What is Iyengar Yoga?

Iyengar yoga, named after and developed by B K S Iyengar, lays emphasis on detail, precision and alignment in the performance of yoga postures. The style often makes use of props, such as belts, blocks, and blankets, as aids in performing the asanas. The props enable beginning students, the elderly, or those with physical limitations to perform the asanas correctly, minimising the risk of injury or strain.

Iyengar Yoga is a form of yoga as exercise with a focus on the structural alignment of the physical body through the practice of asanas. It differs from other styles of yoga in three ways: precision, sequence and use of props.

• Precision is sought in body alignment in every asana.

• The sequences in which asanas are practiced is considered important in achieving the desired result.

• Iyengar Yoga led the use of props, designing suitable means to assist practitioners.

In this style of yoga, Postures are held for a relatively long period of time compared to other schools of yoga; this allows the muscles to relax and lengthen, and encourages awareness in the pose. Props including belts, blocks and blankets are freely used to assist students in correct working in the asanas.

Iyengar yoga is very cautious and mindful.

The New York times, writes that Iyengar Yoga is distinctive in its diversity of sequencing and choice of asanas. This helps reduce injury. The style emphasises the inversion poses, headstand (Sirsasana) and shoulderstand (Sarvangasana) more than other styles, "insisting on a yoga blanket to prevent overstretching of the neck area.

B K S Iyengar learnt yoga from Tirumalai Krisgnamacharya at the Mysore Palace, as did Pattabhi Jois. Iyengar Yoga and Jois's Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga are thus branches of the same yoga lineage, sharing many of the same asanas. Iyengar began teaching yoga as exercise gradually, starting with individual pupils such as the violinist Yehudi Menuhin , whom he met in 1952; Menuhin's fame helped to propel Iyengar Yoga as a brand in the world.

Iyengar Yoga became an institution with the 1975 founding of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, named in memory of his wife. A further major step was the founding of the first of many institutes outside India, the Iyengar Yoga Institute (IYI) in Maida Vala, London, in 1983.