Founder of the Institut Supérieur d’Aplomb,
and the Institut de Yoga B.K.S. Iyengar de Paris
Infos Yoga magazine, N˚ 129, November 7, 2020, by Anaïs Le Flohic
Summer 2019: I’ve been training with Serge Gastineau and Catherine Bellières for a year now, and I’ve questioned almost everything I’ve ever learned about yoga before. Regularly during the seminars, Serge talks to us about the work of Noëlle Perez and where our physiological lumbar arch should be.
I’ve spotted Noëlle Perez’s books on the shelf of the A.Y.L.A. association’s library at the Atelier Yoga in Nantes. Their covers are all worn, a little outdated, and faded. But I don’t dare touch them: it all seems a bit obscure and complicated, and I have little knowledge of anatomy.
During the April seminar, it all clicks during the lunch break, [when] Catherine explains to us how Noëlle Perez demonstrated that bone calcification occurs differently in different populations. Beyond individual anatomical differences, it varies depending on our lifestyles, particularly when it comes to hip joint function. We’re sitting near the bookcase, and Catherine pulls out one of Noëlle Perez’s books and passes it around among the trainees.
At the end of the day I decide to borrow one at random because the title is scary, Pathology of Yoga: Beware! Yoga Can Be Dangerous for You. Without realizing that I’ve just found a treasure, it will take me more than three months to open it on August 8, 2019, the date Noëlle Perez passed away.
She is an extraordinary personality, whose valuable writings are more relevant than ever. At 34, she had visited yoga teachers in Europe and found none who satisfied her, so she went to Pune, India in 1959. She became one of B.K.S. Iyengar’s first Western students and one of his closest. Back in Paris, she opened the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Institute, the first in France, inaugurated by Iyengar [himself] in the 1960s.
She practiced yoga for years, and over time, several joints became very painful, even after meeting Iyengar. This was because there was a misunderstanding on both sides: she didn’t always correctly interpret what he was explaining, and he was used to Indians, generally very supple, who remained upright. He couldn’t imagine that someone could have lost their balance.
The veil began to lift in 1976, in two stages. On the one hand, during a visit to Parisian museums with Iyengar. In the exhibition dedicated to Ramses, the Master showed her all the statues that were slumped forward. Conversely, at the Guimet Museum, he pointed out to her how Indian statues were upright and how light they appeared.
On the other hand, Noëlle Perez attended an exhibition on “The Origins of Man” organized by Professor Yves Coppens. She has a flash of inspiration in front of a comparative chart between monkeys and humans, accompanied by the following caption: “The calcaneus thickens; from now on, it will bear all the weight.” This shortening of the main bone of the human foot is what allows for upright posture.
She finally understandood what it means to be upright; the weight falls on the heels: “That’s what Iyengar had tried to make me feel, but I hadn’t understood a thing. Immediately, I put the weight on my heels, hollowing my groin and moving my pelvis back as if to sit down, and I felt all the tension in my back disappear.”
This would become her major research focus; throughout her life, she constantly warned (and “shouted daredevil,” as she put it) that we Westerners had lost our composure, while trying to bring us back to this awareness of correct alignment.
She possessed a colossal capacity for work, like all those who had truly practiced yoga. Her concentration and endurance were highly developed. Throughout her career, she wrote more than 50 books. At 83, she completed a 2,500-page doctoral thesis at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences sociales. Her interests were numerous and far broader than yoga, encompassing ethnology, anthropology, the history of religions, and more.
Regarding yoga more specifically, throughout her life, she maintained a commitment to accuracy and extreme precision in her remarks. As she humorously notes in one of her books, she’s a Capricorn with Virgo ascendant, which helps! A sign of great teaching skills, capable of explaining the same thing dozens of times, each time in a different way, to make herself understood by as many people as possible.
Noëlle Perez took into account the obstacles linked to language differences: Iyengar’s mother tongue is Kannada, from the state of Karnataka. His thinking is steeped in Sanskrit and Eastern culture. He expressed himself in Indian English, which she herself transcribes into French. There are bound to be errors, if not unintentional distortions, in some of his remarks. All of this is magnificently exposed in Sparks of Divinity and Thus Spoke B.K.S. Iyengar. She explains: “When we want to understand the depth of centuries-old Indian experience conveyed by Iyengar’s thought… in a language that is not his own!!!” …we must at all costs discover which Sanskrit word, which Eastern concept he translates into an English word. Otherwise, we’re sure to miss the point and understand only a small part of the Indian message he’s trying to convey to us.”
Her books are both technical and accessible, written in a style full of wit and anecdotes; boredom is never present! They are richly illustrated with photos, unfortunately often of poor quality; the resources at the time were not those of today.
One of the great things about her books is that she explains how she herself injured herself for years in yoga postures. She uses her experiences to inform the teaching and transmission of yoga. She even goes so far as to publish examples of photos of herself in awkward positions even though she didn’t know it, which is probably a unique case in the history of yoga! Throughout her life, she has maintained the attitude of a researcher, an explorer, and a tester of different avenues. She has a desire to alert yoga practitioners and teachers, and the enormous ability to question herself thoroughly. In my opinion, one could even go so far as to say that she promotes a form of prevention in public health.
Her private life, from which she regularly draws examples (her great-grandmother Man’line, her dog Panta, etc.), is astonishing in more than one way. Childless, she devotes her life to yoga and her field research, punctuated by numerous travels to the four corners of the planet. Her research on how carrying loads on the head shapes the spine took her to Setúbal, Portugal. There, over 50, she met Miguel da Fonseca, a fish unloader (fish auctioneer) who would become her husband.
She would closely involve him in her work; he would be her daily guide. Having remained poised throughout her life—an essential element for practicing her profession without damaging her back—he would show her in a thousand ways, and in every day of her life, how to proceed.
Noëlle Perez is not known for being easygoing, as she herself admits. She is outspoken (“śavāsana is not snoozing!”) and doesn’t mince words when she considers a piece of work to be of poor quality. People say of her: “If you want to be corrected in yoga, go see Noëlle. She’s not easy, but with her you’ll learn.” I believe that, simply put, her high standards with her students were commensurate with her total commitment to yoga.
Noëlle Perez truly wanted her work to be disseminated, known, and extended; she has written as much on several occasions.
Given the accuracy of her vision and the strength with which she demonstrated her theories, supported by countless examples, photos, and experiments, it is surprising that Noëlle Perez is not better known in the yoga community. Apart from the website of the Institut Supérieur d’Aplomb, there is little information about her online; her books are no longer published. Perhaps her iconoclastic vision, which called many things into question, was too disturbing?
I sincerely hope that this article will contribute to her influence and inspire you to discover more about her.
Bibliography
– Warning! Yoga Can Be Dangerous for You – Pathology of Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Institute, 1980.
– Being Aplomb, first edition: B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Institute, 1977; Second edition, fully revised and corrected: Institut Supérieur d’Aplomb (ISA), 1983
– Thus Spoke B.K.S. Iyengar, B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Institute, 1979.
– Carrying on Oneself – Carrying oneself, carrying, behaving, transporting, loading and unloading oneself without damage – Contribution to the study of a universal category of techniques: carrying loads on oneself. Dissertation in social anthropology and ethnology, defended on May 20, 2008, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.
The author Anaïs Le Flohic is a yoga teacher in Rennes, France.
Rafael Durán 