What is Iyengar Yoga?
In another article I wrote on yoga’s classical definitions. Today I will write on some basic notions of the Iyengar Yoga as I understand what Iyengar Yoga is by studying the BKS Iyengar, Prashant Iyengar and Geeta Iyengar texts. The best one can do to understand what the “Iyengar” Yoga means is obviously to directly ask BKS Iyengar himself, study with the Iyengars, visit the Institute and to read his books.
As per yoga’s definitions, speaking about the Iyengar Yoga is complex as it is a very broad matter which covers all human being aspects and from different angles and perspectives such as philosophy, art, science, psychology and religion.
The term “Iyengar”
The term Iyengar is an affectionate term given by some of the B.K.S. Iyengar’s students to make it different from other Yoga schools. B.K.S. Iyengar himself does not use such term but regards it with some surprise or even fun.
Iyengar Yoga is Patañajali’s Yoga
What B.K.S. Iyengar understands, teaches and practices is simply Patañjali’s classical teaching. He was an Indian Master probably born around the 3rd century BC and the main exponent of the darśana yoga, one of the six orthodox Hindu systems and doctrines that basically deals on the skill and command over the human mind.
It’s that easy. Iyengar yoga is the yoga that matches de Pa̅tañjali view in his treatise of the Yoga Su̅tras, essential work for whoever wishes to go into this matter in depth.
The whole inspiration source that shapes, imbues, and conforms the principles of B.K.S. Iyengar’s practice and teaching is undoubtedly Pa̅tañjali’s yoga. Pa̅tañjali is his prime master and guide, and is, under his influence, what has done the Iyengar yoga possible, as we now know it.
We can now state that Iyengar Yoga proves and shows the way the eight petals or Pa̅tañjali Yoga members are integrated: yama (ethical premises related to the society), niyama (individual observations), a̅sana (postures), pra̅na̅ya̅ma (breath control), pratya̅ha̅ra (internalization of the senses), dha̅rana (concentration), dhya̅na (meditation) and sama̅dhi (absorption).
B.K.S. Iyengar has worked for about eight decades to improve this art with extensive effort and exclusive dedication to yoga. Through his practices, analysis, synthesis, creativity, skill, investigation and experimentation he has dynamized and reinterpreted Pa̅tañjal’s yoga under the fire of its intensity and has done it popular and approachable to all without losing the purity of its teaching.
¿Which are the distinctive features of the Iyengar Yoga?
Some basic features that Iyengar Yoga student can discover in a class are the following:
- Emphasis in a̅sana, pra̅na̅ya̅ma and pratya̅ha̅ra.
- A̅sana and pra̅na̅ya̅ma are intrinsically yogic, whereas in other schools they are considered as mere exercises or just do not have the rank as per themselves to transform our consciousness
- A̅sana, pra̅na̅ya̅ma and pratya̅ha̅ra works, next to the observation of the yama and niyama ethical principles, leads to dha̅rana (concentration), dhya̅na (meditation) and sama̅dhi (absorption).
¿Why are a̅sana, pra̅na̅ya̅ma and pratya̅ha̅ra intrinsically yogic in Iyengar yoga?
Prashant Iyengar, in his book “Yoga and the New Millennium” points out that there are four primary features in the a̅sanas and pra̅na̅ya̅mas as archetypes to transform consciousness:
- A meticulous technique
- Sequencing
- Times of permanence
- Integration of these three aspects
The meticulousness of the technique exists to allow and explore the access from the peripheral body to the inner mind, from the skeleton-muscle body up to the most subtle aspects of consciousness. Without a meticulous technique there could not be any penetration. Meticulousness requires technique. And not being meticulous you cannot touch the subtleties and without subtleties you cannot penetrate and awake the purpose of the a̅sanas or pra̅na̅ya̅mas. Without a meticulous technique no psychological and mental aspects of the a̅sanas can arise and no benefits in the transformation of consciousness will occur.
Sequencing is of great importance. It helps reaching more depth and inner penetration. It helps exploring and evolves a psycho-mental state. The sequence helps in gaining benefits that are gathered in each a̅sana. This is the reason why, by the end of the practice, our mental state is the result of the whole sequence and not the result of a single a̅sana. And it is not a matter of knowing how to place an a̅sana after the other, but rather how to do one a̅sana depending on where this a̅sana comes in the sequence.
The time of permanence enables to carry out and achieve a process. This gestation time in the position boosts the effect of the a̅sanas to build-up, develop y emerge. We cannot pretend that a change in our state of mind occurs in two, five or ten seconds. Nor let ourselves go by the stopwatch or the quantity: we must consider the metabolic time of the a̅sana, the effective time you have been observing and carrying out the a̅sana technique with meticulousness, attention and perception and with the understanding of the underlying premises of the method and the philosophy
These three aspects are integrated and will not work if they are isolated. It is this integration what makes the a̅sana and pra̅na̅ya̅ma to be so intrinsically yogic, as all we are speaking about here is related to citta vrtti niroda, the restrain t of the mind, the culturing of the mind, the sublimation of the mind.
For Prashant Iyengar the main feature of our system is its capacity to objectify our mind, senses, body, emotions and intelligence, and that this self-research process results in the culture and sublimation of the person as a whole.
