April 19, 2022 • 19 mins
After 20 years of teaching yoga in San Francisco. Yoga Teacher, Tony Eason is interviewed by Magi Khoo of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco.
Tony speaks of how he got introduced to yoga, his feelings about his Iyengar Yoga Institute 2 yr. Advanced Teacher Training experience, and how hatha yoga can become more accessible to the African American communities.
Ynot Truth Podcast Website: http://ynottruth.com
Tony Eason Website: http://ynottony.com
Full YouTube Video [here]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO0D8nfQ4bk&t=623s
Listen Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/iyengar-yoga-institute
Listen Here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/578KR1sCWCXHNSvSFsJfBa
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Hello,
Tony,
this is such a pleasure.
I'm good.
How are you?
I am fabulous,
the best of all possible worlds.
No,
so wonderful.
I mean yes,
despite you know what's going on in the world,
we have to still take care of our individual selves.
(00:26):
True.
If you can't take care of yourself,
you definitely cannot assist anyone else.
Mhm.
Well I wanted to thank you again for taking this time to meet with us.
A younger yoga institute of san Francisco folks.
It's been a long,
long,
long time and I wanted to hear a little well,
(00:48):
I want to hear from you so that our audience can also learn a little more about you because, it's been a long time since you've been at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco.
Now,
just knowing a little bit about your background,
I still want to you know,
have you talked about when you first started practicing yoga,
how you came to learn about iyengar yoga and then eventually,
(01:10):
you know taking on the two-year Advanced Iyengar Yoga Teacher Training Program.
Okay,
so I began yoga .
My first yoga teacher was a woman by the name of Mary Friedland And I met her at 24-hour Fitness, San Francisco of all places.
(01:30):
And then I committed myself to taking her yoga classes 4 - five times a week.
I did that for approximately five years.
And then I asked Mary:
"Who is your teacher?"
And Mary told me (01:48):
Her teacher was Janet MacLeod. And so therefore
At that point, Janet was teaching a Wednesday morning free donation class I believe at eight a.m. And so I started taking the Iyengar yoga class.
(02:20):
After several months of taking that class, Janet MacLeod actually said to me:
"You should take the Iyengar teacher training program so that you can come to my class and be my apprentice
and put out the mats, bolsters, and straps for all the yoga students.
And I laughed.
And about six months later that was exactly what I was doing.
(02:43):
I ended up being Janet's apprentice,
which by the way,
Janet says I am the best apprentice she ever had.
I apprenticed with Janet for the first year of the Iyengar teacher training program.
So that's how I started.
What was the rest of it?
How?
Yeah,
I think you answered all of it.
(03:05):
Wonderful.
Um so in your recent Ynot Truth Podcast,
you illustrated some of the highlights from that experience of the Iyengar Yoga teacher training,
which is one of the longest-running teacher training in the country.
Could you elaborate on what it was about the training that has helped shape your teaching these last couple of decades?
(03:29):
Um I believe that the Iyengar yoga teacher training is the best yoga teacher training out there.
And the reason being; the Iyengar Training covers a full scope of things.
Not only did they work on my personal practice,
(03:50):
but we also had to learn,
we had two quarters of physiology.
We had anatomy.
We even went to see a cadaver dead body to study the human body,
but also they studied,
we studied the yoga scriptures.
So the Bhagavad Gita,
the Yoga Sutras.
But I think the part that I loved the most, thanks to yoga teacher Jaki Nett, is that they taught us how to teach.
And one of the most relevant things to me is that I always remember Jackie said (04:22):
"Teach your students as if they were blind."
So your verbiage in communicating to your student has to be so clear that they can understand with their eyes closed.
(04:49):
So, I loved all of that! And I especially loved the year of "How to teach!.
Because most teachers that I've run into do not know how to teach. starts to teach.
(05:16):
And you can see it! When I go to a class, I can immediately tell you if they were Iyengar trained.
There's a,
it's a whole different level of yoga teacher ship,
that's what I'd say.
Yeah,
thank you for that.
Um So in the Iyengar yoga system,
in the last few years, we've moved away from the teacher training program.
(05:37):
So there's no more two-year training and instead, we're fostering more encouraging more a one on one mentorship with senior yoga teachers such as Janet and the many more that have come through the Iyengar certification system.
Um The IYISF still continues to offer a teacher education program to support this effort but no longer um you know offers any kind of yoga teacher training program.
(06:03):
The national board.
However,
continues is the certifying board um and and through the mentorship,
they are prepared to sit for the iyengar teacher certification.
Do you have any thoughts about that?
I think the Iyengar Yoga Institute 2yr Advanced Teacher Training Program teaches humility and it also teaches commitment and responsibility .
(06:36):
If I missed and/or I failed one class; then I would not complete the program in two years.
And so I had to be committed.
I like that.
I think that is very important.
(06:57):
I felt that yoga teachers that just went for certification but did not go through the 2yr Teacher Training program,
you can see the difference.
Um Yeah,
I don't know what to say.
I I think you know there are many who also see what you just said um and I,
(07:21):
you know,
even for myself who did get certified um you know after different teacher trainings um also quite question that and this really came from,
you know,
the mothership of a younger yoga in puna India and the family,
the Children,
the daughter of BKS Iyengar who encouraged it and that's been adopted now throughout the US.
(07:50):
Um and you know there's pros and cons to it,
there's still definitely high standard of requiring that students have already built up a steady practice,
correct?
You know,
so you can just walk in and say,
hey I want to learn yoga and take on teacher trip,
right?
Because just like in the Iyengar program,
I believe it was three or four years,
(08:12):
you had to be studying with the Iyengar certified teacher before you came to the school,
which I think is great Because it wipes out all of those people that think they're going to become a yoga teacher overnight.
And then the next thing,
you know,
they're doing 14 retreats a year,
(08:35):
No,
you have to work just like everything else.
Yeah,
so absolutely and we still the half that expectation that you are committed to the practice um and you know,
the the as I mentioned,
we are still offering um yoga teacher education,
just not any kind of,
(08:55):
you know,
two Year extended program,
the study is more kind of,
you know,
put on you to get through all the requirements with your mentor teaching you through the institute.
The program gives you even more of a structure.
So we do still have that,
it's just not a two year thing so you can between self study area and also with the mentorship,
(09:21):
we are still preparing in a rigorous manner.
Students ready.
Alright well with that I want to switch gear a little bit,
just kind of talk about the pandemic because it's as we were emerging,
you know,
out of these two years,
you know,
(09:41):
yoga obviously has changed quite a bit through being online and you know the what what it used to be,
it's kind of slowly shaping itself out.
What are your hopes of you know how yoga was traditionally taught?
I have been offered,
how can it transform itself and restructure to even a you know,
(10:03):
better much improved,
hopefully way of learning and teaching for us to do.
Mm hmm.
Um I don't know if I can answer that question.
Uh I believe that coming out of the pandemic that will return to the studio and things will go back to whatever normal is.
(10:35):
I think that everything will be restored.
I think there also was some great things about the online as I found with my students online,
the online gave us a purpose a place to congregate as a community and I found that my students online now they love coming to talk to each other and now we all share our successes,
(11:11):
failures epiphanies everything that's going on and that's been great because you don't get that in the yoga studio.
The students don't come and talk.
They come and sit quietly and wait for the teacher.
So I think the online created more community and I hope that we can keep that sense of community and bring it back into the studio.
(11:39):
That's what I'd say.
Yeah,
that that sounds wonderful to me.
We can keep that communal aspect and bring it into the studio.
How long would that be nice Thank you.
And so another kind of little different question and and and as you know,
the institute recently started offering,
(12:00):
you know,
reduce costs and donation based a younger yoga classes in Bayview Hunters Point at Armando luna yoga studio with one of the classes with you know,
your old teacher Janet long time teacher rather.
Uh and thank you for having been so supportive of it.
We are finding it a challenge however,
(12:20):
to promote those classes to the community in the surrounding neighborhoods and would love any suggestions you might have for us.
Yes.
Um so first I would say one has to look at the community.
So the community,
Bayview Hunters Point is mostly people of color or african americans.
(12:46):
So I would say give them what they need.
And so I would say if you were looking at the african american community,
perhaps look at their issues and the issues there could be maybe yoga for diabetes,
yoga for obesity or overweight Nous yoga for them.
(13:14):
Any kind of mental challenge.
But you have to look at what the people of the neighborhood needs and give it to them and even more importantly speak to them in the language which they speak and that's how you can draw them in.
So yeah,
(13:35):
that's it.
Great.
Thanks for the insight.
I think that's going to be very helpful for the teachers who are currently teaching there for the institute to learn how to be more present there with the people there.
Thank you because it is I've been to the studio.
It's a great studio.
It's a great space.
(13:58):
But we need to give the people a reason for coming.
Why are they coming to the studio?
I'm coming to the studio because I saw something about how to relieve depression or how to lower my sugar level or how to lose weight but more so that way not the spiritual way.
(14:26):
Do you know more the therapeutic attributes of yoga is what I would push and then uh maybe also get involved with the immediate community.
Find out what's going on there and show up,
(14:46):
go to the potluck,
go to the whatever and put yourself in the realm of the people of that neighborhood.
Yeah.
Which incidentally I believe Armando did have Yeah,
he's having an open house I believe soon.
Yeah.
I think it was actually the past weekend which both she and Janet I believe they did show up.
(15:10):
How did it go?
I have not talked to them about it yet but I will soon we are meeting next friday.
Good.
Thank you.
Well this brings me to my last question which is,
which is somewhat related.
Um you know,
people of color have not been typically portrayed in the what I call the corporatized promotion of yoga.
(15:33):
Why do you suppose this has been the case?
And how do you envision it changing.
Um Okay,
so I think it's the case because looking at the ads and the,
the typical yoga ad is excuse my expression.
(15:54):
But it is the typical yoga ad is a blonde woman on the beach 22 talking about how she's going to change your life At 20-1,
1 has not lived long enough to have the experience to give to other people.
(16:19):
So with african americans in general Being an African American,
if a 22 year old woman was sitting in front of me,
blonde blue,
skinny,
cute wearing lululemon,
it would not resonate with me because I can't connect with that.
(16:42):
Do you know what I mean?
So perhaps in the adverse mints they should start to use more people of color and more people of different shapes and sizes because everyone,
we push the tendency that you have to be skinny and beautiful to do yoga.
(17:05):
No,
you just have to have a map.
Mhm.
So we need to change the image of what,
what is the yogi?
What is the?
Oh guinea?
It's whoever shows up.
Right.
Absolutely.
(17:26):
Ditto on with I'm on that.
Thank you so much.
Well um thanks again for showing up for the institute for Janet it's been wonderful chatting with you.
I just want to give you the opportunity to,
if there's anything else you'd like to share with our audience are students.
(17:49):
Um Okay so then what I would say is first and foremost I want to thank the Iranian guard yoga institute for giving me the opportunity to study and learn and grow.
Secondly,
I would like to thank the senior teachers of the Ganga Yoga Institute who have diligently diligently worked at the studio for years.
(18:21):
Jackie Net,
Nora Burnett,
jonny,
MacLeod and Kathy most definitely Kathy ellis.
I think they're great,
great teachers and anyone that has the opportunity to study under any of them should absolutely with you on that too.
(18:44):
Well,
thank you again so much,
Tony.
It's been a pleasure speaking with you and I wish you many blessings a wonderful day.
Okay then.
Have a great day.
I hope I did well.
You did fantastic.
(19:04):
Mm hmm.
Hello,
Tony,
this is such a pleasure.
I'm good.
How are you?
I am fabulous,
the best of all possible worlds.
No,
so wonderful.
I mean yes,
despite you know what's going on in the world,
we have to still take care of our individual selves.
(00:26):
True.
If you can't take care of yourself,
you definitely cannot assist anyone else.
Mhm.
Well I wanted to thank you again for taking this time to meet with us.
A younger yoga institute of san Francisco folks.
It's been a long,
long,
long time and I wanted to hear a little well,
(00:48):
I want to hear from you so that our audience can also learn a little more about you because, it's been a long time since you've been at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco.
Now,
just knowing a little bit about your background,
I still want to you know,
have you talked about when you first started practicing yoga,
how you came to learn about iyengar yoga and then eventually,
(01:10):
you know taking on the two-year Advanced Iyengar Yoga Teacher Training Program.
Okay,
so I began yoga .
My first yoga teacher was a woman by the name of Mary Friedland And I met her at 24-hour Fitness, San Francisco of all places.
(01:30):
And then I committed myself to taking her yoga classes 4 - five times a week.
I did that for approximately five years.
And then I asked Mary:
"Who is your teacher?"
And Mary told me (01:48):
Her teacher was Janet MacLeod. And so therefore
At that point, Janet was teaching a Wednesday morning free donation class I believe at eight a.m. And so I started taking the Iyengar yoga class.
(02:20):
After several months of taking that class, Janet MacLeod actually said to me:
"You should take the Iyengar teacher training program so that you can come to my class and be my apprentice
and put out the mats, bolsters, and straps for all the yoga students.
And I laughed.
And about six months later that was exactly what I was doing.
(02:43):
I ended up being Janet's apprentice,
which by the way,
Janet says I am the best apprentice she ever had.
I apprenticed with Janet for the first year of the Iyengar teacher training program.
So that's how I started.
What was the rest of it?
How?
Yeah,
I think you answered all of it.
(03:05):
Wonderful.
Um so in your recent Ynot Truth Podcast,
you illustrated some of the highlights from that experience of the Iyengar Yoga teacher training,
which is one of the longest-running teacher training in the country.
Could you elaborate on what it was about the training that has helped shape your teaching these last couple of decades?
(03:29):
Um I believe that the Iyengar yoga teacher training is the best yoga teacher training out there.
And the reason being; the Iyengar Training covers a full scope of things.
Not only did they work on my personal practice,
(03:50):
but we also had to learn,
we had two quarters of physiology.
We had anatomy.
We even went to see a cadaver dead body to study the human body,
but also they studied,
we studied the yoga scriptures.
So the Bhagavad Gita,
the Yoga Sutras.
But I think the part that I loved the most, thanks to yoga teacher Jaki Nett, is that they taught us how to teach.
And one of the most relevant things to me is that I always remember Jackie said (04:22):
"Teach your students as if they were blind."
So your verbiage in communicating to your student has to be so clear that they can understand with their eyes closed.
(04:49):
So, I loved all of that! And I especially loved the year of "How to teach!.
Because most teachers that I've run into do not know how to teach. starts to teach.
(05:16):
And you can see it! When I go to a class, I can immediately tell you if they were Iyengar trained.
There's a,
it's a whole different level of yoga teacher ship,
that's what I'd say.
Yeah,
thank you for that.
Um So in the Iyengar yoga system,
in the last few years, we've moved away from the teacher training program.
(05:37):
So there's no more two-year training and instead, we're fostering more encouraging more a one on one mentorship with senior yoga teachers such as Janet and the many more that have come through the Iyengar certification system.
Um The IYISF still continues to offer a teacher education program to support this effort but no longer um you know offers any kind of yoga teacher training program.
(06:03):
The national board.
However,
continues is the certifying board um and and through the mentorship,
they are prepared to sit for the iyengar teacher certification.
Do you have any thoughts about that?
I think the Iyengar Yoga Institute 2yr Advanced Teacher Training Program teaches humility and it also teaches commitment and responsibility .
(06:36):
If I missed and/or I failed one class; then I would not complete the program in two years.
And so I had to be committed.
I like that.
I think that is very important.
(06:57):
I felt that yoga teachers that just went for certification but did not go through the 2yr Teacher Training program,
you can see the difference.
Um Yeah,
I don't know what to say.
I I think you know there are many who also see what you just said um and I,
(07:21):
you know,
even for myself who did get certified um you know after different teacher trainings um also quite question that and this really came from,
you know,
the mothership of a younger yoga in puna India and the family,
the Children,
the daughter of BKS Iyengar who encouraged it and that's been adopted now throughout the US.
(07:50):
Um and you know there's pros and cons to it,
there's still definitely high standard of requiring that students have already built up a steady practice,
correct?
You know,
so you can just walk in and say,
hey I want to learn yoga and take on teacher trip,
right?
Because just like in the Iyengar program,
I believe it was three or four years,
(08:12):
you had to be studying with the Iyengar certified teacher before you came to the school,
which I think is great Because it wipes out all of those people that think they're going to become a yoga teacher overnight.
And then the next thing,
you know,
they're doing 14 retreats a year,
(08:35):
No,
you have to work just like everything else.
Yeah,
so absolutely and we still the half that expectation that you are committed to the practice um and you know,
the the as I mentioned,
we are still offering um yoga teacher education,
just not any kind of,
(08:55):
you know,
two Year extended program,
the study is more kind of,
you know,
put on you to get through all the requirements with your mentor teaching you through the institute.
The program gives you even more of a structure.
So we do still have that,
it's just not a two year thing so you can between self study area and also with the mentorship,
(09:21):
we are still preparing in a rigorous manner.
Students ready.
Alright well with that I want to switch gear a little bit,
just kind of talk about the pandemic because it's as we were emerging,
you know,
out of these two years,
you know,
(09:41):
yoga obviously has changed quite a bit through being online and you know the what what it used to be,
it's kind of slowly shaping itself out.
What are your hopes of you know how yoga was traditionally taught?
I have been offered,
how can it transform itself and restructure to even a you know,
(10:03):
better much improved,
hopefully way of learning and teaching for us to do.
Mm hmm.
Um I don't know if I can answer that question.
Uh I believe that coming out of the pandemic that will return to the studio and things will go back to whatever normal is.
(10:35):
I think that everything will be restored.
I think there also was some great things about the online as I found with my students online,
the online gave us a purpose a place to congregate as a community and I found that my students online now they love coming to talk to each other and now we all share our successes,
(11:11):
failures epiphanies everything that's going on and that's been great because you don't get that in the yoga studio.
The students don't come and talk.
They come and sit quietly and wait for the teacher.
So I think the online created more community and I hope that we can keep that sense of community and bring it back into the studio.
(11:39):
That's what I'd say.
Yeah,
that that sounds wonderful to me.
We can keep that communal aspect and bring it into the studio.
How long would that be nice Thank you.
And so another kind of little different question and and and as you know,
the institute recently started offering,
(12:00):
you know,
reduce costs and donation based a younger yoga classes in Bayview Hunters Point at Armando luna yoga studio with one of the classes with you know,
your old teacher Janet long time teacher rather.
Uh and thank you for having been so supportive of it.
We are finding it a challenge however,
(12:20):
to promote those classes to the community in the surrounding neighborhoods and would love any suggestions you might have for us.
Yes.
Um so first I would say one has to look at the community.
So the community,
Bayview Hunters Point is mostly people of color or african americans.
(12:46):
So I would say give them what they need.
And so I would say if you were looking at the african american community,
perhaps look at their issues and the issues there could be maybe yoga for diabetes,
yoga for obesity or overweight Nous yoga for them.
(13:14):
Any kind of mental challenge.
But you have to look at what the people of the neighborhood needs and give it to them and even more importantly speak to them in the language which they speak and that's how you can draw them in.
So yeah,
(13:35):
that's it.
Great.
Thanks for the insight.
I think that's going to be very helpful for the teachers who are currently teaching there for the institute to learn how to be more present there with the people there.
Thank you because it is I've been to the studio.
It's a great studio.
It's a great space.
(13:58):
But we need to give the people a reason for coming.
Why are they coming to the studio?
I'm coming to the studio because I saw something about how to relieve depression or how to lower my sugar level or how to lose weight but more so that way not the spiritual way.
(14:26):
Do you know more the therapeutic attributes of yoga is what I would push and then uh maybe also get involved with the immediate community.
Find out what's going on there and show up,
(14:46):
go to the potluck,
go to the whatever and put yourself in the realm of the people of that neighborhood.
Yeah.
Which incidentally I believe Armando did have Yeah,
he's having an open house I believe soon.
Yeah.
I think it was actually the past weekend which both she and Janet I believe they did show up.
(15:10):
How did it go?
I have not talked to them about it yet but I will soon we are meeting next friday.
Good.
Thank you.
Well this brings me to my last question which is,
which is somewhat related.
Um you know,
people of color have not been typically portrayed in the what I call the corporatized promotion of yoga.
(15:33):
Why do you suppose this has been the case?
And how do you envision it changing.
Um Okay,
so I think it's the case because looking at the ads and the,
the typical yoga ad is excuse my expression.
(15:54):
But it is the typical yoga ad is a blonde woman on the beach 22 talking about how she's going to change your life At 20-1,
1 has not lived long enough to have the experience to give to other people.
(16:19):
So with african americans in general Being an African American,
if a 22 year old woman was sitting in front of me,
blonde blue,
skinny,
cute wearing lululemon,
it would not resonate with me because I can't connect with that.
(16:42):
Do you know what I mean?
So perhaps in the adverse mints they should start to use more people of color and more people of different shapes and sizes because everyone,
we push the tendency that you have to be skinny and beautiful to do yoga.
(17:05):
No,
you just have to have a map.
Mhm.
So we need to change the image of what,
what is the yogi?
What is the?
Oh guinea?
It's whoever shows up.
Right.
Absolutely.
(17:26):
Ditto on with I'm on that.
Thank you so much.
Well um thanks again for showing up for the institute for Janet it's been wonderful chatting with you.
I just want to give you the opportunity to,
if there's anything else you'd like to share with our audience are students.
(17:49):
Um Okay so then what I would say is first and foremost I want to thank the Iranian guard yoga institute for giving me the opportunity to study and learn and grow.
Secondly,
I would like to thank the senior teachers of the Ganga Yoga Institute who have diligently diligently worked at the studio for years.
(18:21):
Jackie Net,
Nora Burnett,
jonny,
MacLeod and Kathy most definitely Kathy ellis.
I think they're great,
great teachers and anyone that has the opportunity to study under any of them should absolutely with you on that too.
(18:44):
Well,
thank you again so much,
Tony.
It's been a pleasure speaking with you and I wish you many blessings a wonderful day.
Okay then.
Have a great day.
I hope I did well.
You did fantastic.
(19:04):
Mm hmm.
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