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 I have spoken with. The intention is to make accessible some of the more engaging stories and accounts I have been told.
Jayne Orton is the Director of Iyengar Yoga Birmingham; she became a direct student of BKS Iyengar after meeting him at a Master Class in the 1970s. In 2010 she became one of the few teachers worldwide to be awarded an Advanced Level certification by him. While Jayne has a sizeable personal collection relating to yoga, including hundreds of books, letters from B.K.S Iyengar and countless photographs, her personal journals detailing her yoga journey are some of the items she holds dear.
“If the house is on fire, get the dog out… and my journals.”
Jayne Orton.
Jayne told me that such is the importance of her personal yoga journals and notebooks; the only thing that would take priority over saving them if the house was on fire would be her dog. The journals, which number somewhere between 30 and 40, have been written over the past 40 years and detail her times in India, every yoga intensive she has attended, and all her interactions with Iyengar. As she says, “It’s everything; I’ve just journaled everything,”
“It’s not just what we did, the list of poses we did, but what I felt. And sometimes, like, you know, he adjusted my shoulder blade. And I’ve got that. And it’s almost kind of like, you go there. When you read it, you go there. It’s amazing.”
“They’re (the journals) all different, but it documents my time in India, the intensives, my interactions with Iyengar the highs and the lows, you know, that you have as a yoga practitioner and teacher. Those are my absolute precious items, more than any jewellery I’ve got, more than anything.”
While the journals are generally stored in the back of a wardrobe, Jayne says she can mentally picture them and knows which is which. “Every book is beautiful, the notebooks and journals, some have got a lock and key,” she says, “If I’m looking for the intensive in 1989, I know that was the pick cover with the cat on it.”
While Jayne acknowledges the contents of the journals may not be interesting to many other people due to their more reflexive nature and focus on her journey and practice, they remain a precious resource for her and one which shows how the history and practice of yoga can be a personal one, not easily recorded or publicly shared. However, the journals can also act as memory prompts, with Jayne telling how she might consult one when conversing with someone else at the same course or event.
In noting that it would not be uncommon for someone to ask her “Do you remember, or have you looked at your journal?” when talking about a specific class or event which happened on a certain date, it also shows there is a certain community recognition of value in Jayne’s journals, even if they are kept private in her wardrobe.
Do you have an item relating to the history of yoga, or your personal yoga journey which you would be willing to talk to me about or share on here? If so, please get in touch.