ABOUT IYENGAR YOGA
A very traditional yoga, from your very first class, Iyengar Yoga develops strength, stamina, concentration, coordination, flexibility, and more. Often called “Meditation in Action”, in B.K.S. Iyengar’s unique teachings, the yoga asanas (postures) and pranayama (control of the breath) create the springboard that allows practitioners to penetrate beyond the outer physical layer and explore the inner layers of mind, energy and spirit. The two quests of the physical and the spiritual are not separate but interdependent parts of a total approach to self-mastery and enlightened living.
IYENGAR LINEAGE
B.K.S. IYENGAR
BKS Iyengar,known as “Guruji” by his many followers worldwide, lived a long and impressive life. In 2004 he was named as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. Guruji is universally acknowledged as having been the world’s greatest yoga teacher.
Triumphing over poverty and serious childhood illnesses, Guruji began his study of yoga with his guru, T. Krishnamacharya. Practicing hour after hour, year after year, his encyclopedic knowledge & understanding of yoga fired his teaching. His seminal book Light on Yoga, continuously in print since 1966, has for generations been the source manual of yoga for students. Guruji brought yoga to the West with his pioneering teaching in the 70s, the beginning of today’s explosive growth in yoga.
Named for Guruji’s late wife, the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute opened in Pune India in 1975; known in Iyengar circles as RIMYI or simply the “Institute”. Although much of his teaching was done at RIMYI, Guruji regularly traveled to make yoga more accessible worldwide. RIMYI won the first Prime Minister's Award for Outstanding Contribution for promotion and Development of Yoga in 2017.
Amid accolades globally, one of Guruji’s more recent works, the bestselling Light on Life, was published & launched on his world tour in 2005. Guruji’s other influential works include Light on Pranayama, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and The Tree of Yoga. His last work was The Core of the Yoga Sutras in which he integrated practice with Patajali’s aphorisms on yoga.
Guruji’s invention of yoga props, blankets, belts and other devices revolutionized the art. Now ubiquitous in yoga studios of all styles, these props allow students of all skill levels to work safely in classical yoga asanas. Guruji also revolutionized the therapeutic applications of yoga, gaining recognition for yoga as treatment for serious medical conditions.
Perhaps the most groundbreaking aspect of Guruji’s teachings is that through yoga asanas and pranayama, the practitioner can explore the most advanced stages of yoga, including concentration, true meditation and even Samadhi, the mystical union of the individual with the universal. By bridging the modern distinctions between physical and meditative yoga, Guruji illuminated the true nature of yoga through his practice and his teaching.
GEETA S. IYENGAR
Dr. Geeta Iyengar (1944-2018) began her journey with yoga at the age of three and made her first public yoga appearance at seven at a demonstration that her father was giving. At the age of 8, she became seriously ill and was not expected to survive. Seeing the medicines weren’t helping, her father decided to try yoga with her. She recovered and continued with her practice of yoga. She has actively taught at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) and around the world since 1962.
Her mother strongly influenced her yogic life, and Geeta Iyengar started practicing daily, observing her father teach and being taught by him. A willing and conscientious student, she rarely missed a day of practice. She took note of the hundreds of people who traveled from around the globe to study at RIMYI with her father and resolved she would learn all she could about yoga and one day teach.
Geetaji, as she is known, adapted her father's yoga method especially for women, creating a weekly women's class at RIMYI. She wrote Yoga: A Gem for Women, which details asanas and pranayama for the different stages of a woman's life. Her other books include Yoga in Action - Preliminary Course and Yoga in Action – Intermediate Course, and Yoga for Motherhood.
In addition to teaching yoga, Geeta Iyengar held degrees in philosophy and ayurvedic medicine. She was the director of RIMYI until her passing in 2018.
PRASHANT S. IYENGAR
Sri Prashant S. Iyengar is B.K.S. Iyengar's son, and an authority on yoga, he is known for his unique teaching style. He is an erudite scholar of yogic texts and adhyatmik scriptures. Currently, he is the director of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) and teaches daily classes and specialized workshops.
Prashant Iyengar was an accomplished violinist and is a teacher, a lecturer, and a writer who has written extensively about yoga philosophy and the ancient texts. As a yoga teacher he is able to weave the practical aspects with the philosophy of yogic texts so that his students can assuredly experience the yogic states. He has also made numerous audio recordings on the yoga sutras.
Books written by Prashant Iyengar include the Alpha and Omega of Trikonasana, Pranayama: A Classical and Traditional Approach, Discourses on Yog, Ashtanga Yoga of Patanjali: Philosophy, Religion Culture, Ethos and Practice, Yoga Sutra Pada Collection and many others.
ABHIJATA IYENGAR
As granddaughter of Yogacharya BKS Iyengar she was taught by him – as well as by Geeta and Prashant, her aunt and uncle. She travelled with BKS Iyengar to conventions in Russia and China and also accompanied Geeta to international conventions in England, Australia and the USA.
Abhijata Iyengar began her serious yoga study from the young age of 16 under her maternal grandfather's direct guidance, B.K.S. Iyengar, her aunt, Dr. Geeta S. Iyengar and uncle Sri Prashant Iyengar.
Abhijata holds a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and a Masters in Bioinformatics. She was contemplating a Ph.D. when her path changed, and she began teaching Iyengar Yoga under the tutelage of her grandfather, her aunt, and her uncle. She continues to bring Iyengar yoga to the next generation of yoga practitioners.
Abhijata is a senior teacher at RIMYI in Pune and teaching internationally at Iyengar Yoga conventions around the world. She is in charge of the therapeutic classes at the institute. While her family's influence is evident in her instruction, she has developed her own teaching style that evinces poise, maturity, and humor. People today expect inclusivity, diversity, equity and a sense of belonging. Abhijata reflects the current zeitgeist.