According to Guruji, as Mr BKS Iyengar is known to his students, Yoga is one.
The name Iyengar Yoga is firmly based in the classical Astanga tradition which was systematised by the sage Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras, approximately 2,500 years ago.
In the Iyengar Yoga method, students develop the skills to observe and position the body through precise yet dynamic geometrical shapes known as "Asanas" or yogic postures.
It is also the quietening of the mind. However, as the body is more tangible than our minds, we start there.
Gradually by extending not only the body, but the consciousness within, students uncover the deep and transformative connection between both.
"Until the finite is known, how can we touch the infinite?"
- BKS Iyengar
"I do not stretch the body today, which I used to do in my thirties fifties, all these years, now I stretch my intelligence in my body, to expand it, so that it is the intelligence that stretches my body."
- BKS Iyengar
Iyengar Yoga today is defined by...
Emphasis on precision of postural alignment. Every asana is taught with great attention to the alignment of the skeletal structure, muscles, skin and even of ourselves, to the pose. This dynamic alignment improves thewapy we live in our bodies; creating balance, poise and lightness. Alignment brings with it a greater stability and less strain yet better mobility; what Guruji calls a state of "effortless effort."
Application of different techniques to uncover hidden aspects of the asanas. These approaches refine out awareness. We learn to bring our attention to a certain part of the body and through holding it there, to explore its effects on the rest of the body. In this way we cultivate an "integrated awareness." Yoga practice hence becomes more than a physical pursuit; it becomes, in Guruji's terms, "meditation in action."
Sequencing of the asanas in various ways, which personalises and deepens our practice. The process of linking certain asanas, one to the next, has a profound effect on our being. Sequences can be adapted to energise, to soothe and restore as well as to address specific ailments or life changes, such as pregnancy, menopause and the effects of ageing on the body-mind.
Exploration of different timings in the asanas to observe their effects on the body-mind as a means of self-study (known as svadhaya in Sanskrit).
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