Connecting to Yoga: Mary Reilly Shows the Way

“Iyengar is to Yoga what Renoir is to painting, Rodin is to sculpture...“
- American photographer E. Simmons

It was 1978 when Mary Reilly first discovered yoga, fresh out of the
University of Michigan, working at a food co-op in Ann Arbor and teaching
gym to children at the YMCA. At the time, one of Reilly‘s co-workers
excitedly told her about Iyengar Yoga - an exotic form of body/mind
strengthening developed by Yogacharya BKS Iyengar.
Iyengar was born in India in December, 1918, growing up to become one
of today‘s leading authorities of yoga. Iyengar‘s style
of teaching yoga focuses on postures, or “asanas“ that bring about an awareness of the body, unlocking inner strength and potential. Sixty years after this esteemed yoga master was born in India, a young student named Mary Reilly was graduating from college
thousands of miles away.
Catching her friend‘s enthusiasm, Reilly decided to give Iyengar‘s yoga a try.
“During class, two hours would go by, and I‘d barely notice,“ she remembers,
“but what I did notice was that I always felt better after class - every
single time - and that‘s what kept me going back.“
Reilly was especially
drawn in by the fact that the Iyengar form of yoga was meant for people of
all types, no matter what age or occupation. And she was also impressed by
the group of teachers that taught the Iyengar course through the YMCA. “The
YMCA yoga teachers were amazing,“ she recalls, “they were a group of
seasoned, older ladies that were absolutely committed - they went to India
themselves, regularly, to study straight from Iyengar himself.“

CLARITY OF BEING
When it came time for Reilly to move away from Ann Arbor to Madison,
Wisconsin - four years after she began studying yoga with the YMCA group -
she wondered how she would find instructors that would live up to her first
fortuitous yoga experience.
“I feel very, very lucky that I happened into
the YMCA yoga group,“ she enthuses, “they were very grounded people. Right
after I graduated from college (Reilly graduated with a degree in biology), I
felt that I couldn‘t concentrate on things. But once I started Iyengar
Yoga, I not only noticed that I always felt better physically, I also felt
the mental benefit - it was almost a clarity of being. Everyone has a sort
of ‘cloud‘ about them, just from everyday stresses - but yoga promotes a
concentration and a connection to one‘s own body and mind that has a very
clarifying effect. It can be very powerful.“
Settling into Madison with her husband, Reilly found that no one was teaching
Iyengar Yoga, so she began taking another form of yoga with a local teacher.
But she soon discovered that she knew more than her new Wisconsin instructor
had to offer, so she began taking on students of her own.
Once it was time
to move again - this time to Petoskey in 1983 to further her
husband‘s medical career - Mary knew that she wanted to
teach Iyengar Yoga herself.
“I started teaching yoga in the Northern
Michigan area through the Harbor Springs community schools,“ she says,
“in 1985, I started North Woods Yoga, and I became certified in 1989 from the
Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States. At first, I taught
at the Crooked Tree Arts Center (in Petoskey), but when I found this space, I
snapped it up - the sunlight streaming through the windows into the studio is
so beautiful, it‘s just a wonderful place to be.“

POPULAR RETREATS
She may be content with her tranquil and spacious new studio, but that
doesn‘t mean that Mary Reilly is slowing down - quite the contrary. About
200 students each week show up for Reilly‘s popular Iyengar Yoga classes (she
has 12 different class times each week, making it easy for students to work
around other schedules), and she also holds weekend retreats (most often at
Camp Daggett and Camp Michigania) that immerse the student in asana classes,
morning pranayama (breathing practices), yoga philosophy, and organic meals.
Some of those retreats see Reilly working with her sister, Ann Reilly, who
adds chakra and mandala studies and art workshops to the mix. And, in a move
that is seeing Reilly come full circle with her yoga studies, she is
following in the footsteps of her YMCA yoga instructors, and now travels to
India herself to study at the RIMYI, the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga
Institute, named after BKS Iyengar‘s late wife.
“The studies at RIMYI are very intense,“ she says, “the first few times I went, we studied yoga six hours a day, six days a week for a full month.“ And she also had the
opportunity to meet other yoga instructors from all over the world, all of
whom were taught by a roster of instructors that included Iyengar‘s own
children, his daughter Geeta and son Prashant, to whom their father, now 84
and still teaching selectively, has passed on the opportunities to teach.

A GUIDE
The word “yoga“ originates from the Sanskrit word yuj, which means union or
connection - and that, perhaps, is what Reilly still finds most appealing about the practice.
“I really like how diverse my group of students are,“ she says with a smile. “I have all ages, all sizes, men, women, people in all different professions. So many different walks of life come through here, and I love that.“
Iyengar Yoga doesn‘t use mirrors or music in its
practice - the student occupies “their own little space of floor,“ as Reilly
puts it, that is free of competitiveness. She‘s there to instruct gently and
give feedback where needed.
“The Iyengar method takes things incrementally, so the students can watch the strength grow in themselves. There‘s a pride of ownership there, in the body, that gives you a functional freedom through Iyengar Yoga and allows you to grow in your own space. My
job here at North Woods is to be on the outside of that space, as a guide.“
A guide that, she hopes, will help her students to connect better with
themselves. The union of yoga represents the meeting of the physical,
physiological, mental, emotional, and intellectual bodies, leading one to
live a well-integrated, purposeful, and noble existence. “And once you
connect to yourself,“ Reilly says, “you can hopefully ultimately make those
bigger connections of life.“

Classes at Mary Reilly‘s North Woods Yoga, located on the third floor at 316
1/2 East Mitchell Street in Petoskey, are available weekly, with an 8-week
course averaging $80. More information is available by telephoning
231-526-5041. View On Our Website