BOBBE NORRISE: TRAILBLAZER, AGELESS AND TIMELESS BY HEATHER HAXO PHILLIPS
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obbe Norrise, born Barbara Ann Elise Rogers, peacefully passed on May 24, 2017. Bobbe was one of the founders of the Iyengar Yoga community in the Bay Area. Over her 40+ years of teaching and practice, Bobbe helped transform yoga in the U.S. from an esoteric pursuit to the mainstream practice it is today. As one of the first African-American yoga teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bobbe had a particularly important impact on the Iyengar Yoga community in Northern California. She was an outstanding woman, an inspiration, and a role model to so many. Bobbe began teaching in 1975 and earned her certificate as a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher (CIYT) in 1983 during the earliest days of certification. Bobbe was a yoga professor for over 20 years at San Francisco State University in the Department of Kinesiology. These classes were among the first yoga classes ever sanctioned by any American university. During her years at SF State, Bobbe taught thousands of people the benefits of an Iyengar Yoga practice. These young people were greatly moved by their studies with her. Shiri Goldsmith (CIYT) remembers her this way: “My first yoga class ever was Hatha Yoga with Bobbe Norrise. I was only 18 years old. It was the first day of my first semester of my first year of college, and the experience planted a seed within me that would later shape the course of my life. Bobbe was so joyful and light of being, both in her personality and in her asana practice, that I found myself thinking, ‘I want what she’s having!’ From these classes, I learned that a yoga practice could help me to not only feel better in my own body, but that it also helped me to have more control over my moods and feelings. I studied with her for three years, eventually becoming a CIYT myself.”
Bobbe was a quiet but noticeable trailblazer who inspired many African-American practitioners. Her encouraging demeanor made everyone feel welcomed and comfortable. explained, “Just putting that idea in people’s minds, that you can be of service to other people, that’s so important. Why else are we here?… I do think it is much more than just being in a studio doing some poses for ourselves.” In 1990, Bobbe published “Easy Yoga for Busy People,” a home practice guide developed in response to requests from her students. “Easy Yoga for Busy People” is unique in that it includes a notebook format for readers to write their own sequences and reflect on their practice experience. It is also
Bobbe liked to be autonomous, and at venues such as San Francisco State, she was able to bring yoga to a big and broad audience. Bobbe engaged her students in personalizing their practice and encouraged them to journal about their experiences. Though she had to give grades at SF State, she used the opportunity to encourage students to do a service project as a way to explore yoga philosophy. In a 2014 interview, she Jean Marie Moore, Bobbe Norrise, and Katrina Leshea Photo: Bethanie Hines
Yoga Samachar Fall 2017 / Winter 2018
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