What is Iyengar Yoga?
What is Yoga?
Yoga is a union between body, mind and soul. Yoga is a science, an art, and a philosophy. Yoga helps to culture the body, senses, mind, emotions, intelligence and behavior.
“Yoga is the golden key which unlocks the door to peace, tranquility, and joy.” -B.K.S. Iyengar
Iyengar Yoga
Iyengar yoga is developed by B.K.S. Iyengar(1918-2014). He lived and taught in Pune (India) and dedicated his whole life to the subject of Yoga. B.K.S. Iyengar is the most prominent figure in the world of yoga, for the level of his practice and his teaching.
Iyengar Yoga is powerful and dynamic form of yoga.
Safety, alignment, and development of exquisite self-awareness are the key-elements of Iyengar’s method. And have tremendous benefits for the mind and overall health.
The postures (asanas) and pranayama (control of breath) are the means that help to explore the more refind stages of yoga, including meditation (dhyana) and kaivalya (absolute freedom).
BKS Iyengar revolutionized the art of yoga by introducing and incorporating the use of supports called “props” to facilitate learning and accommodate safe and appropriate progress.
Philosophy of Yoga
B.K.S. Iyengar put light on the Patanjali’s Yoga sutras - the bible of yoga and made it more accessible to the yoga practitioners around the world.
Patanjali was a great sage who lived somewhere between 500 B.C. and 200 B.C. He encoded the science of yoga in the form of 4 chapters consisting 196 sutra-s or aphorisms which are known as Yoga Sutras.
Yoga contains eight limbs or aspects. It is called Ashtanga Yoga.
Asht means eight, anga means limbs or aspects, which are:
Yama: social discipline
Niyama: individual discipline
Asana: control of the body in various postures
Pranayama: control of breath
Pratyahara: control of the senses and mind
Dharana: concentration
Dhyana: meditation
Samadhi: liberation, absorption
The first four stages of Patanjali's ashtanga yoga concentrate on refining our personalities, gaining mastery over the body, and developing an energetic awareness of ourselves, all of which prepares us for the second half of this journey, which deals with the senses, the mind, and attaining a higher state of consciousness.