I realise now that my first retreat in the Triratna community in 1974, gave me the experience of a good meditation after the afternoon yoga session, and that set up the pattern of practice for me ever since.
I did a course in Pune with Mr Iyengar in 1980, and trained as an Iyengar yoga teacher with teachers in London. I was part of the Bodywise team at the London Buddhist Centre from 1986 to 1997 and was ordained in 1992
Experience of yoga asanas becomes an interesting dialogue between mind and body. The body is experienced as an amazing place to be, to enjoy what it can do in balance, strength and stretch, and the emotional responses to being a tree or a bird, a lotus or a plank. And as the mind is drawn into the present, and into this dialogue with the body, it becomes more refined in terms of curiosity, care, compassion and courage.
This sets up better conditions to meditate, as the mind has moved away from conceptualising and controlling and the listening aspect of dialogue can develop into spaciousness and silence.