B.K.S. Iyengar
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Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga gurus in the world.Aubrey, Allison
"Light on life: B.K.S. Iyengar's Yoga insights"
NPR. '' Morning Edition'', 10 November 1995. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
He was the author of many books on yoga practice and philosophy including ''
Light on Yoga ''Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika'' (Sanskrit: योग दीपिका, "Yoga Dīpikā") is a 1966 book on the Iyengar Yoga style of modern yoga as exercise by B. K. S. Iyengar, first published in English. It describes more than 200 yoga postur ...
'', ''Light on Pranayama'', ''Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'', and ''Light on Life''. Iyengar was one of the earliest students of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who is often referred to as "the father of modern yoga". He has been credited with popularizing yoga, first in India and then around the world. The Indian government awarded Iyengar the Padma Shri in 1991, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2014. In 2004, Iyengar was named one of the
100 most influential people in the world ''Time'' 100 (often stylized as ''TIME'' 100) is an annual listicle of the 100 most influential people in the world, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, po ...
by ''Time'' magazine.


Early years

B.K.S. Iyengar was born into a poor Sri Vaishnava Iyengar family in Bellur, Kolar district, Karnataka, India. He was the 11th of 13 children (10 of whom survived) born to Sri Krishnamachar, a school teacher, and Sheshamma. When Iyengar was five years old, his family moved to Bangalore. Four years later, the 9-year-old boy lost his father to appendicitis. Iyengar's home town, Bellur, was in the grip of the influenza pandemic at the time of his birth, and an attack of that disease left the young boy sickly and weak for many years. Throughout his childhood, he struggled with malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and general malnutrition. "My arms were thin, my legs were spindly, and my stomach protruded in an ungainly manner" he wrote. "My head used to hang down, and I had to lift it with great effort."


Education in yoga

In 1934, B. K. S. Iyengar's brother-in-law, the yogi Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, asked him to come to Mysore, so as to improve his health through the practice of yoga
asana An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga ...
s. Krishnamacharya had Iyengar and other students give asana demonstrations in the Maharaja's court at Mysore, which had a positive influence on Iyengar. Iyengar considers his association with his brother-in-law a turning point in his life saying that over a two-year period "he (Krishnamacharya) only taught me for about ten or fifteen days, but those few days determined what I have become today!" K. Pattabhi Jois has claimed that he, and not Krishnamacharya, was Iyengar's guru. In 1937, Krishnamacharya sent Iyengar to Pune at the age of eighteen to spread the teaching of yoga. Though Iyengar had very high regard for Krishnamacharya, and occasionally turned to him for advice, he had a troubled relationship with his guru during his tutelage. In the beginning, Krishnamacharya predicted that the stiff, sickly teenager would not be successful at yoga. He was neglected and tasked with household chores. Only when Krishnamacharya's favorite pupil at the time, Keshavamurthy, left one day did serious training start. Krishnamacharya began teaching a series of difficult postures, sometimes telling him to not eat until he mastered a certain posture. These experiences would later inform the way he taught his students. Iyengar reported in interviews that, at age 90, he continued to practice asanas for three hours and pranayamas for an hour daily. Besides this, he mentioned that he found himself performing non-deliberate pranayamas at other times.


International recognition

In 1952, Iyengar befriended the violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Menuhin gave him the opportunity that transformed Iyengar from a comparatively obscure Indian yoga teacher into an international guru. Because Iyengar had taught the famous philosopher
Jiddu Krishnamurti Jiddu Krishnamurti (; 11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was a philosopher, speaker and writer. In his early life, he was groomed to be the new World Teacher, an advanced spiritual position in the theosophical tradition, but later rejected thi ...
, he was asked to go to Bombay to meet Menuhin, who was known to be interested in yoga. Menuhin said he was very tired and could spare only five minutes. Iyengar told him to lie down in Savasana (on his back), and he fell asleep. After one hour, Menuhin awoke refreshed and spent another two hours with Iyengar. Menuhin came to believe that practising yoga improved his playing, and in 1954 invited Iyengar to Switzerland. At the end of that visit, he presented his yoga teacher with a watch on the back of which was inscribed, "To my best violin teacher, BKS Iyengar". From then on Iyengar visited the west regularly. In Switzerland he also taught
Vanda Scaravelli Vanda Scaravelli (1908 - 1999) is known for her contribution to the practice of yoga in the West. She learnt yoga as an early student of two of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya's pupils, B. K. S. Iyengar who taught her the asanas, and T. K. V. Desikac ...
, who went on to develop her own style of yoga. He taught yoga to several celebrities including Krishnamurti and Jayaprakash Narayan. He taught sirsasana (head stand) to Elisabeth, Queen of Belgium when she was 80. Among his other devotees were the novelist Aldous Huxley, the actress Annette Bening, the film maker Mira Nair and the designer Donna Karan, as well as prominent Indian figures, including the cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and the Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor. Iyengar made his first visit to the United States in 1956, when he taught in
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...
and gave several lecture-demonstrations; he came back to Ann Arbor in 1973, 1974, and 1976. In 1966, Iyengar published his first book, ''
Light on Yoga ''Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika'' (Sanskrit: योग दीपिका, "Yoga Dīpikā") is a 1966 book on the Iyengar Yoga style of modern yoga as exercise by B. K. S. Iyengar, first published in English. It describes more than 200 yoga postur ...
''. It became an international best-seller. , it had been translated into 17 languages and sold three million copies. It was followed by 13 other books, covering pranayama and aspects of yoga philosophy. In 1967, the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) called for classes in "Hatha Yoga", free of
yoga philosophy Yoga philosophy is one of the six major orthodox schools of Hinduism,Maurice Phillips (Published as Max Muller collection), The Evolution of Hinduism, , PhD. Thesis awarded by University of Berne, Switzerland, page 8 though it is only at the en ...
, but including asanas and " pranayamas (sic)" suitable especially for people aged over 40. The ILEA's Peter McIntosh watched some of Iyengar's classes, was impressed by ''Light on Yoga'', and from 1970 ILEA-approved
yoga teacher training Yoga teacher training is the training of teachers of yoga as exercise, consisting mainly of the practice of yoga asanas, leading to certification. Such training is accredited by the Yoga Alliance in America, by the British Wheel of Yoga in the U ...
in London was run by one of Iyengar's pupils,
Silva Mehta ''Yoga the Iyengar Way'' is a 1990 guide to Iyengar Yoga, a style of modern yoga as exercise, by the yoga teachers Silva Mehta and her children Mira Mehta and Shyam Mehta. They were among the first teachers to be trained by B. K. S. Iyengar outsi ...
. Iyengar was careful to comply with the proscription of yoga philosophy, and encouraged students to follow their own religious traditions, rather than trying to follow his own family's Visistadvaita, a qualified non-dualism within Hinduism. File:Yehudi Menuhin 43.jpg, In 1954, the violinist Yehudi Menuhin invited Iyengar to teach in Europe. File:BKS Iyengar Centre House (cropped).jpg, Iyengar at Iyengar Centre House, London, 1971 In 1975, Iyengar opened the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, in memory of his late wife. He officially retired from teaching in 1984, but continued to be active in the world of Iyengar Yoga, teaching special classes, giving lectures, and writing books. Iyengar's daughter, Geeta, and son, Prashant, have gained international acclaim as teachers. Iyengar attracted his students by offering them just what they sought – which tended to be physical stamina and flexibility. He conducted demonstrations and later, when a scooter accident dislocated his spine, began exploring the use of props to help disabled people practice Yoga. He drew inspiration from Hindu deities such as Yoga Narasimha and stories of yogis using trees to support their asanas. He was however thought by his students to be somewhat rough with his adjustments when setting people into alignment; the historian of yoga
Elliott Goldberg ''The Path of Modern Yoga: The History of an Embodied Spiritual Practice'' is a 2016 history of the modern practice of postural yoga by the yoga scholar Elliott Goldberg. It focuses in detail on eleven pioneering figures of the transformation o ...
records that, as well as being known for barking orders and yelling at students, he was nicknamed, based on his initials B. K. S., "Bang, Kick, Slap". In Goldberg's view, Iyengar "rationalized his humiliation of his followers as a necessary consequence of his demand for high standards", but this was consistent with his childhood response to the rough and abusive treatment he received from
Krishnamacharya Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (18 November 1888 – 28 February 1989) was an Indian yoga teacher, ayurvedic healer and scholar. He is seen as one of the most important gurus of modern yoga, and is often called "the father of modern yoga" for h ...
, taking offence quickly, being suspicious of other people's intentions, and belittling others: "In other words, he sometimes behaved like Krishnamacharya". Goldberg concludes, however, that Iyengar hid "a compassion of which Krishnamacharya was never capable", and his students remembered his playfulness as well as his unpredictable temper.


Philanthropy and activism

Iyengar supported nature conservation, stating that it is important to conserve all animals and birds. He donated Rs. 2 million to Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, Mysore, thought to be the largest donation by an individual to any zoo in India. He also adopted a tiger and a cub in memory of his wife, who died in 1973. Iyengar helped promote awareness of
multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...
with the Pune unit of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of India. Iyengar's most important charitable project involved donations to his ancestral village of Bellur, in the Kolar district of Karnataka. Through the Bellur Trust fund which he established, he led a transformation of the village, supporting a number of charitable activities there. He built a hospital, India's first temple dedicated to
Patanjali Patanjali ( sa, पतञ्जलि, Patañjali), also called Gonardiya or Gonikaputra, was a Hindu author, mystic and philosopher. Very little is known about him, and while no one knows exactly when he lived; from analysis of his works it i ...
, a free school that supplies uniforms, books, and a hot lunch to the children of Bellur and the surrounding villages, a secondary school, and a college.


Family

In 1943, Iyengar married 16-year-old Ramamani in a marriage that was arranged by their parents in the usual Indian manner. He said of their marriage: "We lived without conflict as if our two souls were one." Together, they raised five daughters and a son. Ramamani died in 1973 aged 46; Iyengar named his yoga institute in Pune, the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, after her. Both Iyengar's eldest daughter Geeta (1944–2018) and his son Prashant have become internationally known teachers in their own right. His other children are Vanita, Sunita, Suchita, and Savita. Geeta, having worked extensively on yoga for women, published ''Yoga: A Gem for Women'' (2002); Prashant is the author of several books, including ''A Class after a Class: Yoga, an Integrated Science (1998)'', and ''Yoga and the New Millennium'' (2008). Since Geeta's death, Prashant has served as the director of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune. Iyengar's granddaughter, Abhijata Sridhar Iyengar, trained for a number of years under his tutelage, and is now a teacher both at the Institute in Pune and internationally. Iyengar died on 20 August 2014 in Pune, aged 95.


Legacy

3 October 2005 was declared as "B.K.S. Iyengar Day" by the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco. Government and politics The City and County of San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a c ...
. Anthropologist
Joseph S. Alter Joseph S. Alter is an American medical anthropologist known for his research into the modern practice of yoga as exercise, his 2004 book ''Yoga in Modern India'', and the physical and medical culture of South Asia. Biography Joseph S. Alter was ...
of the University of Pittsburgh stated that Iyengar "has by far had the most profound impact on the global spread of yoga." In June 2011, he was presented with a commemorative stamp issued in his honour by the Beijing branch of China Post. At that time there were over thirty thousand Iyengar yoga students in 57 cities in China. The noun "Iyengar", short for "Iyengar Yoga", is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as "a type of Hatha yoga focusing on the correct alignment of the body, making use of straps, wooden blocks, and other objects as aids in achieving the correct postures." On 14 December 2015, what would have been Iyengar's 97th birthday, he was honoured with a Google Doodle. It was shown in India, North America, much of Europe, Russia, and Indonesia. ''Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar: Uniting Through Yoga'', a documentary film by Vishaal Desai, was released on his birth centenary in 2018. ''Leap of Faith'' (2008), another documentary film by Aditi Makim and Valentina Trivedi, covered his life from childhood to adulthood and the hurdles he faced in his career. Currently, thousands of yoga instructors are CIYTs (Certified Iyengar Yoga Teachers), accounting for over 1100 in just the United States.


Awards and recognition

* 1991: Awarded the Padma Shri in 1991. * 2002: Received the Padma Bhushan in 2002. * 2014: Awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2014.


Bibliography

* (1966; revised ed. 1977) ''
Light on Yoga ''Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika'' (Sanskrit: योग दीपिका, "Yoga Dīpikā") is a 1966 book on the Iyengar Yoga style of modern yoga as exercise by B. K. S. Iyengar, first published in English. It describes more than 200 yoga postur ...
''. New York: Schocken. * (1981) ''Light on Pranayama: The Yogic Art of Breathing''. New York: Crossroad. * (1985) ''The Art of Yoga''. Boston: Unwin. * (1988) ''The Tree of Yoga''. Boston: Shambhala. * (1996) ''Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali''. London: Thorsons. * (2005) ''Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom''. (with Abrams, D. & Evans, J.J.) Pennsylvania: Rodale. * (2007) ''Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health''. New York: Dorling Kindersley. * (2000–2008) ''Astadala Yogamala: Collected Works'' (8 vols) New Delhi: Allied Publishers. * (2009) ''Yoga Wisdom and Practice''. New York: Dorling Kindersley. * (2010) ''Yaugika Manas: Know and Realize the Yogic Mind''. Mumbai: Yog. * (2012) ''Core of the Yoga Sutras: The Definitive Guide to the Philosophy of Yoga''. London: HarperThorsons.


References


Sources

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External links


Official website
*
BBC World Service article and programme
by Mark Tully
Leap of faith
(2008), Trivedi & Makim, Documentary about the life of BKS Iyengar * . Google Doodle Collection. 13 December 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015. * . Rajamanickam Antonimuthu. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute at Google Cultural Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iyengar, B. K. S. 1918 births 2014 deaths Indian yoga gurus People from Kolar Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in other fields Modern yoga pioneers Modern yoga gurus