It has taken me some time to grieve for the passing of Dr. Robin Monro, who left us on November 14th in his mid-90s, before sharing a small tribute to him not only as a pioneer of therapeutic yoga in the UK but also as a respected dear mentor to whom I feel personally indebted.
I was privileged to say goodbye to Robin in person, on 10th November in Sheffield. He was fully lucid, and the light of his soul shone through his eyes. Even on his hospital bed, he was a Yogi, filling the room with vibrant life.
As I drove back to Cambridge in the golden Autumn afternoon, images of the complex bonds that linked me to Robin came to my memory. Long before meeting him in London as the founder of the pioneering Yoga Biomedical Trust (1983), I knew of him as a molecular biologist who had recovered from asthma with yoga. While his decision to leave the prestigious Cambridge Medical Research Council, where he had done research with world leading scientists, was frowned upon as odd, his passion for yoga elicited curiosity and even admiration by some. In his groundbreaking and single-minded dedication to yoga therapy research and applications, Robin continued to work all his life as the scientist he was by training and at heart. He fought indefatigably to lay the foundations of yoga as an effective, research-based form of complementary therapy and, in some cases, an alternative to biomedical treatment.
The Diploma course in Yoga Therapy he created in the early 1990s rallied practitioners who shared Robin’s vision of a yoga that could contribute to health while remaining a spiritual practice, rooted in Indic philosophy while being evidence-based. Long pre-dating the mandatory anatomy and physiology components of later yoga teacher training courses, Diploma students were invited to delve deep in the dialogic study of medical textbooks side by side with Indian texts such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and Chakara Samhita. Robin privileged breath as the essence of yoga and valued Pranayama over and above the practices constituting the Wheel of Yoga. His lifelong close association and deep friendship with Dr Sri Krishna gave rise to retreats which all participants surely remember warmly for their nurturing breath practices, chanting and silence.
Robin Monro had a magnetic personality, that drew people to him in the pursuit of his goals, invariably several at once, conveying a feeling that contributing to a higher cause warranted full engagement and would benefit all involved. Indeed, this was the case, whether finding a London locale on a shoestring, creating a prestigious Board for the Trust, assembling unprecedented course materials or setting up the original Council for Yoga Therapy in the UK. In his egoless, persistent but always humble, generous and kind quest, Robin’s integrity prevailed. In 1991, Robin invited me to offer his students a demonstration session of ‘yoga for pregnancy’ that became a training weekend and later a Diploma module before a standalone Birthlight course was launched. Yoga for Pregnancy bridged a gap between health and sickness that is still a matter of contention among yoga therapists and maternity practitioners. Yoga can certainly enhance the human reproductive process, but to what extent can we differentiate between healthy developments and pathologies? The budding field of IVF opened a space for addressing psychosomatic aspects of subfertility and infertility, while yoga soon became recommended as a “safe” way to cope with common ailments of pregnancy and to prepare bodies and minds for childbirth and parenthood. Superficially distant and aloof like many other British men of his generation, Robin showed heartfelt warmth and empathy to the pregnant women and, soon after, to the new mothers and babies (an unprecedented yoga audience) who flocked to the loft of the Royal Homeopathic Hospital and to the Islington Yoga Therapy Centre. As the father of two beloved daughters, Surya and Afron Monro, he had a deep respect for maternity. Robin invariably inspired confidence and affection to his many patients and colleagues, whether Indian or Western, irrespective of their gender. As a practising yoga therapist, Robin was acutely aware of rising pathologies associated with women’s reproductive cycle. After 2000, The concept of Yoga for Women’s Health made immediate sense to him as a furthering area of application of yoga, not because he could foresee its market expansion – he just did not think in that way- but simply to alleviate perceived suffering.
Many taboos of then conventional yoga were broken under Robin’s watchful evaluation of participants’ responses: danced Asanas helped pregnant women to remain mobile until late in their third trimester; pregnant couples felt their foetuses’ responses to chanting; chair yoga proved invaluable for thoraco-lumbar alignment; the comfort that cushions and bolsters afforded for relaxation overcame purists’ objections as benefits prevailed.
While the first Birthlight classes in Cambridge in the 1980s had been held in the sitting room of Robin’s ex-wife Rhea Quien, an artist and therapist, before moving to the Friends’ Meeting House, I maintained a friendship with the family that has endured to this day. Working with Robin in London changed my life, adding a yoga training hat to my enjoyment of teaching and caring for women, and to my academic research vocation. At the Yoga Biomedical Trust, I became acquainted with many yoga practitioners who became esteemed colleagues and friends, not least Doriel Hall, co-author of 1997 ‘Yoga for Pregnancy’ prefaced by Robin. SEPY (Scientific Evaluation of Pregnancy Yoga) was launched as a London-Cambridge initiative under the aegis of the Hinduja Foundation, which funded the first international research event on Yoga at Cambridge University with Dr Elizabeth de Michelis in 2001.
https://modernyogaresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2001_modern_yoga_workshop.pdf
Always true to the ever-deepening thrust of his understanding of yoga based on both his professional and personal practice, Robin offered the conference audience an extraordinary pioneering presentation of the yoga therapeutic relationship as a model for holistic care. A few neuroscientists could then appreciate the kernel of an interpretation that would be developed later, notably through the work of Heather Mason’s Minded Institute. At present, parallel and inter-related research studies on the neurophysiology of maternal mental health warrant more than ever the centrality of yoga as an accessible, safe and cheap intervention to reduce the burden of anxiety and depression for mothers-to-be and new mothers.
Robin Monro had a broad, ecumenical understanding of yoga and yoga therapy. He had no problem moving from erudite details on the physiology of breathing to the neuronal mechanisms targeted with yoga for reducing various types of low back pain. Never pedantic, he enthused with Sat Bir Singh Khalsa about the exponential rise of yoga research worldwide. This could not have been predicted at the time of publication of Robin’s groundbreaking co-authored book “Yoga for Common Ailments” (1990). Remaining firm in his research direction until he passed, Robin Monro will undoubtedly continue to inspire many followers with his open-minded conviction that the paths of yoga and science can and must be pursued jointly. Beyond the fads of studios and gyms, further applications of yoga in a clinical perspective are warranted as new understandings of physiological mechanisms are unveiled in our human bodies and psyches. The affinity I shared with Robin ran deep and I miss him greatly.
As Birthlight courses took off independently, all participants are indirectly indebted to Robin Monro’s vision of yoga therapy even if they never met him. His non-sectarian, empiricist dedication to yoga as a therapeutic resource that can spare suffering and enhance wellbeing is a profound legacy for health care and self-care, bridging hospitals and communities.
I reach out to all the readers of this tribute to Robin who took part in one of the early trainings in Prenatal, Postnatal, Fertility Yoga or Yoga for women’s health that he so generously encouraged under the umbrella of the Yoga Biomedical Trust. Whether you are still working with yoga or you have moved into other life-paths, I would be very happy to receive your news.
Françoise Freedman