The Iyengar approach to yoga, founded on the teachings of BKS Iyengar, a living Yogacharya who turned 90 in December 2008, and carried on today by his daughter Geeta and son Prashant Iyengar at their Pune Institute in India, is classical Indian yoga. BKS was the eleventh born to a working poor south Indian family and suffered from influenza, malaria and typhoid as a child. After his father died the physically feeble BKS went to stay with first an older brother and then with an older sister. It was during this time in his sister's home he began his and study of yoga with his uncle Krishnamacharya. One of the ironies of Mr. Iyengar’s youth is that he did not finish high school due to failing English and not having the money to retake it; today he is a prolific writer and international speaker with numerous published books including “Light on Yoga” (LOY), regarded as the landmark treatise on yoga. On my first visit to RIMYI (The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute dedicated to BKS deceased wife) in Pune, Prashant Iyengar walked us around the room to look at pictures of Mr. Iyengar taken from LOY, he asked us to study his face in each pose; I noticed a dynamic inward focus conveying equanimity and fortitude no matter the degree of difficulty of the asana - “Perform each asana as a mantra and each pose as a meditation, then the light will dawn from the centre of your being” BKS Iyengar. RIMYI is an institute where both international and local students attend daily classes and open practice six days a week. International students must be recommended by a senior teacher, have a minimum of eight years of experience and go on a wait list. I love wandering the heavily treed sidewalks of Pune to class. Classes are taught in English by Geeta and Prashant; Mr. Iyengar, who is no longer teaching classes, is always present doing his own practice and he cannot stop himself from injecting his pearls of wisdom into the classroom. His enthusiasm for yoga is mesmerizing, imploring us to see through to the depth of his understanding with intense eyes that express his seventy years of uninterrupted practice. At RIMYI general classes are for teachers, there are also beginner, children’s and medical classes. Props typically seen in yoga studios around the world today were invented by Mr. Iyengar. In the book “Iyengar, His life and work” he describes how in 1948 he picked up a brick from the street to help him work with Baddhakonasana and later in 1975 when RIMYI opened he advanced his exploration of how props help adapt the asana to the student without losing the integrity, the inherent seed of wisdom and vitality embedded within each asana. Anyone who uses a block, chair, rope, wall, bench or countless other innovative props can thank Mr. Iyengar for this gift. The Iyengar method focuses on alignment, action and sequencing of asana for health and vitality and on self-study, svadyaya, to take the student deeper inward. Classes are taught in levels, beginning with the introduction of asana for strength, flexibility and stamina and graduating into more complex asana, study of the yoga sutras, chanting and the weaving of all eight limbs of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras into the practice. A student may stay an experienced beginner and enjoy the health benefits or delve more deeply into the study by attending higher level classes and connecting with the spiritual teaching and as Prashant would say, “Plowing, irrigating and cultivating the Self” Today Iyengar teachers are required to attend two to three year teacher training followed by two sets of national assessments (taking two more years) to become certified. Teachers must be familiar with asana, Sanskrit names, The Yoga Sutras, pranayama, human anatomy, pregnancy, common health matters, and of course have an established practice. 12/17/11
What is Iyengar Yoga?
The Iyengar approach to yoga, founded on the teachings of BKS Iyengar, a living Yogacharya who turned 90 in December 2008, and carried on today by his daughter Geeta and son Prashant Iyengar at their Pune Institute in India, is classical Indian yoga. BKS was the eleventh born to a working poor south Indian family and suffered from influenza, malaria and typhoid as a child. After his father died the physically feeble BKS went to stay with first an older brother and then with an older sister. It was during this time in his sister's home he began his and study of yoga with his uncle Krishnamacharya. One of the ironies of Mr. Iyengar’s youth is that he did not finish high school due to failing English and not having the money to retake it; today he is a prolific writer and international speaker with numerous published books including “Light on Yoga” (LOY), regarded as the landmark treatise on yoga. On my first visit to RIMYI (The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute dedicated to BKS deceased wife) in Pune, Prashant Iyengar walked us around the room to look at pictures of Mr. Iyengar taken from LOY, he asked us to study his face in each pose; I noticed a dynamic inward focus conveying equanimity and fortitude no matter the degree of difficulty of the asana - “Perform each asana as a mantra and each pose as a meditation, then the light will dawn from the centre of your being” BKS Iyengar. RIMYI is an institute where both international and local students attend daily classes and open practice six days a week. International students must be recommended by a senior teacher, have a minimum of eight years of experience and go on a wait list. I love wandering the heavily treed sidewalks of Pune to class. Classes are taught in English by Geeta and Prashant; Mr. Iyengar, who is no longer teaching classes, is always present doing his own practice and he cannot stop himself from injecting his pearls of wisdom into the classroom. His enthusiasm for yoga is mesmerizing, imploring us to see through to the depth of his understanding with intense eyes that express his seventy years of uninterrupted practice. At RIMYI general classes are for teachers, there are also beginner, children’s and medical classes. Props typically seen in yoga studios around the world today were invented by Mr. Iyengar. In the book “Iyengar, His life and work” he describes how in 1948 he picked up a brick from the street to help him work with Baddhakonasana and later in 1975 when RIMYI opened he advanced his exploration of how props help adapt the asana to the student without losing the integrity, the inherent seed of wisdom and vitality embedded within each asana. Anyone who uses a block, chair, rope, wall, bench or countless other innovative props can thank Mr. Iyengar for this gift. The Iyengar method focuses on alignment, action and sequencing of asana for health and vitality and on self-study, svadyaya, to take the student deeper inward. Classes are taught in levels, beginning with the introduction of asana for strength, flexibility and stamina and graduating into more complex asana, study of the yoga sutras, chanting and the weaving of all eight limbs of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras into the practice. A student may stay an experienced beginner and enjoy the health benefits or delve more deeply into the study by attending higher level classes and connecting with the spiritual teaching and as Prashant would say, “Plowing, irrigating and cultivating the Self” Today Iyengar teachers are required to attend two to three year teacher training followed by two sets of national assessments (taking two more years) to become certified. Teachers must be familiar with asana, Sanskrit names, The Yoga Sutras, pranayama, human anatomy, pregnancy, common health matters, and of course have an established practice. 
Iyengar Yoga Workshop with Marlene Mawhinney June 15th - 17th 2012
Marlene is a senior Iyengar Yoga instructor based in Toronto. She is the founder and director of Yoga Centre Toronto where she teaches classes and trains teachers in a comprehensive YTT program. She has also been pivotal in the founding of Iyengar yoga teacher training in Canada. Precise and detailed in her instructions, Marlene has also made it her life's work to develop therapeutic yoga as prescribed and handed down to her by BKS and Geeta Iyengar.
This will be an all levels workshop for experienced students and teachers. All methods welcome.
June 15th, 16th 17th 2012
Friday 6 to 9pm
Saturday & Sunday 9am to 1pm daily
Cost: $275 received before May 1st, $300 received after
To register contact Leigh A. Milne 902-273-9642 or leigh@thesadhanacentre.com
Weekend Yoga workshop with Fr. Joe Chester NS September 14th, 15th, 16th 2012
Father Joe is a renowned senior Iyengar yoga teacher from India. He is an Indian Jesuit Priest and worked very closely with Mother Teresa. Fr. Joe say’s that Mother Teresa is his left hand and yogacharya BKS Iyengar is his right. Fr. Joe travels each fall to raise money for his addiction recovery and AIDS centres across India. In his last incarnation Fr. Joe was a professional singer and retains a deeply soothing voice. Join us for a deeply restorative weekend of yoga. Register early as this will fill quickly. Cost:
Friday 6:30 - 9:00 pm - $75 advance registration
Saturday 10 to 1pm and 3:30 to 5:30pm
Sunday 10 to 1pm
Sat/Sun - $200 or $225 received after August 1st 2012
Open to experienced students of yoga.
Information about Chester accommodation available on request. 902-273-9642 email: leigh@thesadhanacentre.com Visit http://www.kripafoundation.org/ to learn more about Fr. Joe’s work.
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