Bobby Clennell / Telling Our Stories
I think it’s important to share memories and stories of our teachers. These stories give us a glimpse of them as people, but more importantly about yoga as a life’s practice. At the Iyengar convention this past week in Philadelphia, I was very touched by the stories about Guruji (BKS Iyengar). Hearing Abhijata (BKS Iyengar’s granddaughter and head of Iyengar Yoga) speak of him provides context and flavor to our understanding of Guruji and his teachings. Yoga is more than just asana, more than just the on-the-mat. The off-the-mat stories matter as well.
At the convention we found out about the passing of one of our senior teachers, Bobby Clennell, and it got me thinking about my experience with her and her teachings.
I met Bobby at a formative time in my studies. I had just been introduced to Iyengar Yoga through my teacher, Eileen Muir, and was inspired to study Iyengar Yoga more deeply. I was drawn to study in New York City, as it is one of (if not THE) hub of Iyengar Yoga in the Northeast. If you have never been to New York to study, I would encourage you to. There is nowhere else in the world that you take classes all day long. In one day I would drive in, take three classes (sometimes workshops), and then drive home.
I saw Bobby’s name on the schedule. On the way into the city I took a look at her website. On her site there was a photo of her that sparked my interest. In the picture, Bobby was on a subway train performing a gorgeous Parivṛtta Jānu Śīrṣāsana, like it was a natural thing to do when traveling under the streets of New York City. It inspired me to take class with her. I also joked with myself that maybe I would try the same pose on a bus or a taxi.
I would take class with Bobby whenever I could. For reasons that I didn’t understand at the time, she touched me and my practice. I would often go on Fridays and would end my stay there with Bobby’s evening restorative class. And if the stars aligned, I would take two classes with her in one day.
After some time, I became familiar to her. Bobby realized that I was coming to multiple classes with her on the same day (as well as others). She respected my rigor and told me so. She was very sweet in the way that she recognized me and cared for me. After a long day of practice, she would tell me that before I leave the city, I absolutely must sit down somewhere. I was told to have a cup of tea to ensure that I had my wits about me before traveling back to Massachusetts. I recognize this now as a continuation of her teaching. As teachers, our teaching must extend beyond the mat itself. What happens off the mat must be considered when we meet and work with our students. Bobby was a model of this principle.
A few of us convinced Eileen, the then owner of Karuna Center for Yoga and Healing Arts, that we should invite Bobby to our center. And we were so blessed to have her come and teach a restorative workshop for us, as well as a breast care workshop, as she was an expert on the subject (you should get her book!). I will forever treasure the car rides, bringing her from the train station to the center and our conversations about things that don’t often get discussed in class: subtleties in posture, energy centers in the body, and areas of the body that were related to specific gods and represented differing qualities of the universe. It seemed like she new everything.
While we didn’t know each other personally, our small meetings stuck with me. Today I taught a class based on the sequence that I had written down from a level three class I took with Bobby in 2014. When I reviewed my notes from classes that I took with Bobby, I was struck by how many “Bobby-isms” I share regularly in my teaching. She taught me that the arms are directly connected to the upper torso and the legs to the lower half. She asked us to not only lift our chests, but to fill the chest from the inside. She asked more of my headstand practice than any other teacher I’ve ever learned from. In one of those Friday night restorative classes, I held a 17 minute headstand! She timed me.
At the convention, we were blessed to see the movie that was made about Bobby’s return journey to England with Lindsey (her husband). They were moving to England permanently for Bobby to care for Lindsay while he lives with Alzheimer’s. I was so happy to see Lindsey‘s humor again and it brought back old memories of him as well. There are a few occasions when I took class with him. Lindsay’s class was unlike any other class. It seemed like his classes were an opportunity for friends to get together, practice asana, and learn from each other. One time he said to me, “You are young enough to just flop into supta virasana. So go ahead and flop. But, after you have sufficiently flopped, you should get up and see what the old folks are doing. Copy and try out our set-ups as there is something to learn from them.”
It’s important to share these stories. We should all tell the stories of our teachers. Let your students know where their learning is coming from. Tell them not only how you learned about asana, but how you learned to care for others. The funny stories. The epic stories. Because they are affecting more than just you. They are the fabric and history of our method, our lineage, and our culture of compassion.
Paul Menard
Director, Karuna Center for Yoga and Healing Arts