Iyengar Yoga is a form of Hatha Yoga that emphasizes precision, alignment, and mindful instruction in every posture (asana). Developed by B.K.S. Iyengar, this method is known for bringing the body into balance and stability through controlled movements, breath awareness, and intelligent sequencing.
The focus is not on achieving rigidity in poses, but on working with awareness and curiosity within your own capacity. Each pose is adapted to the individual, using props such as belts, blocks, and blankets to ensure safety, accessibility, and effectiveness—regardless of flexibility or experience. This approach allows students to develop a deeper understanding of their bodies while building strength, stability, and freedom of movement.
Iyengar Yoga teachers undergo a rigorous minimum six-year training process, ensuring they bring a high level of expertise and sensitivity to guide students safely and effectively. With a strong foundation in therapeutic applications, this method is also beneficial for those with specific physical conditions or injuries, allowing them to experience the profound benefits of yoga with confidence. Only teachers who have reached Level 3 and have achieved Iyengar Yoga Therapy Teacher Status can conduct therapy classes, thereby ensuring that those students with serious health conditions, are taught by experienced and trained teachers.
Beyond physical postures, Iyengar Yoga incorporates breath control (pranayama) and concentration, fostering a deep connection between body, mind, and breath. The practice cultivates mental clarity, inner stillness, and resilience, making it a transformative approach for people of all ages and abilities, from complete beginners to experienced practitioners.
All certified Iyengar Yoga teachers hold the Iyengar Yoga Certification Mark and are registered both with the global listing on www.bksiyengar.com and with the Iyengar Yoga association connected to their country of residence, in Rachel’s case, the IY(UK). For more information, visit www.iyengaryoga.org.uk.
What is Iyengar Yoga?
They are often translated as "postures," but asanas, to many of those who practice yoga, are more than just body positions. A deep reading of yoga traditions shows that asanas are often physical manifestations of profound spiritual concepts. Some see the asanas as practical tools for attaining specific mind-body connections that are mentioned in traditional yoga references. The great sage of yoga philosophy, Patanjali, says that proficiency in Asana should be attained before the more subtle practices such as Pranayama (breath work), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (Meditation) and Samadhi are approached so that there is a firm foundation for those more higher level practices.
What are Yoga Asanas?
BKS Iyengar was born in Bellur, India in 1918. He died in Pune in 2014 and spent 80 years studying, practicing and teaching yoga. He was a pupil of the great yogi, Sri Krishnamacharya who also was the teacher of Pattabi Jois and Desikachar. BKS Iyengar was an incredible human being who dedicated his life to the service of mankind. He wrote many books including Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama and Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. He would often say that his yoga was the yoga of Patanjali but his students penned it Iyengar Yoga. To train to become a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher takes a minimum of 6 years, and many more to attain senior status and to become a yoga therapist. You can find more information at www.bksiyengar.com or www.iyengaryoga.org.uk. See the extract from his book, Light on Life in which he explains what Yoga Asana is:
Why “Iyengar” Yoga?
“The purpose or goal of asana is to align and harmonize the physical body and all the layers, or sheaths, of the subtle emotional, mental, and spiritual body. This is integration. But how does one align these layers and experience integration? How does one find such profound transformation in what from the outside may look simply like stretching or twisting the body into unusual positions? It begins with awareness.
We think of intelligence and perception as taking place exclusively in our brains, but yoga teaches us that awareness and intelligence must permeate the body. Each part of the body literally has to be engulfed by the intelligence. We must create a marriage between the awareness of the body and that of the mind.
When the two parties do not cooperate, it leads to a sense of fragmentation and “dis-ease.” For example, we should only eat when our mouth spontaneously salivates, as it is the body’s intelligence telling us that we are truly hungry. If not, we are force-feeding ourselves and “dis-ease” will surely follow.
Many moderns use their bodies so little that they lose the sensitivity of this bodily awareness. They move from bed to car to desk to car to couch to bed, but there is no awareness in their movement, no intelligence. There is no action. Action is movement with intelligence. The world is filled with movement. What the world needs is more conscious movement, more action.
Yoga teaches us how to infuse our movement with intelligence, transforming it into action. In fact, action that is introduced in an asana should excite the intelligence. When we initiate an action in asana and somewhere else in the body moves without our permission, the intelligence questions this and asks, “Is that right or wrong? If wrong, what can I do to change it?”
BKS Iyengar Light on Life