Iyengar Yoga History

Dec.1918 – 20.Aug.2014

Guruji B.K.S. Iyengar the legendary yogacharya leaves behind a legacy, which breathed new life into yoga and made it popular all over the world. Born in a poor Iyengar family in Bellur, through out his childhood he struggled with malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid, fever and malnutrition. A major turning point in his life awaked him in 1934 when he moved to Mysore and began to practice yoga under the tutelage of his brother-In-law Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and the rest as they say is history.

Yoga props are now widely used,  originated with Iyengar and can be traced back to the physical limitations he had to overcome in his own practice. He finds the meaning of yoga sutras by his practical search and regular practice of yoga. Thus he has helped all to experience the wisdom of the yoga sutras. Widely credited with introducing the west to the ancient Indian tradition primarily through his tutelage of famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin. His Iyengar yoga system is a global phenomenon followed by millions. His books are sold in 70 countries and translated into 13 languages. One of yoga’s finest teacher Mr. Iyengar practiced what he called an art, science and philosophy for more than eight decades.

He was awarded the Padmashri in 1991, the Padma Bhushan in 1992 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2014.

7.Dec.1944 – 16.Dec.2018

Dr. Geeta S. Iyengar, a woman who took the initiative to change the lives of female species. It is rightly said the one who suffers pain can realize the pain of others and it happened so in the case of Geetaji. She 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.

Years rolled by and gradually she gained perfection in all her asanas further teaching the women to increase their confidence and stamina. She worked on correcting the postures and started sharing sequence of different stages in a woman’s life which includes menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum and menopause.

She wrote Yoga: A Gem for Women, which details asanas and pranayama for the 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.

Just as the strong trunk of a tree provides a power to boost up its beauty and yield delicious fruits to eat, in the same way Guruji being a strong trunk gave us innumerable gifts in the form of highly experienced yoga teachers laden with extreme precise and highly sharpened yogic skills. Abhijata Iyengar is the senior most teacher in RIMYI who started her practice at the age of 16 under the guidance of Guruji, Prashantji and Geetaji. While her family’s influence is evident in her instruction, she has developed her own teaching style that evinces poise, maturity, and humor. 

She travelled with Guruji BKS Iyengar to conventions in Russia and China and also accompanied Geeta Ji to international conventions in England, Australia and the USA.

According to her “Yoga should make you a JOYOUS human being.”

Shri Prashant S. Iyengar, is son of legendary Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar (our guru ji). He is presently the Director of Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI). He is also an accomplished violinist. He has deep and profound understanding of Bhartiya darshans and Indian scriptures, which he has delineated through various books authored by him, and audios & videos posted on YouTube channel “IyengarYoga Official”. 

Prashant ji propagates educating his students about Yog rather than teaching them. With this objective, he keeps posting videos in a series of talks on the YouTube channel under the heading “Yogdhara – Online education through the ages”. In his classes, he would never teach the technicalities of asanas but would educate about Yog in asanas, thereby empowering his students to become self-sufficient.  He has used his creativity to develop his own lexicon with a view to convey the right understanding of concepts of Yog. 

Prashant ji, through his books and audios/videos, has carried out the daunting task of compiling the knowledge of Yog, which is spread over numerous ancient scriptures in arduous language, and presented the same in a simple comprehensible manner to us commoners. He would provide objective understanding of concepts of Yog in scriptures, saving us from vice of subjective understanding. It can be safely said that he has played the role of modern day Patanjali. 

In one of his books, Prashant ji had said that the sentient principle ‘Purusha’ cannot be seen by humans through eyes, however there is another way to see Purusha, that is by darshan of a sage. The nobility, piety, purity, sublimity, equanimity, tranquility, serenity, and passivity of Purusha are present in a sage, who is untouched by Rajo and Tamo gunas. It can be said without a second thought that students of Iyengar Yoga are blessed to witness Purusha through the darshan of Prashant ji, who is a sage of our times.

Sunita Parthasarthy Iyengar, the 4th child of legendry Yoga Guru BKS Iyengar is also lovingly known as Sunita Tai in Pune and internationally. 

Born on 3rd July, 1951 in the month of Guru Purnima, she is the epitome of love and affection which she showers on her students. Sunita Tai lives in Pune, where she teaches yoga in Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute and parallelly manages her own studio in Nigadi, The Iyengar Yogashala where she runs children’s batches, regular batches – beginner to advance level and as well as medical batches which she started after her marriage. 

She observed very closely the practice of her father BKS Iyengar and her elder sister Geeta S. Iyengar who helped her to understand the nuances of asanas and pranayama techniques. 

Her power packed stern instructions and firmness in the voice inspires a student to be alert and wide awake in the class. One of the specialties of Sunita Tai’s teachings is that she connects the asanas with the Patanjali Yoga sutras. She teaches the depth of Iyengar yoga techniques with motherly affection which makes her teaching unique as Iyengar yoga demands strict discipline. She makes sure that her students not only just learn asanas but also learn the depth of yog and the subject of yog. Along with other qualities she has a sharp eye for understanding the needs of each and every student in the class.