BELLUR KRISHNAMACHAR SUNDARARAJA (BKS) IYENGAR was named by Time Magazine as one of the most influential people in the world, and one of the few living yoga masters who continue to practice what they preach.
He was born on December 14, 1918, in the midst of a world flu epidemic, and grew up a sickly child plagued by ills such as malaria, typhoid, and tuberculosis. When his sister married the renowned yoga teacher Krishnamacharya in 1934, Iyengar was put on a strict yoga regime to improve his health.
By 1937, he was sent to Pune to teach, and this is where he would eventually put up the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Institute in 1975. The institute was named after his late wife Ramaa, who passed away in 1973. Today, Iyengar yoga has followers and practitioners all over the world and is widely considered the most practiced style of yoga in the West.
Two of Guruji's six children, Geeta and Prashant, are now the directors of the Institute.
BKS Iyengar spent most of his life decoding this lost tradition and art of yoga by Patanjali, and has originated a style that emphasizes precision and alignment. Iyengar yoga is now one of the most widely-practiced yoga styles in the world.
IN MEMORIAM (December 14, 1918 - August 20, 2014)
Our dear Guruji, B.K.S. Iyengar, passed away last August 20, 2014, at the age of 95.
We are all blessed to have been in the same lifetime as our Guruji, BKS Iyengar, our karmic lives entwined. He once said "let my end be your beginning." So let not this moment bring us down, but instead inspire our practice on and off the mat.
His parting message to us was to "Live happily and die majestically." which he did. Let us continue our journey together. Taking into account all the blessings we have been given, give thanks for Guruji's dedication to the practice, to the art he refined and shared generously with us all.
May we carry this with us always, through our journey in life.
Let Guruji live on in each of us in our practice, in our work, and in our daily lives.
The Iyengar Yoga Center Manila and all the yoga students in the Philippines stand with the millions all over the world whose lives he touched with his generosity and brilliance. Please take a moment to remember him in prayer.
Godspeed, our dear Guruji. Namaste.