Memories of Jim Pope

Jim Pope, a long-time student and teacher of Iyengar yoga passed from this life 19 June 2025.

James Anthony Pope

May 10, 1946 – June 19, 2025

A memorial was held on Sunday September 14 2025, at St.Jude’s Anglican Church in Oakville, Ontario, attended by many students, family, friends and colleagues. We were honoured by the presence of father Joseph Pereira and Humza Muljiani, who travelled to Oakville from India to participate in honouring and grieving the loss of Jim.

Claudia MacDonald, of Vancouver BC, attended the memorial and offered these words in Jim’s memory…

Jim Pope was an Iyengar yoga teacher and a valued member of the Vancouver Iyengar yoga community during the 1990s, supporting and contributing to the work necessary to its smooth functioning. As a graphic designer, he was able to assist in that capacity as well. He was also a member of The Iyengar Yoga Association of Canada (IYAC), and my student and friend. In 2000 he moved to Oakville, Ontario, where he continued to deepen his studies and teach, developing a studio and a thriving yoga community.

Jim was a lovely man and devoted yogi whose life and teaching were infused with his quick wit and sharp intelligence. I was honoured to accept Jim as a teacher-trainee and appreciated his understanding, focus and devotion to the study of yoga. He was a respectful student and understood and demonstrated his understanding of the mentor/mentee relationship we were in during his training as a yoga teacher. That relationship evolved over the years into a deep and valued friendship, but he never stopped carrying my bags in a burlesque of servitude which we both found ironic and amusing. He would pantomime dutifully carrying two bags when referring to that relationship and in recent years used it to refer to his own teacher apprentices.

We had a good rapport that travelled from the profundity of yoga to our historic love of liver’n’onions. We rarely ate it and certainly not together, although the mention of it would bind us together somehow in our mutual memory and sense of humour.

During his apprenticeship, as one of his practicums, he volunteered to teach at “Tradeworks”, a program created to serve “at risk” youth. They were learning useful trades and life skills which included yoga. He once recounted a story about one of those youths complaining of a sore neck in Śavāsana, to which Jim suggested that perhaps he should turn his baseball cap back around. He was sensitive to the unique needs of those youths and adapted his teaching accordingly, with genuine appreciation and affection.

In 2000, Jim and his wife, Nancy Hornell, moved to Oakville, Ontario. Jim settled into his unique teaching path, loyal to his training and the Iyengar yoga principles and values. He attended classes in Toronto, when possible, and set up his own classes, along with Nancy, in a lovely church, St. Jude’s Anglican in Oakville, which generously supported his program. There he developed a thriving yoga studio and community where he taught for many years up until his sudden and tragic diagnosis of a brain tumour. Jim was deeply respectful of his students; his gentle demeanour while teaching was almost chivalrous.

He became deeply involved and supportive of Father Joseph Pereira and his Kripa Foundation which supported people dealing with addictions and those living with HIV/AIDS. There were Kripa centres in many places in India and Jim travelled there numerous times to assist with Father Joe’s work and to attend classes at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune.

Jim was creative and inventive with the making of yoga props and equipment and developed a traveling version of the rope wall which could be affixed to a closed door. He sold these as a fundraiser for Father Joe’s centres and work. I have several iterations of them that Jim would send to me as he developed and improved the design, along with other various props he was enthusiastic about.

Jim’s commitment to the yoga philosophy and values went beyond the mat. He also volunteered at the Hamilton AIDS Network and for 14 years he volunteered at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto where he was deeply appreciated and received a glowing letter of recommendation from them.

In 2017, Geeta Iyengar awarded Jim with a well deserved IJ lll certificate which enabled him to officially mentor two student teachers, Amanda Teilinger and Janine Vincent. Both had recently successfully passed their IYAC assessments and, so, were in a position to take over Jim’s classes and work at the studio he created in Oakville. As well, they provided much appreciated support to both Jim and Nancy during his illness as did many other students, friends and family.

From the time of his first diagnosis until he slipped quietly away on June 19 2025, Jim maintained a positive and cheerful demeanour, navigating the treatments, the physio appointments, the loss of mobility and grim prognosis in a dignified and magnificent manner. He and Nancy were a unified and loving team throughout his journey, a love very touching to witness. Jim’s strong and profound yoga practice sustained him throughout this cruel and unfortunate ending and was conscious until his last day with us.

Although his feet will no longer touch the earth, his footprints will remain, infused with love.