Student of the Month - September 2025 - Mary
September 2025 Student of the month is…… Mary Mulligan!
When Mary first walked into one of my classes two years ago, I instantly recognised her from various workshops we’d both attended over the years. As it turns out, we began our yoga journeys around the same time, twenty years ago. Mary is deeply dedicated to her practice. Alongside her weekly classes with me, she regularly attends weekend workshops and yoga residentials—most recently the Iyengar Yoga Festival. She has studied with some of the most experienced Iyengar teachers, and the depth of her knowledge shines through in her practice. But more than her skill, what truly stands out is the joy she radiates through her yoga. Mary glows with a genuine love for the practice, and that energy is infectious. She is also a wonderfully supportive presence for her fellow students. One moment that especially touched me was walking into the practice hall to find her with two yoga friends, gathered around a printout of the invocation to Patañjali, teaching them how to chant it. It was such a beautiful, heartfelt scene. Despite her years of experience, Mary remains humble and grounded. In class, she is incredibly focused and attentive, always fully engaged with the work at hand. She’s usually the first to get herself set up in a pose—ready not only for her own practice but also to help others if they’re unsure. Although Mary has only been part of the West Coker class for two years, it feels as though she has always been with us. I honestly can’t imagine the class without her.
❓Tell us a little about yourself …………………
🧘♀️My name is Mary Mulligan and I am 65 years old. I work as an Account Director for a Data Consultancy-it’s a great job which I love and I get to work from home in South Petherton. Being able to come to West Coker Village Hall to Lisa’s class on a Thursday night is such a joy.
❓How long have you been practicing yoga?
🧘♀️It’s 20 years this month. I went to my first ever class in Brighton September 2005
❓What made you start yoga?…………….
🧘♀️I was working for an advertising agency in Canary Wharf commuting 4 hours per day, 5 days a week. I thought that something has to change-I need balance in my life. I knew I had to find yoga and funnily enough it’s a feeling I have had all my life. When I went to my first class ,which was an Iyengar Yoga class, I felt I had come home. I definitely practiced it in a previous life!
❓What’s your favourite pose?………….
🧘♀️I love supta virasana. The first time I ever did it, I thought this is agony so decided I needed to embrace it. If I can have a second favourite it is parsvottanasana-I feel my whole life in it-cannot explain why!
❓What’s your favourite prop?……
🧘♀️I love a brick-so very definite!
❓How has practicing yoga benefitted your life?………………
🧘♀️It is so vast, so transformative that it is hard to articulate. It is a joy to see how much it has benefitted my friends and my sister as well.
❓What makes you keep practicing?……
🧘♀️The feeling of joy and well being. I also love being with the Iyengar Yoga community and have made so many great friends
❓Anything else you’d like to add?…………..
🧘♀️I really encourage all my friends to take up Iyengar Yoga as I want to spread the joy!
Thank you Mary for sharing your yoga journey with us and for your love for and devotion to Iyengar Yoga.
Mary in her beloved Virasana
Parsvottonasana - with her favourite prop - the bricks!