About Karyn
When Karyn Bristol took her first Iyengar Yoga class 25 years ago, she never dreamed that she would one day become a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher. Like many of today’s yoga students, Karyn took her first yoga class in midlife. She loved yoga from the beginning—the way it increased her strength and endurance. She was also immediately drawn to Iyengar’s focus on alignment and posture.
In 2000, Karyn took part in the Advanced Studies and Teacher’s Training Program at the Iyengar Institute of San Francisco and became a yoga teacher. Like many of students in the program, she travelled to Pune, India to study with the Iyengar family. Going to India and taking classes at the Iyengar Institute for a month was life-changing for Karyn. At the Institute in Pune, she experienced the profound vastness of yoga and felt a renewed dedication to her own personal practice.
After six years of teaching all levels of yoga and becoming a back care specialist, Karyn crossed a huge milestone in October of 2010—she became one of the few certified Iyengar teachers in Santa Cruz County. Iyengar instructors teach the method set forth by BKS Iyengar without mixing other styles or disciplines. Becoming certified requires years of practice, study and two rigorous examinations of skills.
To become certified, Karyn had to prove that she is a safe teacher who can take care of her students. She needed to show the depth of her understanding of each pose. This required extensive practice and repeatedly teaching the poses over and over until she knew them on a deep, cellular level.
After getting the word that she had passed, Karyn said, “I feel proud to be an Iyengar teacher. I hope to pass on my knowledge of yoga in the same way that my teachers and all the teachers that came before them have passed on this amazing knowledge.”
Karyn will continue studying with senior teachers as well as returning to Pune, India to study with the Iyengar family. She is especially grateful to her teachers, Kofi Busia and Elise Browning Miller, and is happy for the opportunity to pass on all she has learned to her own students.
Karyn Bristol certified Iyengar teacher serving Santa Cruz County.
