Our Approach

In classes you will learn Iyengar Yoga which involves the practice of asana (posture) and pranayama (discipline of the breath). When experienced directly, this involves the coordination of the body with the breath, and the development of high levels of mental application.

Asana are grouped into standing poses, forward bends, backward extensions, twists, restoratives and so on.  We focus on an asana group each week across a half term (5 week) block. When students consistently attend weekly classes at the school, it helps to develop understanding over time and progression in the courses. Pranayama classes can be introduced after two terms of attendance in our fundamentals courses.

Sometimes classes will be more restorative and rejuvenating in nature, at other times they are more dynamic. All require- and develop- the capacity to remain present to our experience and can leave you feeling more balanced.

Iyengar Yoga is a comprehensive approach to practice. The school is structured so that students can learn the methodology from its foundations. It involves a lot of self-discipline and courage to continue on the path of yoga and a structured approach- working step by step- helps to support students to keep going in the face of obstacles.

Iyengar yoga teachers are trained over many years to support students with injuries and medical conditions. We offer safe classes for all levels of experience, and the Iyengar method supports the systems of the body in a comprehensive way.

Further information about our classes and our timetable can be found under Online Bookings, or under Classes and Practice.

If you are new to Iyengar yoga please enrol in an Introductory course

 

ABOUT IYENGAR YOGA

B.K.S Iyengar started teaching yoga in the 1930’s in India. Mr Iyengar stated that he practiced and taught Patanjali’s Yoga as set out in the Yoga Sutras. This collection of 196 aphorisms was said to have been written around the 4th century C.E. and is one of the most widely recognised yogic texts in the western world. Yoga in the sutras is practiced as a form of meditative self-study. BKS Iyengar distilled the content of the sutras into a teaching that is both simple and direct.

The tangible reality of the body provides access to the content explored in the sutras including the nature of mind, consciousness and being and how they can be understood. Although references in the yoga sutras to asana are few, Iyengar provides ample support for the efficacy of asana as a means of studying yoga through experience.

Find out about our teachers

BKS Iyengar

BKS Iyengar practiced yoga intensively for almost 80 years until his death in 2014 at the age of 95.

Renowned for teaching in a manner that was rigorous and dynamic, Iyengar’s transmission of knowledge through teaching and writing was prolific. It remained so well into his later years when his daughter Geeta and son Prashant assumed much of the teaching responsibility at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune, India. Since 2019, BKS Iyengar’s granddaughter Abhijata has stepped into a more prominent teaching position at the Institute alongside her uncle Prashant.

Iyengar maintained that his method of practice developed “Intellectual reflection and skilful actions without distorting even the minutest part of the anatomical structure of the body.” In this way, “the bones, joints, muscle fibres, the energy, the mind, and the intelligence [are in] harmony and the life force touches all the concerned layers of the body”.

To encounter this alignment in practice he demanded that his students cultivate a high level of skill in technique, the use of timings, sequencing, and a scientific rigour that promoted self-knowledge.

Geeta S. Iyengar

BKS Iyengar’s daughter Geeta was a pioneer in women’s practice of Yoga and restorative practice. In Yoga: a Gem for Women, Geeta provides explanations and insights that promote confidence and safety in practice during menstruation, pregnancy, and into menopause. As a teacher, Geeta was generous and uncompromising, asking us to search deep within in order to practice wholeheartedly.

Geetaji’s dedication to the subject was keenly experienced by all of us who were present at BKS Iyengar’s 100th anniversary convention in December 2018 shortly before she died at the age of 74. Her final days of teaching epitomised her lifelong, fervent devotion to this art.