B. K. S. Iyengar (1918–2014) was an Indian yoga teacher and scholar. He is widely recognised as the founder of the style of modern yoga known as Iyengar Yoga, an approach that emphasises precision in posture, alignment of the body, sequencing of asanas, and the use of props such as belts, blocks and bolsters to make practice accessible to a wide range of practitioners.
| Full name | Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar |
|---|---|
| Born | 1918 |
| Died | 2014 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Known for | Iyengar Yoga; teaching and writing on yoga |
| Occupation | Yoga teacher, author, scholar |
Iyengar was born in 1918 in the Karnataka region of southern India. He came from a modest background and had a difficult childhood marked by ill health, which he later credited as part of the reason he was drawn to the disciplined practice of yoga. He began his training under his brother-in-law, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, a teacher whose students included several figures who would go on to shape modern transnational yoga.
Iyengar settled in Pune, Maharashtra, where he established his teaching practice and developed a distinctive method that came to be associated with his name. The method he taught is characterised by:
Through decades of teaching in India and abroad, he played a significant role in the international spread of yoga, particularly in Europe and North America from the second half of the twentieth century onwards.
Iyengar authored several books on yoga, the best known of which is Light on Yoga, a manual that documents and illustrates a large number of asanas along with instructions on pranayama and yogic philosophy. The book has been widely translated and is considered a standard reference work in modern yoga literature. He also wrote works on pranayama and on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Iyengar is generally counted among the most influential yoga teachers of the twentieth century. His method has been institutionalised through certified teachers and centres operating in numerous countries, and his emphasis on alignment and props has had a lasting effect on how yoga is taught globally, including in studios that do not formally identify with his lineage.