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Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja (BKS) Iyengar (Born December 14, 1918, in
Karnataka, India) is the founder of Iyengar Yoga. He is considered one of the
foremost yoga teachers in the world. He is the author books on yogia
practice and philosophy, including Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, and
Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
B.K.S. Iyengar was born into a poor family, and had a difficult childhood. His
home village was in the grips of the influenza pandemic at the time of his
birth, leaving him sickly and weak. Iyengar's father died when he was 9 years
old, and he continued to suffer from a variety of maladies in childhood,
including malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and general malnutrition. At the
age of 15 Iyengar went to live with his brother-in-law, the well-known yogi,
Sri Tirumala Krishnamacharya in Mysore. There, Iyengar began to learn asana
practice, which steadily improved his health. With the encouragement of
Krishnamacharya, Iyengar moved to Pune to teach yoga in 1937.
In 1952, Iyengar met the famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who arranged
multiple teaching engagements for him in Europe. In 1966, "Light on Yoga"
was published. It gradually became an international best-seller and was
translated into 17 languages. Often called “the bible of yoga".Iyengar officially
retired from teaching in 1984, but continues to be active in the world of
Iyengar Yoga, teaching special classes and writing books.
Iyengar's approach to yoga is based on using the mind to control and heal
body. His asana is highly physiological, with emphasis on skeletal alignment.
His approach to yoga therapy is based on matching postures to specific
ailments, and use of props to set the body into the desired position.
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Asana is the third of the eight limbs of Integral Yoga following Yama and Niyama. While the order of
the limbs alludes to a hierarchy, you need not have mastered the first two limbs before you begin
asana practice. The Yamas and Niyamas, just like the ten commandments of the Old Testament, are
ideals. Ideals can be embraced and practiced but not mastered. At least not by most of us. It’s all
work in progress. Pattabhi Jois has explained, that in Ashtanga, all limbs are accessed through the
asana practice.
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To the follower of the yoga of action,
The body and the mind,
The sense organs and the intellect
Are instruments only:
He knows himself other than the instrument
And thus his heart grows pure.
Bhagavad Gita
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