Regina Brunig


“Yoga is to be known by Yoga,
Yoga itself leads to Yoga,
He who remains steadfast in Yoga
Always delights in it.”
~(Vyasa’s commentary on sutra III.6, The Yoga Sutra by Patanjali)



I dropped into my first yoga class in 1982. My interest was casual, I might just as well have picked up a dance class or joined a volley ball team. The approach of the teachers at the Iyengar Institute of San Francisco, however, was far from casual. They taught with dedication, commitment and ardor. Something about their style and method, something about yoga itself, drew me deeper, to develop a rigorous daily practice and eventually to learn about yoga’s history, philosophy and devotional aspects. 

It is difficult to describe the magnetism some of us feel for Yoga. Patanjali alludes to it in the Yoga Sutra with the term samvega, a momentum that gathers and accrues when Yoga is taught authentically and practiced sincerely. All forms of physical culture bring vibrancy, strength, health and well being. All forms of study bring knowledge. Yoga has been refined over thousands of years to add the element of grace, causing the teaching to penetrate to the core. Grace is what lead me to make a pilgrimage to Pune, India to study with the Iyengar family and finally to teach yoga myself. 

All of this time I had a different career in nursing. I never had the financial necessity to teach. I did it purely for the joy of sharing something cherished. After I retired from nursing I dreamed of having an intimate yoga studio where I could offer classes at an affordable price to a small group of dedicated students. Deep River Yoga studio is the realization of that dream. It is an offering of deep gratitude to the Iyengar family and all the proceeding and succeeding yoga teachers linked to them and through them to Patanjali, the great codifier of Yoga, with special gratitude to my primary teacher, Janet Macleod, for her joyous, abundant and generous spirit; and to Kate Holcolm for teaching me to chant the Yoga Sutra.