Announcing our new ESIY Member Group Rep, Toni Geyve

We are delighted to announce that Toni Geyve has joined the East of Scotland Iyengar Yoga community as our new Member Group Representative and has also been appointed to the Iyengar Yoga UK (IYUK) Executive Committee.

Toni brings with her a deep commitment to the Iyengar tradition, a wealth of experience in Iyengar Yoga practice and teaching, and a knowledge of community engagement, from her time with the Iyengar Yoga Association in South Africa. Her dedication to Iyengar Yoga and her thoughtful approach to collaboration make her a wonderful addition to our leadership team.

As Member Group Representative, Toni will serve as a vital link between our local practitioners both students and teachers and the wider IYUK network, helping to ensure our voices are heard and our needs supported. Her role on the Executive Committee will also allow her to contribute to the national development of Iyengar Yoga in the UK, helping shape the future of our practice.

Please join us in giving Toni a warm welcome! We look forward to the energy, insight and inspiration she will bring to our group and to the broader Iyengar Yoga community. Thank you Toni for volunteering for this role.

“I am delighted to give back to Iyengar Yoga and am really looking forward to meeting more of the Iyengar Yoga community not only across the East of Scotland but also colleagues across the rest of the UK and Ireland. I feel fortunate to have moved to Edinburgh where there is such a rich legacy of Iyengar Yoga and grateful for the vibrant community that has grown here over the last 50 years. I look forward to being your ESIY rep. If you need to get in touch with me, you can email [email protected].

September EX Meeting in London, 2025

Toni went straight down to London to represent ESIY at her first Iyengar Yoga UK (IYUK) Executive Council (EX) meeting which is a gathering of all the other member groups representatives from across the UK and Ireland. This group of wonderful volunteers met to discuss key issues arising with Iyengar Yoga at the present time. There’s lots of exciting developments and changes planned. Here is a brief summary of the key topic areas. Full minutes of the meeting will be available in January once approved at the next EX meeting.

Previous EX meeting minutes are available to all members on the IYUK website. Here is a link to the EX Meeting minutes from the meeting in April 2025. Please note you do need to be logged in as a member to the IYUK website to view this. If you don’t know your log in or have any issues logging in, please email us at [email protected].

Toni’s report from London.

Full Minutes will be published on the IYUK website but for now here’s an overview of some of the key topics discussed:

Just a little bit below to share with you as an ESIY member. Please bear with me as most of my time at the meeting was understanding the format of IY UK, detail of all the committees and who was in which role/committee. It was good to be there and meet people face to face and start to get to grips with the issues I can now relay back to our members here in the East of Scotland.

Membership
It seems like a country wide issue that membership is declining and there are a few safe guards suggested to prevent that going forward. The membership subscription moving to an auto renewing format sounds like a good idea to prevent people forgetting to pay annually and just falling by the way side.

Finances
The new treasurer, Karen seems very committed and will draw on her experience as a CA to ensure the organisation doesn’t run at a loss. Growing membership and getting prompt payments from current memberships will help with budgetary planning. Also, there are plans in place to reduce costs.

Regarding increasing our membership in ESIY, maybe we need to appeal to our teachers to talk to their own students about joining? Perhaps we can equip the teachers with info about how to do that – is it directly with IYUK or through ESIY? And what the benefits/cost are of joining. Watch this space on this front.

Conventions
I was excited to see that Birjoo Metha is going to be in Glasgow for next years convention in 2026! Also that Lois Steinberg will be coming in 2027.

PVG
There was a lot of talk about teaching children. Ongoing discussion re applying for a PVG as an individual or self employed person. Discussion regarding offering yoga as part of Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.

First Aid
The committee is considering saying the initial first aid course must be in person but thereafter it can be online every three years.

Toolkit for teachers
Sound like this toolkit will be put together for teachers to communicate their classes. So the teachers don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time they start a new class. Also, we all use the umbrella look and feel of Iyengar Yoga in the UK.

National Iyengar Yoga Day – Saturday 17th January 2026
The free class idea is a good idea and maybe we can encourage our teachers to take part in any space near to their community.

If you have any thoughts on any of the above, I would love to hear from you.

Best wishes

Toni