About Iyengar Yoga
Iyengar Yoga is based on the eight-limbed (astanga) path of yoga outlined over 2500 years ago by the Indian sage Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. Iyengar Yoga emphasizes correct alignment and right actions which develop flexibility, strength, stamina, and balance. The classical asanas (poses) are initially taught from the structural body level, creating correct alignment of the bones and joints in the poses. Then, with accurate muscular actions and a release of unnecessary tension, awareness is brought to the tone, positioning and quality of the organs, or the "organic body." Poses are eventually held longer than in many other yoga styles.
Because of its detailed attention to the structural and organic actions of the body, Iyengar Yoga is known for its therapeutic value in helping with muscular skeletal injuries and illnesses. Mr. Iyengar also developed the extensive use of yoga props to help all students attain correct alignment and action.
As a student continues the practice of yoga, his/her awareness is taken deeper, creating an evenness and stability at the core of one's being, or soul. The student may then utilize yoga to connect more deeply with his or her own spiritual path, with a strengthened will power.

B.K.S. Iyengar (Guruji) is a living yoga master from Pune, India. In December of 2005 he celebrated his 87th birthday. Mr. Iyengar is widely recognized as one of the premier yogis responsible for introducing yoga to the West. He was featured in TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th Century because of his dedication to yoga, and his work promoting it on the global level. His Institute, The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, in Pune, continues to thrive with hugely popular programs and classes, conducted by his children Geeta and Prashant Iyengar.

Mr. Iyengar was born in India, in the village of Bellur in 1918. He contracted influenza when he was very young, which weakened his immune system. His family was very poor, and when he was only nine years old, his father died. As a result he went to live with his brother in Bangalore. Because his health was weakened from his childhood sickness, he was afflicted by a variety of serious illnesses throughout his childhood, including malaria, tuberculosis and typhoid. When he was fifteen years old, Mr. Iyengar moved to Mysore, where his eldest sister lived with her husband. Her husband was the well known yogi and Sanskrit scholar, Sri T. Krishnamacharya. Sri Krishnamacharya also ran a yoga school in the palace of the Raja of Mysore. His brother-in-law introduced him to yoga in an effort to improve his health. He practiced the postures (asanas), and gradually his health improved. He began teaching, and became a living legend of yoga and master of the therapeutic benefits of Iyengar style yoga.
In 1966 Mr. Iyengar's first book, Light on Yoga, was published. It gradually became an international best-seller, eventually translated into 17 languages. Often called “the bible of yoga,” it succeeded in making yoga truly universal. This was later followed by titles on pranayama and various aspects of yoga philosophy. In all Mr. Iyengar has authored 14 books, including Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and Light on Life.