In 1936, at the age of 17, Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar began teaching in India. Challenged by illness, weakness, and poverty, Iyengar devoted his time to perfecting and discovering the effects of yoga asana and pranayama on the body, mind and spirit. Over the years his scientific approach to the practice of yoga, his absolute focus on detail, and his powerful determination to learn everything he could about each and every posture has given him a well-deserved reputation worldwide as the leading authority on the practice of yoga. Using his own body as an experimental tool, he discovered ingenious ways to apply yoga therapeutically, and through the unique use of props, ways to accommodate all students from the most healthy to the very sick and disabled. He has millions of practitioners spread across the globe, thousands of yoga centers bearing his name, hundreds of teachers certified by a rigorous and exacting panel of senior Iyengar teachers, and many training centers worldwide that offer yoga teachers the most comprehensive training program available. Iyengar is still alive today, running an Institute in Pune, India, at the age of 91. Teaching responsibilities have been handed over to his daughter, Geeta, and son, Prashant, both of whom are world class teachers in their own right. Books by Iyengar include Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, and most recently, Light on Life.
The most distinctive characteristics of the Iyengar style of yoga are: strict adherence to alignment through a comprehensive understanding of anatomy and physiology, emphasis on strength and endurance by stressing standing poses in the beginning and working toward increasing lengths of time in each pose, and encouragement of creativity by training the mind to penetrate each pose with intelligence and awareness. The practitioner of this type of yoga develops a deep and meditative understanding of the poses and how they are all linked to each other, and ultimately how they are linked to the mind and sprit. Some have referred to the practice of Iyengar yoga as "meditation in action." After just a few classes, many beginning students notice a remarkable change in their physical body, a greater ease, less tension, a more upright carriage, and an increase in strength. This new freedom in the physical body makes room for greater mental clarity and a larger capacity for life.
*Photo by Stephen Parker
**Photo from Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar, 1979, Shocken Books