Celebrating 100 Years of Lilian Biggs

18th September 2025

On 20th September 2025, we pause to remember and celebrate the life of Lilian Biggs, who would have turned 100 years old this year.

A beloved teacher and mentor

Many of you will know Lilian, perhaps you attended one of her hugely popular classes, trained under her guidance, or were inspired by her tireless devotion to Iyengar Yoga. For others, her name may be woven into the very history of our community: Lilian was not only a beloved teacher and mentor, but also a pioneer who helped establish and grow Iyengar Yoga across our district and beyond.

Born in 1925, Lilian’s life was full of energy and adventure long before she stepped onto a yoga mat. She was a champion cyclist, an expert ballroom dancer, and later, a great-grandmother whose warmth and humour touched everyone she met. But it was through yoga that Lilian left her most enduring legacy.

Building the Iyengar community in West Yorkshire

Lilian discovered yoga almost by chance, but it became her life’s calling. After being widowed suddenly and left with five teenagers to raise, she found a deep source of strength in yoga. With the encouragement of her children, she qualified as a teacher with the British Wheel of Yoga before discovering Iyengar Yoga — an experience that transformed her path and the lives of countless others.

She became a certified Iyengar yoga teacher in 1974 and went on to obtain her senior certificate in 1981. She trained directly with B.K.S. Iyengar, Geeta, and Prashant, travelling to Pune no fewer than 18 times, including stays of several months to deepen her understanding and bring that knowledge home to her students.

Through her classes, workshops, residential weekends, and teacher training, Lilian introduced thousands of people to yoga. She trained over 50 teachers herself and guided others to become trainers of teachers, shaping generations of practitioners. She was also deeply committed to the wider Iyengar Yoga community, giving countless unpaid hours as a moderator, assessor, and community builder, and helping to establish what became the Bradford and District Iyengar Yoga Institute (BDIYI).

Keeping Iyengar yoga in the family

One memory shared by her daughter Sheila Haswell when she was a student at Birmingham University, her mum sent her a copy of Light on Yoga.

“I began to practice twice daily, following the programme in the Appendix. When I went home mum and I would practice together and compare what we had learnt. From that time my mum has been my yoga teacher… Although we have lived apart for all the time that I have been practicing yoga, my mum has been my teacher throughout. We would talk yoga over the phone and I remember when I was taking the Intermediate Junior assessments, I would ring mum on a Sunday evening for about two hours and ask her about any asanas that I was having trouble with. We regularly did the poses whilst on the ’phone she in Bradford, me in High Wycombe and that was before cordless phones!”

Those who studied with Lilian recall her energy, enthusiasm, compassion, and humour. A teacher who could spot the smallest detail across the room and knew just how to bring the best out of her students, along with an unwavering dedication to passing on Guruji’s teaching with integrity.

On her 80th birthday, Guruji himself wrote:

“It is heartening to hear that you are all celebrating the 80th Birthday of Lilian Biggs. A very devoted student of yoga since the day she embraced it and I am sure her energy is enough for you all to embrace the subject with more vigour… Please convey her our best wishes and may God bless her to live a full 100 years.”

Though Lilian passed away before reaching that milestone, her influence continues to ripple outward through the students and teachers she inspired. Her spirit lives on in every class taught by those she trained, in every student who remembers her words, and in every practitioner who carries her passion for Iyengar Yoga forward.

Today, on what would have been her 100th birthday, we honour Lilian Biggs with gratitude, affection, and admiration. Her life was one of strength, humility, and joy, and her contribution to our yoga community is immeasurable. Thank you, Lilian, your light continues