Leslie Freyberg

Certified Iyengar Yoga teacher Leslie Dillingham Freyberg came to yoga from twenty years in the dance and theater professions. While a member of the Jean Erdman Dance Theater, she met Erdman’s husband, the renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell. It was through Campbell’s seminars on the mythology of India that Leslie received her first exposure to Sanskrit, the language of sacred sound, ancient Indian texts, and yoga.

Years later, Leslie met the late Mary Dunn, her first yoga teacher, and embarked on her study of yoga as disseminated by Shri B.K.S. Iyengar. Leslie is a Certified Iyengar Yoga teacher.

Leslie has studied Sanskrit extensively with Vyaas Houston (director of the American Sanskrit Institute), Edwin Bryant, John Campbell, Manorama, and Dr. Ram Sharma of the Yoga Societies of San Francisco and New York. It was while attending yoga retreats with acclaimed Iyengar Yoga teacher Patricia Walden that Leslie, through Walden’s inspiration and guidance, began to teach chanting sessions with fellow participants. The chanting of Sanskrit mantras proved to add an enriching dimension to the yoga practice.

Fueled by a desire to deepen her knowledge of Sanskrit chanting in all its aspects, Leslie went on to pursue the study of Vedic chanting. She has completed trainings with the renown Sonia Nelson and Deborah Kuryan, who are both students of T.K.V. Desikachar. Leslie continues to study with them under the auspices of the Vedic Chant Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (www.vedicchantcenter.org)

Leslie Freyburg Chanting at Gala for Patricia Walden – October, 2016

Through her study and practice of Vedic chanting and the Iyengar method of Yoga, Leslie has joined the ancient lineage passed on through the great yoga master Srī Krishnamāchārya, who was the teacher of both B.K.S. Iyengar and T.K.V. Desikachar. 

Leslie continues her studies with Patricia Walden at Down Under Yoga, Brookline, MA, where she enjoys leading Patricia’s students in chanting.

As a member of the faculty of the American Sanskrit Institute, Leslie travels nationwide under its auspices to teach the foundation of the Sanskrit language, an indispensable component for the serious study of yoga. Leslie teaches the Iyengar method of āsana and prāṇāyāma as well as Sanskrit and Vedic chanting in her home town of Redding and in Ridgefield, CT.  She serves on the faculties of Patricia Walden’s Iyengar teacher training, the Iyengar Yoga Institute in New York City, and at the Yoga Shala of Georgetown, CT.

Husband Tony and Cocker Spaniel Henley continue to support and inspire Leslie in the ongoing study of yoga and Sanskrit.