Special Session with Stephanie Quirk on Pranayama

About Stephanie Quirk

Stephanie Quirk is internationally recognised as a leader in Iyengar Yoga therapeutics. She spent over 20 years living, studying and working directly with the Iyengar family at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune, assisting in the medical classes and deepening her understanding of āsana and prāṇāyāma as tools for healing and transformation.

Her teaching is known for its clarity, precision and warmth: she guides students step by step from the outer, visible actions of the body into the subtler layers of breath, perception and mind.

What we’ll explore together

These special sessions are designed for experienced Iyengar practitioners and teachers who want to move from reading about prāṇāyāma to actually practising it, safely and intelligently, under the guidance of a senior teacher.

In conversation and practice with Stephanie, we will look at:

• When āsana becomes a base for prāṇāyāma
  How do we recognise that a practitioner’s āsana practice is mature enough for formal prāṇāyāma—not just in years of practice, but in stability, sensitivity and alignment?
• Pre–prāṇāyāma vs. formal prāṇāyāma
  How does Stephanie distinguish between preparatory work with the breath (touching, observing, educating the breath in supported āsanas) and formal prāṇāyāma?
  What are the key set-ups and supports she uses to organise the chest, diaphragm and nervous system before specific techniques begin?
• Progression of techniques
  How to move from simpler patterns such as Ujjāyī and Viloma to more refined practices like digital prāṇāyāma and kumbhaka.
  What signs does a teacher look for before introducing these stages, and how can we respect the pace of each individual?
• Prāṇāyāma in the Zoom era
  What can be faithfully transmitted online—and what, in Stephanie’s view, belongs to the shared physical space of the hall?
  How can teachers support students to self-observe and self-adjust when teaching prāṇāyāma on Zoom?
• The inner stance of the teacher
  When guiding prāṇāyāma, what is the inner attitude of the teacher?
  How do we hold a field of steadiness, attention and care so that students can safely enter more subtle states without fear or strain?

Each session will weave short discussion with guided, supported practice, so that you not only understand these principles intellectually, but also experience them in your own body and breath.

Who is this for?
Iyengar yoga teachers, teacher trainees, and experienced practitioners with a stable āsana practice who wish to deepen their understanding of prāṇāyāma in line with the Iyengar tradition.