Maggie & Yoga
Raised in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, I was drawn to yoga as a child, as my mother practiced yoga in the 1970s. Yoga practice became part of my daily routine in 1993, attending classes in West Africa, during my Peace Corps training.
I went on to serve as Chief Executive of an international children’s rights organisation for ten years. Alongside this work, my yoga practice continued until I felt the need to share the benefits Iyengar Yoga brought to balancing my work and family life.
I teach Iyengar Yoga mostly in London, UK (I have also taught in Bali, Italy, France, Thailand, Turkey, India and elsewhere in the UK) in the corporate sector (e.g., BP, Goldman Sachs, Rothschild, The Ned, JP Morgan) and privately. I teach five weekly in person classes (at Arup, the Laboratory Spa, JP Morgan, at an artist’s studio in Primrose Hill). I assist Yoga Therapy Classes and is mentored by Patsy Sparksman at The Iyengar Yoga Studio. Her online classes on Monday, Tuesday and Friday are open to the public.
The yogic path is a way of life for me now. I am inspired by the teachings of Patanjali's 8 angas, which includes the continuous study of yogic philosophy, chanting, pranayama, focused attention to the present moment and meditation. I have visited India many times and have studied with many different teachers there. I visited Iyengar Headquarters in Pune, India, for the first time in 2017 and was fortunate to observe Geeta Iyengar teaching before her departure in 2018. I visited again in 2019, 2023 and 2025. I adore the early morning sessions with Prashant Iyengar.
Meditation has been an essential part of my daily routine since 2005 and has anchored me during the most difficult time of my life. I practiced Insight (or Vipassana) and other forms of meditation, mainly rooted in Buddhism, for many years before taking up Transcendental Meditation in 2014 to which I was drawn because it was closer to the same Vedic roots as Iyengar yoga. In 2016 I became an Independent Teacher of Transcendental Meditation. My daily practice now feels much more integrated. I spent the months of October 2017, September 2019, February 2023 and March 2025 in Pune India, studying at Iyengar Yoga HQ. I attend classes, workshops & conventions regularly with senior Iyengar teachers. I love sharing my knowledge and experience with my students!
I completed an MA in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation from University of London's SOAS in 2022. I see the yoga path as a journey full of wonder and delight, and this enthusiasm is palpable in my yoga classes and meditation courses.
Maggie’s Plea: Give it a Go!
The Way Out of Suffering is Through the Body
In the West, most of us come to ‘yoga’ through asana, the third of Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga. Here, we might catch glimpses of something deeper within ourselves. Many of us, at one time or another, thought of 'yoga' as these asanas that people do in the gym or yoga studio.
If we are curious enough, we give it a go and many of us recognise that it affects far more than our bodies! We might feel a sense of joy after a class or a sense of peace at the beginning of class if we chant three oms or bow our head to our heart or at the end of the class when we lie in Savasana and have a go at complete surrender.
For many of us, particularly those of us who overwork and overdo life, asana classes and workshops offer a reprieve from our busy lives.
At some point, we may realise that yoga is about more than these asanas, as gorgeous as they may be; it is a way of life, codified by the Indian sage Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras and other classical Yoga texts.