44-409: Iyengar Yoga , named after and developed by B. K. S. Iyengar , and described in his bestselling 1966 book Light on Yoga , is a form of yoga as exercise that has an emphasis on detail, precision and alignment in the performance of yoga postures ( asanas ). The style often makes use of props , such as belts, blocks, and blankets, as aids in performing the asanas. The props enable beginning students,
88-478: A connection to the ancient tradition of yoga as far back as Patanjali 's Yoga Sutras , for instance with the epigraphic prayer to Patanjali at the front of the book. Michelle Goldberg, in The New Yorker , states that the book "remains unparallelled as a guide to asana practice", and quotes Yoga Journal as saying "when 'teachers refer to the correct way to do a posture, they're usually alluding to
132-509: A foreword by his pupil, the violinist Yehudi Menuhin . Revised editions were brought out in 1968 and 1976. A paperback edition was published by The Aquarian Press in 1991 under the Thorsons imprint. The book became an international best-seller; it has been translated into at least 23 languages including Chinese, Czech, Hebrew, Japanese, Hungarian, Portuguese, Russian, and Thai and has sold over three million copies. The book has three parts:
176-477: A method by Iyengar's brother-in-law and first teacher, Krishnamacharya . Derek Beres, writing in Big Think , called the book "wildly popular" and "essentially the bible for yoga practitioners." He describes some of the science that Iyengar claims for yoga as suspect: "Iyengar had a habit of calling things proven even though no actual scientific research had been conducted." Beres tried Iyengar yoga alongside
220-407: A page, generally and in those cases illustrating a single asana. The degree of attention to detail in the illustrations may be understood from the coverage of one asana, Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand), which is illustrated with 15 photographs of the main pose, and 37 more of the "Sarvangasana cycle". Light on Yoga has become known as the "bible" of yoga; Publishers Weekly wrote that it "set
264-415: A preparatory pose and then in the triangle pose itself from front and rear. The scholar-practitioner Norman Sjoman notes that Light on Yoga served to popularise the practice of asanas more than any previous book for three reasons, namely the large number of asanas illustrated, the "clear no-nonsense descriptions, and the obvious refinement of the illustrations." The approximately 600 illustrations of
308-533: A technical introduction to yoga , in which hatha yoga is explained to be one of the eight limbs of yoga ; a detailed illustrated description of the asanas (some 200 postures, illustrated by some 600 monochrome photographs of Iyengar), followed by a brief account of the bandhas and kriyas ; and an account of pranayama , yoga breathing. An appendix defines a set of asana courses, i.e. which postures to do each week, building up in difficulty, in courses structured to last up to 300 weeks. A second appendix defines
352-474: A thin woman, nearly always white; the image of yoga that is conveyed is, she argues, that yoga is intended for affluent white women. Murphy notes that the apparent stereotype is grounded in reality: in a 2012 study by Yoga Journal itself, over 80% of American practitioners of yoga were white. The scholars Agi Wittich and Patrick McCartney wrote in 2020 that the image of contemporary yoga is the idealized, fit, young, slim, white, female yoga body, commercialized on
396-588: A wider variety of yoga models. The magazine was acquired by Outside in 2020. Yoga Journal was started in May 1975 by the California Yoga Teachers Association (CYTA), with Rama Jyoti Vernon as President, William Staniger as the founding editor, and Judith Lasater on the board and serving as copy editor. Their goal was to combine "the essence of classical yoga with the latest understandings of modern science." The journal grew from
440-409: A yoga blanket to prevent overstretching of the neck area". In Owerko's words, "Iyengar yoga is very cautious and mindful." Dunn stated that "People have incorrectly pigeonholed Iyengar Yoga into 'alignment, technique, props' rather than 'learning, experiencing, integrating'—which I think are the real words". Until 2019, Iyengar teachers had to complete at least two years of yoga teacher training for
484-633: Is a 1966 book on the Iyengar Yoga style of modern yoga as exercise by B. K. S. Iyengar , first published in English. It describes more than 200 yoga postures or asanas , and is illustrated with some 600 monochrome photographs of Iyengar demonstrating these. The book has been described as the 'bible of modern yoga', and its presentation of the asanas has been called "unprecedented" and "encyclopedic". It has been translated into at least 23 languages and has sold over three million copies. Yoga
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#1732791141545528-676: Is a group of physical , mental , and spiritual practices from ancient India , forming one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophical traditions . In the Western world, however, yoga is often taken to mean a modern form of medieval Hatha yoga , practised mainly for exercise , consisting largely of the postures called asanas . B. K. S. Iyengar (1918-2014) was born in a poor family of Brahmins in Karnataka , India. In childhood he suffered from diseases including typhoid , malaria and tuberculosis , and became extremely stiff. At
572-497: Is accompanied by a program of live events, led by well-known yoga teachers and gurus such as Cyndi Lee , Judith Hanson Lasater, Kino MacGregor and Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa . The events have included an annual yoga conference, held in venues around the United States, which combined practical sessions and talks. The social historian Sarah Schrank records that co-founder Judith Lasater "made waves" with her public criticism of
616-445: Is stated to be at grade 3 out of a possible 60 in terms of difficulty. The technique for going into the triangle pose, performing it, and returning from it, is described in eight steps. The technique is written as a set of instructions, such as "Inhale deeply and with a jump spread apart the legs sideways 3 to 3½ feet". Its claimed effects on the muscles and body are described in a concluding paragraph. The three photographs show Iyengar in
660-958: The Inner London Education Authority starting in 1968. From the start, Iyengar personally assessed the quality of the teaching every year. The first Iyengar Yoga Institute in America was founded in San Francisco in 1976 by Mary Dunn , Judith Lasater , and others; Iyengar visited the area that year. Further Iyengar Yoga Institutes have been opened in 1984 in Los Angeles, and in 1987 in New York. National Iyengar Yoga Associations have been created in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Chile, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan,
704-702: The Yoga Journal website "the Web's most expansive and impressive Yoga site." Yoga Journal runs features on the themes of yoga, food and nutrition, fitness, wellness, and fashion and beauty. Its website offers definitions and advice on yoga styles and equipment, with directions for how to practise over a hundred asanas or yoga poses. Readers can select asanas by their name , their type, such as forward bends or hip-opening poses; by anatomical area, such as knees or lower back; or by claimed benefit , such as for anxiety or digestion. The journalist Stefanie Syman calls
748-511: The asanas supposed to be "curative" for a range of diseases and conditions from "Acidity" to "Varicose Veins". The book has a glossary of all the Sanskrit terms employed. Each asana is named in Sanskrit with its etymology , graded, and described separately with two or more pages of text and monochrome photographs of Iyengar. For example, Utthita Trikonasana , the extended triangle pose,
792-430: The "more aerobic Vinyasa" style, and "always appreciated [ Iyengar yoga 's] anatomical focus and the emphasis on breath before anything else." The yoga teacher Bernie Gourley notes the book's strengths, the asanas "with his perfect alignment", but also that the book does not "systematically address contraindications" to each asana, nor does it provide evidence for the claimed benefits . The Light on Yoga project by
836-783: The 1975 founding of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, named in memory of his wife. A further major step was the founding of the first of many institutes abroad, the Iyengar Yoga Institute (IYI) in Maida Vale , London, in 1983. The old IYI building was replaced in 1994, and the new one was officially opened by Iyengar in person in 1997. Iyengar Yoga had however been taught in London before that, in evening classes run by
880-448: The 200 asanas are all monochrome photographs (though many paperback editions have a later colour photograph on the cover). Within the confines of a conventionally sized book, the photographs are never more than about 3 inches (7.6 cm) by 2 inches (5.1 cm). All are of Iyengar, dressed only in a pair of briefs and a necklace string. The images are sometimes shown three (e.g. for Koundinyasana ) or four (e.g. for Mulabandhasana ) to
924-487: The CYTA's newsletter, which had been called The Word . Initially, the journal was staffed by volunteers, and contributors were unpaid. The first issue's 300 copies were personally distributed by the founders. By the mid-1990s, as yoga's popularity in America grew, circulation for Yoga Journal reached 66,000. In 1998 the former banker John Abbott bought the magazine and hired Kathryn Arnold as editor-in-chief. The magazine
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#1732791141545968-539: The Netherlands, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and New Zealand. Iyengar Yoga is a form of yoga as exercise with a focus on the structural alignment of the physical body through the practice of asanas . It differs from other styles of yoga in three ways: precision, sequence and use of props . According to the Iyengar Yoga Institute, unlike more experiential approaches where students are encouraged to independently "find their way" to
1012-635: The Pune institute. In 2019, the Iyengar National Association of the United States decertified one of its most senior teachers, Manouso Manos, for repeated sexual assaults, and updated its ethics standards based on the Yamas and Niyamas in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as a result. Iyengar Yoga (like Iyengar's Light on Yoga ) has the following invocation to Patanjali : The yoga scholar Suzanne Newcombe notes that despite
1056-506: The age of 18 he decided to spend his life doing yoga, and by 1938 he was already performing the asanas fluently. The violinist Yehudi Menuhin became his pupil in 1952 and then invited him to teach in Europe, which he did from the 1960s. Iyengar made yoga popular, first in India and then around the world. Light on Yoga was first published in English by George Allen and Unwin in 1966, with
1100-443: The alignment Mr. Iyengar instructs and expertly models in his book.'" She notes that while Iyengar attributes the asanas to Patanjali 's Yoga Sutras , he was being "too modest. It was he, not any ancient sage, who figured out how to show people the world over the safest way to stand on their heads." For example, she explains, the triangle pose and the sun salutation "don't appear in any ancient yogic text" but were put together into
1144-450: The asanas by imitating the teacher, an Iyengar Yoga class is precise, with misalignments and errors actively explained and corrected. It states that the style "emphasises precision and alignment", and prioritises correct movement over quantity, i.e. moving a small amount in the right direction is preferred to moving more but in other directions. Postures are held for a relatively long period of time compared to other schools of yoga; this allows
1188-521: The benefits of a wider variety of asanas via fully "supported" methods requiring less muscular effort. Yoga Journal notes that in contrast to other styles, beginners in Iyengar Yoga are introduced early on to standing poses (such as Trikonasana and Virabhadrasana ), executed with careful attention to detail. For example, in Trikonasana, the feet are often jumped apart to a wide stance,
1232-414: The book's biomedical claims , such as of toning up various organs of the body, were attractive to its audience but were stated directly without any supporting evidence. Authorities such as the yoga scholar Elliott Goldberg have described it as the bible of modern yoga ; the book has sold over three million copies, and has been translated into at least 23 languages. Iyengar Yoga became an institution with
1276-474: The covers of glossy magazines such as Yoga Journal , and that non-lineage yoga evolved in reaction against that image. In January 2019, Yoga Journal exceptionally published two covers for the magazine, one showing a slim white woman, the other showing a larger black woman, both accompanied by a headline "The Leadership Issue", intended to examine the evolution of yoga and the part played by " lineage , social media, and power dynamics." The pair of covers drew
1320-514: The elderly, or those with physical limitations to perform the asanas correctly, minimising the risk of injury or strain. B. K. S. Iyengar learnt yoga from Tirumalai Krishnamacharya at the Mysore Palace, as did Pattabhi Jois ; Iyengar Yoga and Jois's Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga are thus branches of the same yoga lineage, sharing many of the same asanas. Iyengar began teaching yoga as exercise gradually, starting with individual pupils such as
1364-489: The forward foot is turned out, and the centre of the forward heel is exactly aligned with the centre of the arch of the other foot. The New York Times writes that Iyengar Yoga is distinctive in its diversity of sequencing and choice of asanas. This, suggests Carrie Owerko, an Iyengar Yoga teacher, helps reduce injury. Owerko states that the style emphasises the inversion poses , headstand ( Sirsasana ) and shoulderstand ( Sarvangasana ), more than other styles, "insist[ing] on
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1408-402: The global standard reference on modern yoga as a body practice." Jain argues that Light on Yoga had the particular attraction for a consumer audience that its clear stepwise instructions enabled them to practice at home, and to read about the "biomedical explanations of each posture and its fitness and health benefits." Jain notes also that the book built up the Iyengar Yoga brand by claiming
1452-553: The goal of combining the essence of traditional yoga with scientific understanding. It has produced live events and materials such as DVDs on yoga and related subjects. The magazine grew from the California Yoga Teachers Association's newsletter, which was called The Word . Yoga Journal has repeatedly won Western Publications Association's Maggie Awards for "Best Health and Fitness Magazine". It has however been criticized for representing yoga as being intended for affluent white women ; in 2019 it attempted to remedy this by choosing
1496-699: The introductory certificate, with additional assessments for intermediate and senior levels of certification, potentially entailing a decade or more of training. The system was replaced from 2019, with a requirement for at least six years of practice, including three years of mentoring, before assessment. Practitioners in the West can attend the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Institute (RIMYI) in Pune , Maharashtra, India once they have practised yoga for eight years. A "Protocol" governs attendance at
1540-656: The journal's history, in 1976, it published the guru Ram Dass 's confession. Yoga Journal 's 2012 survey, Yoga in America found the yoga market to be worth more than $ 10 billion per year. The data, collected by the Harris Interactive Service Bureau (HISB) , showed that 20.4 million people practiced yoga in America at that time. There are 12 international editions, published in Australia, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand and Turkey. The magazine
1584-597: The magazine in 2010; in Lasater's view, "photos of naked or half-naked women ... do not teach the viewer about yoga practice or themselves. They aren't even about the celebration of the beauty of the human body or the beauty of the poses [ asanas ], which I support. These ads are just about selling a product." The journalist Rosalie Murphy, writing in The Atlantic in 2014, stated that Yoga Journal and similar yoga magazines are illustrated in "nearly every spread" with
1628-419: The magazine's language that "of science and physiology, of diet and blood pressure". In her view, the journal uses "highly clinical-sounding language" even when covering "more mystical topics"; it stresses the use of yoga as therapy . Syman notes that the journal's coverage was "eclectic", especially noticeable in its calendar and classified advertisements. The magazine covers topics beyond exercise; early in
1672-633: The muscles to relax and lengthen, and encourages awareness in the pose. Props including belts, blocks and blankets are freely used to assist students in correct working in the asanas. The New Yorker writes that Iyengar Yoga is characterized by great attention to detail and precise focus on body alignment. Iyengar pioneered the use of "props" such as cushions, benches, blocks, straps and sand bags, which function as aids allowing beginners to experience asanas more easily and fully than might otherwise be possible without several years of practice. Props also allow elderly, injured, tired or ill students to experience
1716-553: The precision, refinement and beauty of his art, is introduced to that vision of perfection and innocence which is man as first created — unarmed, unashamed, son of God, lord of creation — in the Garden of Eden ". The scholar of religion Andrea Jain observes that the book "prescribed a thoroughly individualistic system of postural yoga", one that was "rigorous and disciplined", requiring "belts, bricks , and ropes". She quotes Elizabeth De Michelis as writing that it "instantly became
1760-426: The references to Patanjali, Iyengar did not ask students to adopt any set of beliefs. She describes Iyengar as trying to "teach an embodied experience of concentration and unity of body, breath, mind and soul", focussing on "asana while teaching a method accessing all the different aspects of yoga within this single limb." Light on Yoga Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika ( Sanskrit : योग दीपिका, "Yoga Dīpikā")
1804-521: The standard" for books about yoga, with instructions and illustrations of the poses. The yoga scholar Mark Singleton , writing in Yoga Journal , called the presentation of the asanas "unprecedented" and "encyclopedic", describing Light on Yoga as "the most influential do-it-yourself yoga book of all time". Yehudi Menuhin , in his foreword to the book, wrote that "Whoever has had the privilege of receiving Mr Iyengar's attention, or of witnessing
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1848-447: The violinist Yehudi Menuhin , whom he met in 1952; Menuhin's fame helped to propel Iyengar Yoga as a brand in the Western world. A landmark was the publication of Iyengar's bestselling book Light on Yoga in 1966, describing over 200 asanas in "unprecedented" detail. The yoga scholar Andrea Jain called the book "arguably the most significant event in the process of elaborating the [Iyengar Yoga] brand". Jain and others have noted that
1892-615: The yoga teacher Jack Cuneo and the photographer Rick Cummings has attempted to photograph all the yoga poses in the book, to be followed by restating all the instructions in Cuneo's own words. These references are supplied to indicate the parts of the Light on Yoga text being discussed. Yoga Journal Yoga Journal is a website and digital journal, formerly a print magazine, on yoga as exercise founded in California in 1975 with
1936-453: Was relaunched with a new design in 2000. Since their arrival, the paid circulation grew from 90,000 to 350,000 by 2010; the readership reached over 1,300,000. Yoga Journal has won major media awards including eight Western Publications Association's Maggie Awards for "Best Health and Fitness Magazine," and the Award's top honor for "Best Overall Consumer Publication." Forbes has called
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