B.K.S. Iyengar

B.K.S. Iyengar was born to the name Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar on December 14, 1918. He was born in India and is the founder of Iyengar Yoga.

Iyengar's family was quite poor, resulting in him having a trying childhood. At the time he was born, his village, Bellur was suffering from an influenza outbreak. Iyengar contracted this influenze which resulted in him being left sickly and weak. During his childhood he suffered from malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid fever and general malnutrition, a very difficult cocktail. To top it all off, his father died when he was only 9 years old. Very troubling times for a little boy.

When he was 15 Iyengar moved to Mysore, to live with his brother-in-law, the famous yogi, Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. When he was there Iyengar started to learn asana practice (physical postures), which slowly and steadily began to improve his health and well being. Very soon he started to overcome his childhood difficulties.

In 1937 Iyengar went to live in Pune to each yoga. He had the support and belief of his guru Krishnamacharya. Whilst he was there his practice grew and grew as he applied himself and spent many hours a day practicing, learning and experimenting with different techniques. Slowly his students grew and his methods and thinking about yoga also gained strength.

Whilst he was in Pune he was introduced to his wife-to-be through his brothers. They were married in an arranged marriage in 1943.

In 1952, Iyengar met and became friends with the well known violinist Yehudi Menuhin. The violinist arranged for Iyengar to travel and teach in London, Switzerland, Paris and various other parts of the globe. This was one of the first time many western people had experienced any yoga and the practice and his teachings slowly started to become well known.

In 1966 he published his first book "Light on Yoga". This became a worldwide best-seller and has been translated into 17 languages. This little book is sometimes known as "the bible of yoga". Actually, this book helped yoga to become familiar with people all around the world, a big achievement.

This is not his only book and has, in fact, authored 14 books. Titles range from Pranayama and different aspects of yoga philosophy.

In 1975, Iyengar founded the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune. This was dedicated to his wife, now departed. He finished his teaching career and retured in 1984 but finds it hard to stay retired. He continues to be a part of the Iyengar Yoga world. He still teaches special classes and continues to write books.

Iyengar has a daughter named Geeta and a son named Prashant. They both have gained international acclaim as yoga teachers.

For the last 60 years he has been teaching students yoga and practicing himself.