Get to know Deidra Demens
What brought you to study Iyengar Yoga?
I was introduced to Iyengar yoga through Vinyasa yoga. I was enrolled in a 200hr vinyasa yoga teacher training that required students to take one Iyengar class and one Ashtanga class. After taking the Iyengar class I was amazed at how much I'd learned in one class, so I kept coming back to learn more. After a while, this became my regular practice.
How does it influence your personal practice?
I love that Iyengar yoga gives me tools to help me wherever I am. When I'm struggling with pain, discomfort, or any limitations whether they be physical, mental, or emotional, I can find support, answers, freedom, and relief through Iyengar yoga.
How does it influence your teaching of yoga?
I love sharing all that I've learned with my students. All the knowledge that I've gained from my own practice, and from assisting my mentors, influences how to support my students when they come for help.
What would you like to see culturally in our national organization (IYNAUS) going forward here in the US?
I would like to see true self-reflection, accountability taken, and change. I understand how extremely difficult it can be to admit when we are wrong, even harder to face it when we have caused someone else harm or remained silent of others' pain. It is so hard to face that we can easily fall back on those old tropes "that this is the way it is, and the way it's always been done" or excusing bad behavior. If we can all just start with ourselves and be honest about our shortcomings not from a place of judgement, but from svadhyaya, self-study, to learn, adjust, and grow. If we can do this individually and collectively, I believe that we will see real change.