Lighting the Way: Gloria Goldberg – Richard Jonas

Lighting the Way U.S. IYENGAR YOGA COMMUNITY CELEBRATES GLORIA GOLDBERG

GATHERED BY RICHARD JONAS

Senior teacher Gloria Goldberg received IYNAUS’s sixth Lighting the Way award honoring distinguished volunteer service to the U.S. Iyengar Yoga community Sept. 27 in Los Angeles at the 30th anniversary celebration of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles.

Members of the Iyengar family, teachers, and students reminisce about Gloria’s long record of volunteer service:

“Congratulations, Gloria! You deserve it as you have worked so hard for the U.S. Iyengar Yoga community.” —Sunita Iyengar Parthasarathy

“As the old saying goes, ‘If you need something done, ask a busy person to do it.’ Clearly they were talking about Gloria Goldberg. Over the years, I have witnessed Gloria come to the forefront of our community. Giving of herself over and over, and taking little credit, she has founded and helped to found several Iyengar Yoga studios. She has chaired two national conventions, as well as assisted in the planning of nearly every local and national convention and conference. She spearheaded the establishment of the service mark that protects Guruji’s name and works—all the while raising a son by herself and teaching, tutoring, and mentoring thousands of students worldwide. Gloria started and continues to nourish teacher training programs in our country, Europe, and Asia. We all owe a great deal to Gloria Goldberg for her selfless service.” —Manouso Manos

“I worked with Gloria on the IYNAUS Board during my two years as president. Gloria found the Las Vegas location for that convention, and with a very short lead time, brought everything together to have Geetaji teach. Gloria had one gear: fast forward! Having her on the board was such an advantage because of the historical perspective she brought. She is knowledgeable about the evolution of IYNAUS from its inception. She showed her fierce loyalty to Guruji at every turn.

“When I plugged back in as a member of the New England group that spearheaded the first regional conference. Gloria’s energy kept me going. Her enthusiasm is contagious. Gloria is the essence of the Energizer Bunny. There is no end to her drive to do the needful.” —Linda Di Carlo was director of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles from 1990–1993 when she moved to La Mesa, where she is director of the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Center of La Mesa. She was very involved in the Pasadena convention in 2001, Guruji’s visit to Estes Park in 2005, the 2010 Portland Gloria Goldberg convention, and the 2013 San Diego convention featuring Birjoo Mehta.

“Her commitment to the teaching and upbringing of new teachers is unparalleled! Her service as the director of the teacher training program in Southern California underscores her commitment to bringing up the highest quality teachers. Now she’s breaking new ground and training a whole new population of teachers in China. I’ve been blessed to study under her expert stewardship. Her dedication to Guruji and his work is inspiring and infectious.” —Garth McLean

“What I admire and appreciate most about Gloria is her devotion to Guruji and to disseminating Iyengar Yoga in this country and around the world. Her teaching is pure Iyengar Yoga: I always feel connected to the Iyengars and Pune during her classes. She sets high standards for herself in her practice, and her teaching inspires and energizes us to reach for those standards ourselves—even though we don’t always get there!

“Gloria is a powerhouse of energy. Recently, we secretly planned a celebration for her 70th birthday, but no one could believe she had reached that age, and we checked with more than one source to make sure we weren’t committing a faux pas. Now we have to believe it, although her activity level is that of someone very much younger.” —Jenny Hartman

“Gloria worked with other local teachers in the mid-90s to create a teacher training program in San Diego. She has ongoing teacher training classes, weeklong workshops, yoga therapy, and philosophy classes. She maintains a level of

instruction that I find most similar to “Her first contact with Guruji was the teachings of the Iyengar family— in 1988 when she left her twoand all while traveling to China, year-old son at home to go to India Russia, Denmark, San Francisco, for an intensive. and wherever Guruji sent her to provide teacher training. She is a “She always refers to Guruji and valuable asset to our community, Geetaji when she teaches, always beloved by students.” quotes them, and explains that this —Sharon Maruca is the way they teach. She makes “Gloria started yoga because she had teaching into her classes. asthma and was sick most of her Manouso Manos and Gloria Goldberg at the Lighting the Way early life. During college she looked award celebration in September 2014. “Gloria is gone a lot of the year. She into alternative ways of living. She travels the world teaching yoga, and found a book on nutrition and started doing Hittleman’s 28-day she’s so humble about it. She lives very modestly. She’s so yoga plan, learning what felt right and what didn’t, making approachable; she always makes herself available to her adjustments. ‘I didn’t know anything,’ she told me, ‘but my students.” body, my cells knew something.’ Her first Iyengar Yoga teacher —Chere Thomas was Jenny Smith Lemon; she also studied with Ariane Hudson sure she brings the essence of their and Mary Dunn. Gloria has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Richard Jonas (Introductory II) is a faculty member at the Iyengar Yoga social ecology and ended up teaching yoga by default. She has Institutes of New York and Brooklyn. He began a “life sketch” of B.K.S. lived in San Diego and Los Angeles, and studied and taught Iyengar with Guruji’s participation in February 2014; it became the yoga in both cities. basis of the obituary for Guruji, which ran in our last issue.