Who is BKS Iyengar?

Mr. Iyengar's life now traverses 90yrs of history, rich with triumphs and sufferings. He writes openly about his life in a number of books including his most recent book Light on Life. Guruji, as his students affectionately call him, was born in the small village of Bellur. He was born on Saturday Dec. 14th, 1918. His mother was ill with influenza during his birth and he writes that it was by the grace of God that he and his mother survived his birth. As a result he was a noticeably sickly and weak child.

His father died when he was nine years old from an acute appendicitis attack. Iyengar's older sister was married to the great yogi Sri T. Krishnamachar. Iyengar says that destiny came to meet him when he went to visit his sister after his father's death and his brother-in-law offered to teach him yoga to help him improve his health and strength. It is from these humble beginnings that Iyengar began his vast, profound study of yoga.

Iyengar's accomplishments have been many and he is considered by many to be the world's foremost expert on yoga. The BBC recently called him the Michelangelo of yoga. Iyengar has authored numerous books on yoga including Light on Yoga, a commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Light on Pranayama, and most recently Light on Life. He continues to be a devoted student of yoga and teacher to many. His students study with him out of respect, appreciation and true gratitude for his generosity in sharing his depth of knowledge on the subject of yoga. Iyengar is a skilled yogi and a profound communicator of what his life's work has unveiled to him. He writes in Light on Life of yoga:

"Its goal is nothing less than to attain the integrity of oneness- oneness with ourselves and as a consequence oneness with all that lies beyond ourselves. We become the harmonious microcosm in the universal macrocosm. Oneness, what I often call integration, is the foundation for wholeness, inner peace, and ultimate freedom.

Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life, where you do not feel like you are constantly trying to fit the broken pieces together. Yoga allows you to find an inner peace that is not ruffled and riled by the endless stresses and struggles of life. Yoga allows you to find a new kind of freedom that you may not have known even existed. To a yogi, freedom implies not being battered by the dualities of life, its ups and downs, its pleasures and its suffering. It implies equanimity and ultimately that there is an inner serene core of one's being that is never out of touch with the unchanging, eternal infinite."

Our greatest hope as an Iyengar Center is that we can share to the best of our ability his life's work with you.