Helen Clay

Bio:

I live in Sheffield and was trained by Lilian Biggs and Jeanne Maslen. I started practising Iyengar Yoga in the mid 1980's and  first qualified as a teacher in 1991. Since then I have combined yoga practice and teaching alongside family life and professional social work with children and families, early years care, education and safeguarding and quality, training with Ofsted early years I have taught in the UK and Hungary and studied at the Iyengar Institute in Pune, with Rajiv and Swati Chanchani in Rajpur and with Firooza Ali in Dehradun and Rishikesh. Until Covid, I assisted for  several years in Sheffield Yoga Centre's therapy class. I am also trained and experienced in delivering the Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs programme. Over the last years  I have had more time to study yoga philosophy and history. I took the Patanjalayoga sutra course with Gitte Bechsgaard and Sheila Haswell 2013- 2018; in September 2021 completed a 3 year part time MA in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation at School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and in January 2023 completed the Graduate Seminar with Yogic Studies. I have e also taken various short courses with the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. This has brought a broader understanding of yoga's roots and a particular interest in the potential yoga has to contribute to addressing 21st century issues such as climate, biodiversity and pollution. I currently teach at Zag Yoga Studio, Sheffield Yoga Centre. I also partner with a local community centre delivering a class to widen access to yoga for womenexperiencing barriers to yoga, especially amongst the Muslim community. This is funded by the Iyengar Yoga Development Fund (IYDF)