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What is Iyengar Yoga known for? (part 1: roots in tradition)

ByAaron Fleming

Iyengar Yoga is known for:

  1. being a method with roots in tradition
  2. creating the best of the best teachers
  3. accommodating a huge variety of students

As described on the IYNAUS (Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States) website:

Iyengar Yoga is firmly grounded in the ancient Indian art of yoga. More than 2,500 years ago, in The Yoga Sutras, Patanjali wrote about Ashtanga Yoga, the eight-limbed path towards spiritual fulfillment. Iyengar Yoga addresses this journey from a perspective which is practical, experiential and intensely personal.

Yoga is, at its most simple, union — the union of mind, body and spirit. In Iyengar Yoga, this search for union begins with ongoing practice of the yoga asanas (postures) with a focus on exact alignment. In time students learn to penetrate beyond the outer physical layer to the inner kosas (layers) of mind, energy and spirit.

Read more about the tradition of Iyengar Yoga on the IYNAUS website.

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