About the Yoga Teachers

About the Yoga Teachers

All our yoga teachers are experienced, Iyengar-qualified and highly skilled. We are confident you that you will be leaving us in good spirits, relaxed and rejuvenated.

Brenda Booth

Brenda Booth is a senior level Iyengar yoga teacher based in Kent. She has been teaching for 29 years and has been to Pune in India many times since her first visit in 1982. She is very dedicated to Mr Iyengar and his teachings; her classes are always carefully constructed and of the highest standard but there is also room for a little light heartedness.

As a teacher Brenda has humour coupled with the ability to demand and draw out her students’ potential. She has amazing depth of knowledge of the postures, remedial work, sequencing and the philosophy of yoga, making her classes fun and challenging. It is with great pleasure that Heliotrope welcomes Brenda for her first time with us.

Sheila Haswell

Sheila has been teaching Iyengar Yoga for over 25 years. During that time she has visited the Iyengar Yoga Institute in Pune on four occasions and has attended classes with BKS Iyengar in London and Paris.

Following in the footsteps of her mother, Lilian Biggs, Sheila is a senior teacher with a wealth of knowledge to give. A member of the IYA(UK) Assessment and Teacher Training Committee, she has responsibility for organising all the introductory teaching assessments in the UK.

Sheila co-owns a Yoga Centre in High Wycombe – the Sarva Iyengar Yoga Institute; and, when not teaching there, is in great demand teaching around the country. She has taught many Summer Schools and workshops both by herself and with her mother. Sheila’s compassionate teaching style, depth of understanding and encouraging approach make her yoga events a not-to-be-missed experience.

Ally Hill

Ally founded the Sarva Iyengar Yoga Institute with Sheila in 2002. She passed her Introductory Teachers Certificate in 2004 and is currently working towards her Intermediate Junior certificate. Ally has also studied with the Iyengar family in Pune, India.

Ally is Sheila’s assistant at yoga events, as well as the pregnancy class and with some of the Teacher Training which are held at their centre. She will be there to help Sheila with the classes.

Barbara Hicks

I've been teaching Iyengar Yoga since 1976 so this year marks my 32nd year of teaching! I feel very fortunate to have started my practice so young - it certainly has sustained me in the many adventures of my life.

I completed my Junior Intermediate certificate last year (level 3), which enables me to teach a much broader range of asanas and work therapeutically with students. I teach in South London and also in Central London at the City Lit Institute. I have been to Pune twice to study with Mr. Iyengar in 1978 and 1981 (when I was pregnant with my first child!), and now that my family demands are less, I am hoping to return soon.

I have taught more than 30 yoga weeks/weekend courses and particularly enjoy teaching students on a daily basis. It gives both teacher and student the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of asana and pranayama practice.

A yoga holiday is not just R&R (Rest & Recreation), but R&R&R (Rest, Recreation and Recharging!) so that we return to our everyday lives ready to go!

Brenda Hobdell

I have been practising Iyengar Yoga for 23 years and I have been teaching for 18 years. I gained my introductory certificate in 1995 and am qualified to intermediate level 3.   I am a regular visitor to the Ramamani Iyengar Yoga memorial Institute in Pune, India, where I am taught by Geeta and Prashant Iyengar. My most recent visit being in 2007 where I had the privilege of spending 5 months training with the Iyengars.

I am qualified to teach women through their pregnancy and have a lot of experience in this field. I have written articles in magazines on yoga and pregnancy.I am involved in teaching people who take part in professional sports, both individual and team sports. Yoga can greatly enhance a sports persons’ performance, both physically and mentally.

I think my students see me as a teacher who likes them to work hard but at the same time, have a fun time whilst doing it.

Barbara Norvell

I first came across yoga over twenty years ago, whilst I was living in Greece, by reading BKS Iyengars’ book ‘Light on Yoga’ and this was the beginning of my yoga journey. When I returned to the UK I sought out my first Iyengar teacher - Barbara Hicks - and it was her joy and passion for the subject that got me hooked completely. I love the intelligent approach of the Iyengar system.

Many years later I was lucky enough to train to teach with two of the UK’s most senior teachers and qualified to teach introductory level in 1998, and then continued on to become a Junior Intermediate teacher. I am passionate about yoga and continue to develop my understanding by regularly visiting Pune in India to attend classes with the Iyengar family.

Barbara teaches classes at the Iyengar Yoga Institute at Maida Vale and particularly enjoys teaching beginners, helping students establish a clear foundation for their practise. Her teaching is lively, combining warmth and humour with clear instruction.

Shirin Marshall

Shirin started learning yoga in 1977 when in her final year as a music student. She has been teaching for over ten years and holds an intermediate senior level 3 certificate. She lives in North Yorkshire but manages to attend the classes of the legendary Jeanne Maslen (one of the first of BKS Iyengar's pupils in the west) in Manchester every week.

Leo Sharma

I discovered Yoga whilst exploring India in 1994. Since then I have returned to India and attended intensive courses in Pune taught by both Mr Iyengar and Geeta Iyengar. I have been teaching Iyengar yoga for the past four years in South London.

Through my practice of yoga I became interested in holistic medicine, in particular in the body’s ability to self heal. This led me initially into a study of Ayurvedic Medicine and then into Osteopathy, which I am currently studying.

I particularly enjoy teaching restorative yoga, which focuses on undoing the body and withdrawing the senses, creating the environment for the mind to become calm.

Yoga through asana is the means by which the body develops physical health, mental calmness, emotional stability and spiritual contentment, thus creating the environment for the body to self heal on multidimensional levels.

Who are the founders of

Heliotrope Yoga Holidays?