Laurence is a certified BKS Iyengar yoga teacher. It was during her first study visit to the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, RIMIY, in Pune that the idea of ECLECTIK YOGA was born.
But to become a reality it had to be based on values encouraging solidarity!
Trajectory
After studying fine arts and specifically photography, Laurence spent about fifteen years working in the audio-visual world and the documentary film sector. In parallel, she was involved in humanitarian activities in her neighbourhood.
Yoga
In the 1990s, the first yoga class Laurence ever attended was a BKS Iyengar class, and it was a revelation: as a former sportswoman, the precision and rigor it requires to align and stretch the body opened up a new way of inhabiting her own body.
In the 2000s, she became increasingly committed to this path; she then decided to follow the demanding 3 years teacher training programme at the Paris Iyengar Yoga centre, and she became a certified teacher. She mainly teach-es in her own neighbourhood, in the north of Paris, and at companies.
She is a member of the French Iyengar Yoga Association (Association Française de Yoga Iyengar, l’AFYI) and is continuously training. In March 2016, she went to study at RIMYI in Pune in India.
Eclectik Yoga
It was during this trip to India that she first thought of making good quality yoga equipment, “accessible to everyone” available in France, but she also felt the need to make a stronger commitment.
The project took shape, but she was truly convinced once she decided to entrust the manufacturing of the wooden equipment designed by BKS Iyengar to young disabled carpenters, and to use packaging recycled and enhanced by people moving out of extremely precarious situations.
Today she collaborates with a sewing team made up of people with disabilities, who make her shorts, bolsters, Pranyama cushions, eye-pillows… The monitor’s advice and Laurence’s yoga experience allowed them to develop the Ec-lectik Bolster, an original creation that fulfils the Iyengar weight and shape requirements and is filled with cotton.
Until she develops the manufacturing of other equipment in France based on values of solidarity, she imports all her accessories like straps, chumballs and ropes from Pune, in order to respect the required quality and authenticity.
The mats are chosen for their “non-toxic” quality, their resistance and ease of handling: she has been using the same mats for years. They are made in Europe. The moving style blankets are recycled and recyclable, and are made in a French factory.
Her Gratitude
Eclectik Yoga makes an annual donation from the income from your purchases to the BKS Iyengar Trust, Bellur Krishnamachar Sheshamma Smaraka Nidhi Trust. BKSSNT is working to develop the village and region where Guruji was born by building medical, sanitation and educational infrastructure.
"Linking Eclectik Yoga’s activity with BKS Iyengar’s charity work seems obvious to me.It is a way of expressing my gratitude to Guruji, our yoga teacher”.
Laurence.
Eclectik Yoga’s donations to the BKS Iyengar Foundation here :
January 19, 2019, June 04, 2020, June 14, 2021, December 11, 2022.