Hazel Marr

I discovered yoga in 1982 as an antidote to studying law at university. Enjoying sports, I loved the physicality and challenge of yoga and tried various styles and teachers. Then in 1998, suffering from a chronic sports injury, my doctor recommended an Iyengar yoga class and that was it, I’d found my style. I loved the clear instructions and the precise alignment of Iyengar yoga. I qualified as an Iyengar teacher in 2006 and regularly study with Senior Iyengar teachers from home and abroad.

A year earlier I had given up a successful but stressful legal career in child protection to enjoy being a new mum and complete my yoga training. Since then I have been actively deepening my understanding of the benefits and philosophy of yoga. Today studying and teaching is my full-time occupation.

From difficulties within my own body and breath, I developed a passion for learning about anatomy and effective breathing. Between 2015 and 2020 I obtained diplomas in Swedish, Remedial & Sports Massage and Advanced Remedial Certificates in Muscle Energy Techniques and the Cervical and Thoracic Spine. I am now undertaking a 300hr training in Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs and will start running 12 week courses in the autumn. I also continue to study for a Diploma in Yoga Anatomy with Leslie Kaminoff, author and yoga educator, New York.

In 2019, realising I understood little about the importance of the pelvic floor in yoga, breathing and exercise, I trained as a woman’s pelvic health coach with the national organisation Adore Your Pelvic Floor. I currently run courses, and give talks empowering and helping women to restore good pelvic floor function.

My yoga classes, workshops and 1:1 tuition combine the detailed observations and alignment of Iyengar yoga with my own passion and knowledge of how the body moves and functions. I build the poses from their foundations and encourage students to use props to modify poses for their own bodies, injuries and conditions. Inspired by my many Iyengar teachers, I am passionate that yoga can be a life long practice.