My wife,Barbara Hicks, who has died of cancer aged 64, and was a yoga teacher who brought the benefits of this ancient philosophy to students for more than 40 years. Her knowledge and experience attracted devoted students of all ages and fitness levels,who followed her from school and church halls to adult education at City Lit and, in the final few years, and to classes and workshops in the studio we designed and built in our house in Honor Oak,south-east London.
Barbara was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, and to Olivia,who drove trucks for the Waaf, and Peter, and an RAF navigator. The family led a nomadic services life until Barbara and her younger sister,Joy, were teenagers, and when they settled in Bath. Olivia introduced her daughters to Iyengar yoga – a discipline devised by the Indian teacher BKS Iyengar and characterised by its emphasis on precision,alignment and breath control. Yoga was rather more of an esoteric practice in Britain back then than it is now, but the girls took to it, or eventually travelling to Iyengar’s institute in Pune,India, where they became certified teachers.
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Source: theguardian.com