DARBY & JOANNE

Known to everyone as simply ‘Darby’, Darby is a unique teacher amongst teachers. Indeed, I count him as the major influence upon my teaching.

Darby first visited Mysore in 1979 where Pattabhi Jois almost played matchmaker, putting him in a house next door to the Shala to share a room with his now wife Joanne who had also just arrived in Mysore.

The rest is history as they say and Darby and Joanne ended up staying four-years in Mysore, by which time they had two children -born in Mysore. Often practicing in the Shala alone with Pattabhi Jois, they received a unique level of attention and instruction. Darby mentions being adjusted in every posture, whist Joanne was famously encouraged by Jois into the practice of one-hour headstands.

Outside Darby’s awe-inspiring ability (even at 72 he can still press himself up into a handstand), Darby has a particularly unique trajectory as a teacher and practitioner. For, after spending some time trying to teach, (covering class for Graham Northfield in his native Australia) Darby gave up practice to take a full time job to support his family.

This was, at least he says, due to his lack of popularity in trying to teach in Australia the way he had been taught by Jois in Mysore. He always says that when Graham returned, all bit a few students remained.

It was only when he received early retirement from Joanne’s family textile business that he was free, in his mid-fifties to pursue yoga again. Undeterred, after attending a few workshops with Richard Freeman, Darby says he actually learnt the practice afresh again – this time with the knowledge of what was actually going on in the postures.

Somehow, even at that age, he built up his practice and subsequent teaching again, becoming a renowned teacher and influential to so many with his inexhaustible attention to details and practical explanations.

Darby now spends his time between Montreal, Canada where he has lived most of his life (Joanne is Canadian), and Costa Rica where they have built a small yoga studio and guesthouse (due to his love of surfing).