Some of my yoga memories over the past 40 years.
By Anne-Marie Bailey
I hope my memories help to show how much the yoga world has changed in the last 40 years. I also hope that my memories spark some of yours or at least make you smile. Please forgive me if some of the dates or facts aren’t 100% correct. These are only my brief recollections of my Yoga experience over the past 40 years.
1985
Yikes, forty years ago our Prime Minister was Margaret Thatcher. We had big hair and wore leg warmer, Lycra, big jewellery and even bigger shoulder pads – not all at the same time though!
My Yoga journey began in 1985 with a wonderful teacher from the British Wheel of Yoga who taught a Hatha Yoga class. My favourite part of the class was Savasana and we each brought a sleeping bag to climb into so that we’d be warm and cozy. There wasn’t such a thing as a ‘Yoga Mat’ and we were advised to go to the local carpet shop and ask for an off-cut of underlay. I remember that mine was Treadaire and was green on one side. All the ladies in the class wore footless tights and leotards (think Barabara Currie). I didn’t tell my friends that I practiced Yoga back then because that would risk being called weird (as they also did if you were vegetarian)!
In 1986, Jivamukti yoga was introduced by Sharon Gannon and David Life. Jivamukti means “liberated whilst living”. It wasn’t widely available then and there aren’t many studios offering it now. It’s a strong, set practice that incorporates a monthly spiritual teaching and chanting. Personally, I love the Spiritual Warrior sequence and practice it regularly.
1995
The British Wheel of Yoga was recognized by the Sports Council as the ‘governing body for yoga’ in the UK. Also, around this time, David Swenson released his Ashtanga DVD’s. David first went to Mysore, India in the 70’s. He’s one of a very small group of people that have learned the complete original Ashtanga system from K. Pattabhi Jois. Ashtanga has set sequences that are strong and a practitioner is expected to practice the full 90 minutes on six days of the week. As well as the primary series, David introduced short forms for days when we just don’t have 90 minutes to give to our practice. This was revolutionary at the time and not everyone in the Ashtanga community approved of these short forms – many still don’t. However, it’s undeniable that he made the practice more accessible for people who enjoy this style of yoga but also have to juggle a full-time job or looking after children. I was lucky enough to do a weekend of workshops with David Swenson in Manchester and he’s an amazing teacher. I continue to practice his short forms each week.
The early 90’s also saw the arrival of Bikram yoga to London when a student of Bikram Choudhury’s brought the set sequence to the UK. Again, this is a strong 90-minute practice. In this style, you practice a set of the same 26 poses for each class and the room is heated to 40 degrees C. Bikram yoga fell out of fashion for many reasons but ‘Hot yoga’ is still very popular. I find that my yoga friends either love it or hate it. Personally, I’m not a fan – sorry, I’m just being honest – I couldn’t get used to the feeling that my face was burning off!
2005
It was around this time that Kundalini Yoga was the new style that people were talking about or trying. Maya Fiennes’ Kundalini Yoga DVDs came onto the market and she was also demonstrating this style on TV. In the video’s that I saw, she always wore white with a completely white background and her movements were flowing, repeated often and to music. She went on to develop her own style of yoga called ‘Yoga for Real Life’ which is based on Kundalini yoga. I tried Maya’s Kundalini Yoga as I liked the idea of music and mantra, but sadly I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe I needed a real class with a teacher to guide me rather than a DVD. Anyway, this is just a memory for me now and not something I continued to practice.
It in this decade that Rodney Yee released his back care DVD’s. I found these really helpful as I’d suffered from lower back pain for a while, and although Yoga practice definitely helped, I’d not been able to resolve it fully. He has a precise and slow style of delivery – which is helpful when your back is sore. If I’ve ever overdone some gardening or decorating and aggravate my back, I return to his practice and it soon helps to calm my back pain.
2015
Around 2015, Brighton Yoga Festival had been running for about two years and included different styles of yoga practices. In 2019, Simon Low released his ‘Yin Yang Yoga’ DVD. I’d fallen in love with Yin yoga the first time that I’d practiced it. At the time I didn’t know anything about the theory of it, or that it concentrated on our connective tissue instead of our muscles. All I knew was that the poses were familiar, the practice was gentle but powerful and at the end I was left feeling great. That was enough for me. I still use this DVD now – only for the Yin practices though. Following the Corona Virus lockdowns, I was reluctant to go back to my Yoga Studio and started to investigate what was available online. To my surprise Simon Low was providing live online classes from his studio in Spain. These were amazing, but like many of us, I eventually built up the courage to return to live classes.
2025
In our current decade, Yoga is now very popular both in the UK and globally. It’s definitely considered more mainstream and is available face to face in most areas as well as online. In addition, meditation and chanting are more accepted than they were 40 years ago. Many workplaces encourage employees to practice meditation or mindfulness and promote yoga as an accessible means of maintaining wellbeing. I like to practice different styles of yoga on different days – as each form has something different to offer. I also like to listen to podcasts of scientists and academics who are studying Yoga. For example, Indologists such as Jason Birch and Sir James Mallinson are freely sharing their enormous knowledge about ancient scriptures and forgotten practices. One thing I’m sure of is that I’m still in love with yoga and I’m excited that there is so much more to learn and experience. My yoga journey continues . . .