Lara's History
Lara first explored B.K.S. Iyengar's "Light on Yoga" when she was twelve years old. Enthralled with the pictures of "Guruji" performing a myriad of postures, a year later, she went to her first Iyengar Yoga class in London.

In university, she practiced with a Shingon Buddhist group which combined Chinese Yoga with seated meditation and martial arts. When her teacher Chris Swain went away, he asked Lara to fill in. From that first class she knew that she wanted to teach yoga.

Lara received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Environmental Sciences from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England in 1992. Lara moved to New York City soon after she graduated from University.

In New York, she studied Iyengar Yoga with Robin Janis and Mary Dunn, began building the HipJoint Yoga Studio and worked as a project manager and environmental organizer with the Council on the Environment of New York City. In 2001, she decided to go full-time into teaching yoga. Lara felt that as an environmentalist she was busy trying to transform her surroundings with much effort but without much success; while as a yoga practitioner and teacher the effects she experiences and witnesses are much more immediate and tangible. She believes that as dedicated practitioners of yoga, we are empowered on a very visceral level to make positive and lasting changes in all aspects of our lives.

While her practice, study and teaching of Iyengar Yoga is all consuming, she enjoys playing Flamenco guitar with her husband Raphael, practicing Ba Gua and walking her big Cane Curso dog, Django.

Email Lara
lara@hipjointstudio.com