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Each one’s capacities are a function of his or her internal strength. Know your capacities and continually improve upon them.” ~ B.K.S. Iyengar
TEACHING TEAM
Pat McLoughlin began her Iyengar yoga practice in 1987. She enjoyed the benefits that weekly yoga classes brought to her and over time she developed her own home practice and eventually trained to become an Iyengar certified instructor.​
Pat currently holds the Intermediate Junior 2 Level of teacher certification. She continues her own yoga training with senior teachers in San Diego and has made multiple trips to Pune, India to study with the Iyengar family. Pat is happy to share with others the practice of Iyengar yoga with all of its many benefits in the wonderful community that is Iyengar Yoga Source.
Pat McLoughlin
​Bonnie Szumski has been a practitioner of Iyengar yoga for over twenty years. She received her Level one teacher certificate in 2017 and Level two in 2022. Bonnie was drawn to Iyengar yoga from the first time she experienced it with Carolyn at San Diego’s Plunge Recreation. Many people speak of the precision of Iyengar yoga, and Bonnie—a former dancer—found this aspect immediately appealing. She also embraces the deep work of the asana to access the mind and bring steadiness. This inwardness has been profoundly life changing for her.
Bonnie has a keen interest in Iyengar yoga therapeutics and has studied with several senior teachers in this art. She has volunteered in Iyengar Therapeutics Class at the Center since 2014. She found working with people in yoga therapeutics has helped hone her teaching and observation skills.
Bonnie credits her yoga practice with allowing her to teach. Although she copes with injuries gained from years in sports, she has not only managed through yoga practice, but has helped others. Bonnie’s continued practice helps her think of creative ways to access poses and keeps her classes interesting, educational and fun.
Bonnie’s personal hobbies involve sports and a love of the outdoors. Mountain biking, surfing and pickle ball, are all enhanced thanks to the mind/body mechanics yoga practice brings. Her nerdy side is expressed in studies of philosophy, jyotish and sacred chant. The practice of yoga in all its aspects has become a lifestyle that she shares.
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Bonnie Szumski
Joanna Haszek
Inspired by “Light on Yoga,” Joanna took her first yoga class in 2002. Over the years she became a keen student of the Iyengar method and has been fortunate to attend classes and workshops with many gifted and enthusiastic Iyengar teachers. She is currently studying under the guidance of Carolyn Belko and shares her experience with the students in a precise and compassionate way.
“Yoga is a transformative journey for me, it has different meaning every day - wholeness, discipline, humbleness, discovery, art. It gives courage, clarity and joy. I believe that everyone is able to explore the gifts yoga has to offer, as a method and as a philosophy, and see the changes it manifests. As BKS Iyengar once said, ‘Words cannot convey the value of Yoga - it has to be experienced." Joanna is CIYT at Intro I and II level.
Heidi Smith has been studying yoga since the late 90’s, and shares her love of the subject. Soon after learning Iyengar Yoga she felt the fit, trained at the Center and started teaching in January 2012. Heidi teaches in a dynamic, friendly manner and presents artistic poses. Certified since 2013, Heidi has been to India and studied with the Iyengars.
Heidi Smith
Lisa Ruby
Lisa is a certified Level 1 Iyengar yoga instructor from Oakland, California. She strives to create a dynamic practice that is accessible, challenging, and fun for all bodies. While yoga brings great strength and flexibility to the body, Lisa is most interested in the calming, centering effects that the practice has on the mind and the empowerment it brings when we can move beyond our perceived limitations.
She completed the 500 hour training under Donald Moyer through The Yoga Room in Berkeley in 2014 and graduated in 2020 from the Sadhana Studies program at Adeline Yoga Studio in Oakland. She currently assists and participates in continuing teacher training with Carolyn Belko in her new home of San Diego. She has also attended dozens of intensives with Senior teachers Patricia Walden and Peter Thomson over the last decade. Lisa studied in Pune with the Iyengar family in 2023 and plans to return to Pune regularly.
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Lisa is currently offering several classes at the center and is excited to bring yoga to the younger generations. She is also passionate about yoga therapeutics and sports medicine and is seriously considering letting Bonnie teach her how to surf.
Carolyn Belko
Carolyn Belko, Director, studied numerous times on monthly sabbaticals with Yoga Master B.K.S. Iyengar at his Institute in India. She was assessed by him and received Senior Intermediate Level III Certification from him directly in 2010.
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Carolyn’s insight in practice and the art of teaching offers one steady guidance on the yoga path. Through her compassionate teaching, one experiences the artistry of sequencing, carrying one to new realms, all the while providing the practical living philosophy of yoga.
