Yoga Memories
This advert appeared in a regional Birmingham newspaper in 1961 (9th July) and could be the first time the term “yoga studio” was used to describe a UK centre for the practice of yoga. The city-centre studio on what was Suffolk Street, was run by Yogini Sunita, a popular Birmingham-based yoga teacher at the time. The […]
Previous posts in this series have introduced the 1963 BBC TV show Yehudi Menuhin and his Guru, how the concepts of yoga and the yogi were discussed in it and the presentation and performance of B.K.S. Iyengar throughout the show. This final post takes a more behind-the-scenes look at how the show came about and was […]
In previous posts, I introduced the 1963 BBC TV show Yehudi Menuhin and his Guru, in which David Attenborough interviewed the world-famous violinist and his yoga teacher and how the concepts of yoga and the yogi were discussed on the show. This post focuses on the presentation and performance of B.K.S. Iyengar throughout the show. […]
In the previous post, I introduced the 1963 BBC TV show Yehudi Menuhin and his Guru, in which David Attenborough interviewed the world-famous violinist and his yoga teacher (BKS Iyengar). Here I will look more specifically at how the concepts of yoga and the yogi were discussed on the show. It is hoped these interactions […]
Yehudi Menuhin and His Guru is a TV show which aired on the BBC in 1963. Coming after several shows by Sir Paul Dukes, It wasn’t the first time yoga had featured on UK television, and the one-off 30-minute show couldn’t have the ongoing appeal of something long-running like Richard Hittleman’s later Yoga For Health. However, […]
One of the aspects my research considers is the personal collections of yoga practitioners, the items they have retained and what they can contribute to understanding the history and practice of yoga in the UK. This blog post is part of a series which looks at specific items which hold value and meaning for those […]
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 […]
Over the past couple of years, I’ve become fascinated by the appearance of yoga in newspaper and magazine comic strips/cartoons. There’s an ever-growing folder on my phone containing examples of comic characters becoming interested in yoga or yoga being used as a punchline. I don’t yet know what I’ll end up doing with these images […]
In 1971 Yoga & Health was launched in the UK. Tied in with the broadcast of Richard Hittleman’s Yoga for Heath on ITV, the glossy magazine was a departure from the yoga books, newsletters and correspondence courses which preceded it. Several of those I have spoken with as part of my research have told me […]