Teacher Feature: Emma Norminton
Which class/classes do you teach?
I teach on a Monday at 6.30pm (Beginners 1) and on a Thursday at 10am (Womens’ beginners 1 and 2). I’m also part of the rota for the Saturday morning class at 10am.
How long have you been doing/practicing Iyengar Yoga?
I started in the summer of 2002 at a small Iyengar yoga studio in Islington, North London. I was 24 years old.
How long have you been teaching yoga?
I qualified in October 2012 and began teaching in an informal way soon afterwards. I started teaching at the centre in February 2015.
What drew you to this style of yoga?
It was the first kind of yoga I tried, simply because there was a studio near where I was living at the time: I suppose I fell into Iyengar yoga, but I found that the precision and clarity of instruction worked for me.
What do you love most about it?
The peace and stability that it can bring, on every level. I also really value the opportunity to explore this ancient tradition and to try to bring its wisdom into my daily life and into my teaching.
What do you do to motivate yourself to do a regular home practice?
Good question! I don’t think a home practice ever becomes entirely automatic: it takes motivation even after many years, especially when I’m tired or when there has been a change to my usual routine for whatever reason. I practice first thing in the morning to avoid getting caught up in the distractions of the day as it unfolds. I always light a candle and somehow this helps: it creates a sense that a space is opening up for a brief period of time, and it’s down to me to use it as I may not have another opportunity all day. Sometimes if I’m really reluctant to practice, I tell myself that I’ll just do a short practice, beginning with a posture or series I particularly like, and that can get me into it.
What is special for you about teaching at Sheffield Iyengar Yoga Centre?
The beauty of the space; the community of teachers and admin staff; the commitment of the students, who are truly an inspiration.
When I am not teaching yoga , I enjoy…
Reading, walking, cooking, listening to music and playing the piano.
My favourite music is…
To play, I keep coming back to the Mozart piano sonatas, particularly the one in A minor, a big challenge which I am always trying to master. To listen, I never get tired of Leonard Cohen: as the child of a Canadian mother, I grew up listening to him and it’s a pleasure which has grown over time.
A book I would recommend is…
The last book I read was The Valley at the Centre of the World by the Shetland-born writer Malachy Tallack. I hugely recommend it: Malachy is a very thoughtful and insightful writer, both of fiction and non-fiction. This novel really does show how a small Shetland valley can create an entire fictional world, both richly evocative of its own particular place and universally recognisable. Now I’m reading his travel memoir 60 Degrees North.
If I ruled the world, I would…
Compel everyone to do yoga! And then do something about the vast inequalities in our society, both in terms of divisions between people and between us and our natural environment. We don’t have to rule the world to do something about those things, though, however small it may be.