This weekend marks the 95th birthday of our beloved yoga teacher and guru, BKS Iyengar.
I never thought I’d call anyone “guru.” But this man and his teachings have helped me in such a profound way, that he certainly qualifies for the title.
“Gu” means darkness. “Ru” means light. A guru is someone who helps bring you from darkness to light.
I’m certainly not the only one who uses the term guru when speaking of Mr. Iyengar. Thousands of yoga students all over the world call this humble man from southern India “Guruji” — because of their depth of feeling for the man who has deeply affected their lives.
As a child, little BKS Iyengar’s frail body threatened to shut down on many occasions. He was born during a pandemic of influenza – an outbreak that affected millions in India and beyond. The youngest of 11 children, he remained sickly through-out his childhood.
Until he found yoga.
A bad bout of tuberculosis at age 16 was the catalyst that moved him toward yoga — the path that he would follow for the remaining several decades of his life. While living with his sister and brother-in-law, the esteemed yoga teacher Krishnamacarya, he was required to practice and study yoga.
Yoga changed him. It was his own hard work and persisting with the asana practice that strengthened his body. His teacher demanded discipline and devotion — with daily practice starting very early in the morning. Pranayama strengthened his lungs and nervous system. He experienced good health for the first time in his life.
Then, he set out to share his experience of yoga with the world.
And he has.
In 2004, Time magazine named him among the 100 most influential people in the world.
From his institute in Pune in southern India, he teaches hundreds of thousands of yoga practitioners through-out the world. Many students travel to India for month-long intensives, and return year after year. Most learn from his books — treatises on using yoga to transform mind, body and spirit.
Nearly every yoga teacher who stands in front of a class to teach has learned the most vital elements of yoga through BKS Iyengar’s work.
His humble lifestyle and his supreme dedication to his life’s work stand as examples for all of us. We are inspired by his powerful example that change through yoga is not only possible, but also probable — if we practice.
In January of this year, photographer and writer Andy Richter visited with Mr. Iyengar in India. He photographed and interviewed him as part of an ongoing photographic exploration of yoga.
Mr. Richter is kind enough to allow me to share his work with you here (his pictures above). He describes his experience sitting across from Iyengar — looking into his “expressive eyes,” hearing Iyengar’s “assuring laugh.”
Iyengar is known for his direct manner — fiercely dedicated to the discipline of yoga and demanding the same from his students in class. He is also known to have a keen sense of humor and playfulness.
In my early days as a yoga student, I was struck by the way he corrected his students. At times his manner seemed harsh to me. In time, I was able to see his sharp wit. And then, it became clear to me that every interaction with a student is motivated by a fierce and abiding kind of love.
He genuinely wants each person to “get it” — to experience the gifts that yoga offers each one of us.
At times that type of love is demonstrated through laughter and warmth. And at other times, he gets a student’s attention with a sharp word or what we might call “tough love.”
Now I realize that a good teacher or mentor must be willing to call his/her student into accountability. The teacher must be devoted to the students’ development and potential. And a good teacher will see that potential in a student — no matter how deeply buried under defenses and bad habits.
Richter’s blog post on his meeting with Iyengar is so worth checking into — if for the pictures alone. A gifted photographer who clearly understands his subject.
A quote from Richter’s blog on his meeting with Iyengar:
“You know what yoga has given me, I can tell you. At the age of 95, I’m still a fresh mind. It’s not a nagging mind. It’s not a nagging body. That’s enough for me. And, whether emancipation comes from that is immaterial…So I want everybody to have that fresh mind, that fresh way of thinking, freshness in them, moment to moment. And that is life. And to experience that fresh life, the methodology is only yoga.” — BKS Iyengar
Andy Richter’s article in the magazine Namarupa appears here.
Photos above appear courtesy of photographer Andy Richter. Copyright 2013.