Student of the Month - All of You!

During this challenging time, we are awarding all of our students with the title Student of the Month in recognition of your dedication, willingness, generosity, and commitment to your yoga practice and to our IYAVL community. As the first part of our mission statements announces: “We are a growing community rooted in the foundation of practice…” and this truth is evident in the different ways you have reached out to stay connected to the studio and your fellow community members.

We know that many of you practice yoga at home. A growing number of you are joining us via Zoom for our live-stream classes. We’ve had as many as 22 students join us from their living room to ours. Very cool! In fact, some of you have recently become monthly members in order to more fully participate in our studio offerings, such as our at-home practice guides. We are so grateful to you for keeping our community alive.

Education consultants assert that a good student shares the following 10 qualities:

1. A growth mindset
2. Bravery
3. Well organized
4. Consistent and persistent
5. Able to deal with failure
6. Sets goals
7. Connects learning to life
8. Knows how to look after his/her mental health
9. Partners with teachers
10. Values education


We certainly believe that IYAVL students reflect these attributes. Can you recognize yourself in these traits?

According to the Internet, a community is “a group of people with diverse characteristics who are linked by social ties, share common perspectives, and engage in joint action in geographical locations or settings.” Perhaps a more apt definition at this time would add: “communities may share a sense of place situated in a given area…or in virtual space through communications platforms.”

Replace “virtual space” with ‘Zoom” and you’d be describing our reality at present. Several students have joined our online classes from cities around the country, and in some cases, from around the world. What connects us is that we care about one another’s well being. We care about Iyengar yoga and the many benefits it offers. If you haven’t yet ventured into the world of Zoom classes with us, we encourage you to do so. It’s simple to download the free app onto your computer or ipad. For details on how this all works at IYAVL, please visit https://www.iyavl.com/online-classes-faq

We urge all of you to continue to be good students and to practice as often as you can. Mr. Iyengar believed that yoga did not take place only on the yoga mat. So share your resilient body, your clarity of mind, and your kindness of spirit with others in the various virtual worlds you inhabit. You know the rest: if you take your yoga or walking or biking practice outdoors, keep your physical body at least 6 feet from others. And, good students that you are, be brave AND wash your hands.

Congratulations, you fabulous students. Well deserved. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Namaste.