05/28/2026
Edit: I’d also like to add that our dear Sara Azarius was on my mind the entire time. This was our first convention without her, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t cry multiple times as so many things reminded me of her. Seeing our old friends from around the country, what she would have enjoyed, and what she wouldn’t have haha. I think she would have been truly proud of our “little community that could”, and I hope we represented her legacy well 🖤
Philly Part 1, The Yoga. I just got back from a 6-day convention studying with our current head cat, Abhijata Iyengar from India (my third time studying with her, she’s such a delight). I was proud of our Pittsburgh Iyengar community that took the time out of their schedule to come, practice yoga 6 plus hours a day, and represent. We were 14 strong practicing alongside 780 other practitioners from Iyengar communities from across the country.
First set of photos is our crew practicing and having fun together. Slides 10 and 11 are of the therapy corners. There were 4 stations set up with specialty props for pregnancy, menstruation, knee pain, back pain, neck pain, illness, fatigue etc. The Iyengar yoga system believes this practice should be sarvabhauma, universal. For all with no exceptions. They do their absolute best to make this transformative work available for everyone regardless of age, size, ability, illness, injury etc (also big props to IYNAUS for getting the convention center to make the restrooms all gender/gender neutral for the duration of our stay for our trans friends and family in attendance). Slide 16 is all the convention flags from over the years (we meet every 3 years in a different US city), and slides 17 and 18 involve a question I asked the late BKS Iyengar before placing my hand in the hat of random quotes. It was, you guessed it, how to better help and guide my students suffering from knee pain 🖤
