• Teaser

Lighting a Candle for BKS Iyengar

BKS Iyengar left his body on August 20 of this year 2014 at the age of 95. When a spiritual person dies we tend not to use the word death because our yoga practice teaches us that we are more then our "food body" it may be referred to as "maha samadhi" which means absorption with the universal energy of all life. 

Iyengar was known as one of the most influential yoga teachers of his time, he created his own style of yoga called Iyengar which many modern practices are based from including, "Anusara" and "Hatha" yoga. He is also well known for his book called 'Light on Yoga' which some yogis see as a yoga bible.  His passing marks a corner stone of an older group of yoga instructors that have all recently left there bodies including Pattabi Jois and Larry Schultz. This is truly a time that yoga instructors that are from this lineage have an opportunity to pass the torch to our students and one day our students students. 

At Yoga ah we have been updating all our teacher training materials to reflect the history of our practice and for those of you just learning about yoga and yoga lineage may have a better understanding. It is a perfect time to begin your journey. May the next generation step forth and take your place on the yoga lineage tree and those of you who were blessed to study with great teachers keep on, keep on. As Larry once changed a JF Kennedy quote to say, "it is not what yoga can do for you, but what you can do for yoga". Bless you and tonight we will light a candle for all our teachers in maha samdhi.

Often people walk into It’s Yoga with worry, stress and tiredness written all over their faces but when they leave, they show the effects of Ashtanga Yoga: they feel better and look better, lighter, freer, more relaxed and energized. This is why to me, teaching Ashtanga Yoga is a kind of self-realization; every time I lead class I, as a teacher, grow and express the insights of my own yoga. I see people take in the practice from various angles and develop, change and transcend their limitations, realize their possibilities.

In Memoriam: Larry Schultz, YogaDragonden (1950-2011)