Are you tired of your old exercise routine? Or are you looking to learn how to relax and stretch? If you answered ‘yes’ to either question, you might want to check out the Iyengar brand of yoga.
Developed by yoga legend B.K.S. Iyengar, this type of yoga focuses on precision and proper alignment. The asanas, or poses, range from the simple to the very difficult, making Iyengar yoga a great option for newbies and seasoned yogis alike. The practice is structured to help yogis of all levels progress safely from basic postures to the more advanced as they gain strength, flexibility, and a mental connection with their bodies.
The typical Iyengar practice heavily focuses on correct body alignment. Properly positioning your body is an important part of any yoga practice since it allows the body to develop strength in the correct way (and to also avoid unnecessary injury and pain!). Since everyone has a unique body and can progress at his/her own level, Iyengar yoga allows the use of props. Unlike other styles of yoga, Iyengar teachers encourage the use of blocks, chairs, blankets, and belts in order to help yogis progress further into a pose.
Since Iyengar has such a strong emphasis on alignment, students can find that their physical aches and pains are reduced while improving their posture at the same time. Instead of moving quickly from one pose to another, the asanas in Iyengar yoga are held for a longer length of time in order to let the effects of the poses penetrate deeper in the body and mind. The teachers believe that it takes time to move into a posture and gain stability.
The sequence of Iyengar further sets it apart from other types of yoga. Instead of having a set sequence of postures, the Iyengar teachers like to vary the progression of the postures. Because this is not a “flow” type of yoga, students rest in child’s pose or corpse pose in between asanas. Although holding the postures help build strength and flexibility, Iyengar is not an intense cardiovascular workout due to the absence of a flow sequence.
So, how do you know if Iyengar is right for you? You might enjoy this style of yoga if you are:
- an advanced yogi who wants to work on aligment
- meticulous, technical, and have an interest in anatomy
- a yoga beginner who is hesitant about their ability to do a flow practice
If you want to learn more about this style of yoga, you might want to read “Light on Yoga”, which was written by Iyengar in 1966 and has since become a classic yoga text. Even if you never take an Iyengar class, you can still encounter his influence in many types of yoga classes, so be sure to check it out!
