Sophy Hoare
Sophy Hoare: I went to my first yoga class in 1970 at the former Dance Centre in Floral Street, Covent Garden. The teacher was Penny Nield-Smith, a student of B.K.S. Iyengar. Penny mainly taught large classes for the London adult education authority and never taught ‘advanced’ postures, but she taught a great deal about attention and awareness.
After six years, Penny encouraged me to start teaching and I attended classes with several other Iyengar teachers to expand my practice. I had a strong desire to free my body of its limitations but I never discovered a way which satisfied me. It was as though I was searching for an elusive or non-existent key.
In 1991 I met Vanda Scaravelli who invited me to become her student. In my first lesson I knew immediately that Vanda was offering me this key. After that I visited her in Italy once or twice a year to learn how to work with the principles she had discovered in her own practice. At Vanda’s house I met Diane Long and recognised in her practice the same freedom that I saw in Vanda. I invited Diane to teach me and my students in London and since then we have been meeting regularly to practise and teach together.
