Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual practice that originated in ancient India. First codified by the sage Patañjali in his Yoga Sutras around 400 CE, the practice was handed down from teacher to student long before that text arose. This was traditionally one-to-one transmission, but since yoga’s popularity in the West during the 20th century, group classes have become the norm.
Hatha Yoga
Hatha yoga is a branch of yoga primarily concerned with mastery of the body, and it is arguably the tradition most familiar to Western culture. The term is derived from the Sanskrit ha, meaning "sun," and tha, meaning "moon," leading to the common interpretation that Hatha practices are designed to unite and balance these two energies. However, the literal translation of Hatha is "force," alluding to the physical techniques used within this tradition.
Patañjali describes Hatha yoga as an eightfold path, consisting of eight mind-body disciplines to be mastered. All other physical practices of yoga such as Vinyasa, Ashtanga and Iyengar stemmed from the Hatha yoga tradition.
Iyengar Yoga
Iyengar yoga is a type of Hatha yoga and was developed by B.K.S. Iyengar. Based on the eight limbs of yoga as described in Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras, it emphasizes the precise physical alignment of the body within particular postures.
Iyengar yoga is a disciplined system with carefully planned and timed sequences. Often, props, such as blocks and belts, are used to ensure students can practice the postures with correct alignment and safely develop their yoga practice over time.
B.K.S. Iyengar originally referred to his yoga as Patañjali yoga but it was his students who termed it Iyengar yoga. Iyengar began practicing yoga in an attempt to improve his own health. He studied with the famous guru Krishnamacharya, in Mysore, India, before teaching and developing his own method in 1936. Today Iyengar Yoga is taught all over the world and classes are characterized by their precision, with teachers giving lots of verbal instruction and actively correcting errors or misalignments.
Iyengar Yoga videos
Barbican Demonstration 1984
Krishnamacharya & B.K.S. Iyengar in 1938
Yoga Demonstration 1976
BKS Iyengar in 1977
BKS Iyengar, Pranayama
