Robbie Vann-Adibé

At the age of 15 Robbie was browsing WH Smith and came across a book, Yoga by James Hewitt, from the ‘Teach Yourself’ series of books.

Curious, particularly because of the fiction he was reading at the time which sometimes featured yoga as a means to calm the mind and strengthen the body, he dived into the book and started practising yoga on his own, and very soon, was able to do all the poses found in the book.

The impact for him was evident - the teenage anger that he often felt was dissipated by the practice and in general, his yoga practice made him feel ‘better’ and allowed him to focus better, making many things, including studying,  easier.

At 18 he began attending university and unusually, a yoga class was offered. It so happened that the teacher was trained in the Iyengar Yoga Method which strongly appealed to Robbie.

Through this teacher, he attended the BKS Iyengar demonstration at the Barbican centre in 1984 which proved to be a profound experience - seeing a 65 year old man able to do poses that Robbie struggled with considerably, as well as the insights and life philosophies shared by BKS Iyengar, turned out to be a seminal moment for Robbie. 

Thus began a journey which has spanned his entire life. Moving from London to New York in 1985 he was fortunate to find another highly regarded Iyengar Yoga teacher, Mary Dunn, who took him to the next chapter of expanding his practice.

Robbie then moved to San Francisco in 1992 to further his business career but also to practice at the SF Iyengar Institute, at the time the only accredited educational institute for yoga in the world. 

Over the years he practiced with many teachers of the Iyengar Yoga Method including Arthur Kilmurry, and Janet Mcleod but his most long standing teacher and the most influential on his practice was Joe Naudzunas.

In 2000 Robbie was fortunate to attend the Iyengar Institute in Pune where he took classes with Geeta and Prashant Iyengar as well as his favorite teacher there, Shah. Mr. Iyengar was still practicing daily at that point at the age of 81 and his practice was especially inspiring to observe for Robbie..

Nowadays, when in London he attends classes with Sophie Carrington and Alaric Newcombe at the Iyengar Institute in Maida Vale, both highly regarded and accredited practitioners.

He had a very fulfilling career as a technology entrepreneur and credits to a considerable extent his success to his yoga practice and its ability to help focus the mind and tune the body.

He particularly enjoys working with ‘Type A’ personalities and showing how the practice can help bring balance to the pursuit of material and business success as well as achieving the more important goal of living a fulfilled and rewarding life.