and says he would like more people who are interested in yoga, particularly those involved with the BWY, to be able to hear it.
He said this could help some of those people recognise the role Wilfred played in the popularisation of yoga in the UK, and the important works he did connecting yogis around the country. Ken also thinks the recording has the potential to evoke the same sort of reaction in new listeners as those who heard Wilfred speak in the 1960s and 70s, saying, “It might help, someone might listen to that (the recording), and it might spark a certain chain reaction”.
Because of this, I listened to the recording with several current yoga teachers who were trained by the BWY or FRYOG, both organisations in which Wilfred played an important role. However, while these teachers were aware (to varying degrees) about the role Wilfred played in the popularisation of yoga, they had never heard him speak.
Matty, who trained with the BWY but didn’t know much about Wilfred said: “What I felt initially was just how relevant it is today. You know it’s 50 years ago, and yet he’s talking about things that you can just get. I could teach a class today saying what he was saying, and people would just get it straight away.
“It was a revelation to me; I’d heard the name (Wilfred Clark), but I didn’t know much about him. I can’t believe I missed it. But it’s never too late, it really has inspired me!”
Sumita added: “My teaching is FRYOG, so of course, I’ve known Wilfred Clark as the name of the father of FRYOG and one of the founders. And so, for me to hear that it was absolutely magical.”
“I’m really grateful firstly to hear his voice, because being a FRYOG teacher as well, it just took me back to my teachings. It makes you want to seek out more of Wilfred because it was powerful. He had real wisdom. I really heard wisdom in his voice and his knowledge.”
I’d also be interested to know what readers thought about hearing the recording. Had you ever heard Wilfred speak before? Did what he said resonate with you 50 years on?