Study Society Diary

Over a fifty-year period, Father Joe was deeply involved with B.K.S. Iyengar as a student, certified trainer and friend. ‘Guruji’ Iyengar and Father Joe developed practices and protocols specifically for Kripa’s rehabilitation programme with alcoholics and chemically-dependant addicts.

Father Joe teaches Kripa Foundation Iyengar Yoga worldwide – in Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and USA.

He believes that such commitment can only be through the blessings of spiritual giants like Mother Teresa, B.K.S. Iyengar and Rev Anthony de Mello.

We are very blessed to be able to facilitate him joining us for this workshop in the UK.

His many years working alongside Mother Theresa in Calcutta imbue his teaching with compassion, acceptance and understanding of the physical, emotional and spiritual challenges we all, as human beings, face.

Although a Jesuit, Father Joe believes there is little place for religion in Yoga. He considers it to be a spiritual pursuit and a whole person practice, where Iyengar’s teachings can lead us to know ourselves spiritually as well as physically.

Firmly rooted within the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar, Father Joe’s workshops extend one’s understanding of the spiritual dimension as he takes us on a journey from the outer body, in physiology and neurology, through to the subtle consciousness and towards what he refers to as the third dimension of the Antaratma or the soul consciousness. Such teachings are rarely shared and very often lost in translation in the West.

His work is profound but completely accessible to all, from whatever worldview or spiritual orientation, whether a yoga practitioner or not.