BKS Iyengar and his yoga: Biography of his Guruji written by Kofi Busia, Yoga Teacher (Page 9)

(9) The beginning of "Iyengar yoga"
	When BKS Iyengar arrived in Pune to begin his new life, he had no family around him, no friends, and no money. He was now 18 years old. The one factor supposedly in his favour was his grasp of English -- which was shaky to say the least! Due to the fact that his ill health had made him constantly miss classes, he had ended up failing his matriculation examination in English by three points. He was doubly disadvantaged in that he also could not speak Marathi, the local language. Never having finished even his High School education, he was acutely aware that he had no real skills. It was make or break time for the young man. Either he began making a living from this opportunity to teach yoga, or he return to the Yogashala penniless and without any real prospects for an independent life. He had but one thing going for him ... his immense dedication to his daily practice routine. Although India was the home of yoga, it was still a minority interest. Only those with a sufficiently large surplus of funds to devote to such an interest could possibly afford to attend a yoga class. Having come from an extremely impoverished background Iyengar therefore found himself mixing, through his work with the Gymkhana, with a wordly and accomplished group of people, all with a far higher educational level than his own. None of them, furthermore, had had to contend with the problems of malnutrition, illness, and weakness of health that he had had to contend with. Iyengar therefore found himself teaching yoga to people who were not only wealthier and better educated than he was, they also tended to be bigger, stronger, better fed and healthier. The Deccan was, after all, a very serious sports club that regularly produced national and international champions and had a membership to reflect this. It was humiliating to him that some of his early students, particularly those coming from the Daccan Gymkhana's famous gymnasium, seemed to have a native talent for doing the asanas, and so could do them better than he could even though he was supposed to be the teacher; and that they could also correct his faltering English while they were doing so. Iyengar had an additional problem. His own Guru, Krishnamacharya, had never really divulged any systematic techniques for achieving the postures. So Iyengar did not know how to transmit the techniques effectively. He realized for himself that there were only three ways out of this particular difficulty. His first option was to consult his Guru regularly. His second was to read many books, to memorize their contents, and then to divulge them to his students. His third was to instruct his students from a direct personal experience. As to the first option, since Krishnamacharya was now hundreds of miles away, this was not possible. In any case, their personal relations had never been of this cosy nature which is why Iyengar had come to Pune in the first place. As to the second, Iyengar did not know where to get such books ... and even if they could be obtained, such was his character that he was not prepared to pass on second-hand information. So only the third option remained. Iyengar therefore opted to practise with renewed vigour so that he could gain as much first-hand information as rapidly as possible so that he could then pass it on to those who came to study with him. With a zeal and an intensity unmatched virtually anywhere in any discipline, BKS Iyengar set about gaining the first-hand direct experiential information that he needed in order to fulfill his new responsibilities as a teacher of yoga. His objective now clear, Iyengar practised 10 hours a day and more so that he might become truly the master of the little that had been passed on to him by his Guru. Thanks to his unwavering dedication his understanding of yoga improved. He practised a variety of techniques on himself, using his own body as a guinea-pig. He suffered immense pains and difficulties, thereby determining that there were correct and incorrect ways to do the various asanas. He focused minutely on the various parts of his body in the many asanas he performed, and he learned from bitter experience that there were strategies that when pursued brought success and health; but that there were also strategies that would bring the exact opposite. And so the hallmarks of what would eventually become known as 'Iyengar yoga' began to be laid. It is now the world's most practised form. Due to his practice and his investigations, Iyengar developed a clear and systematic approach to his craft. It made yoga accessible to people of all ages, in all locations, in all conditions, and from all walks of life. No matter what might be their starting point, Iyengar gave a clear set of progressive, systematic and detailed instructions -- stressing their safety -- as to how they were to proceed. He observed in fine and clear detail the finest and most intricate movements of the body in every pose, and noted the subtlest of responses both externally and internally as he carefully adjusted and shifted this part of the body or that. By working tirelessly and endlessly upon himself he developed a knowledge unmatched by any anywhere. The incomparable information that Iyengar gained from his personal practice was passed on directly to his students. Another important feature that became another of the distinguishing hallmarks of 'the Iyengar method', was that like his Guru, Krishnamacharya, Iyengar was always willing to modify and adapt the asanas to meet the needs of his students. Again like Krishnamacharya, he became an innovator. But ... it was not long before he was surpassing even his teacher in his knowledge and his methods. The immensely detailed observations he made of every part of the human body assisted him in conveying to others what they should do even down to detailed instructions about how the skin should be feeling, how the blood should be flowing, or what kinds of sensations they should be having in their brains, in their kidneys and in other seemingly inaccessible parts of their bodies. And although Iyengar did suffer tremendously while undertaking these researches, his overall health improved steadily and gradually. This spurred him on and he had soon left all his childhood sicknesses and weaknesses behind him. Soon, none of his students could stand before him and claim to be healthier than he was. And it was with this direct experience as a foundation, and through the discoveries he made and the innovations he introduced while undertaking it, that Bellur Krishnamacharya Sundararaja Iyengar eventually became an unsurpassable and definitive world authority on how asanas should be performed, on their effectiveness, and on how that effectiveness came about. But it was not only Iyengar's own physical health that steadily improved. He noted, in his own self, a steady flowering of the qualities for which yoga is ultimately renowned: its ability to bring emotional, psychological, and above all spiritual joy and equilibrium. In keeping with the five duties that fall to an Iyengar, he was able to inform others that the Ultimate Reality did indeed dwell within. More than that, through his practices he was able to give clear and precise instructions to others so that they could do what he had done and notice the presence of the Divine Spirit of the Universe at any place within themselves that they might care to observe it. As a true Iyengar, his message was that by careful practice, and through due attention paid to the subtleties of execution, anyone with the desire, no matter where they might be forced to begin, could make such progress in yoga that they would not only regain their physical health and mental composure, they would find themselves being reconnected with a hitherto forgotten spiritual dimension to their existence. BKS Iyengar demonstrated to others, through his own life and practice, that he had in no way forgotten that the five duties of an Iyengar were to show the way to praise the Universal Spirit and to demonstrate how to find It. Iyengar showed, through his practice, that his famous saying: 'the body is my temple, and asanas are my prayers' was not a mere string of words. It was a demonstrable experiential truth that could be grasped by any. Anyone at all could transport themselves to a newer and a better life and reality by doing what he had done: to attend with observation, with clarity, with dedication and with due devotion to how and where each part of themselves should be placed. Millions have followed him on this path and have experienced what he taught, which is that health, joy, equanimity and a growth in Spirit will be theirs, and that their lives will be enriched.
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	© 2005 Kofi Busia
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