BKS Iyengar and his yoga: Biography of his Guruji written by Kofi Busia, Yoga Teacher (Page 13)

(13) Light in Europe
	BKS Iyengar had now had the opportunity to visit Europe. He had met many dignitaries, formed extremely close relationships with a few of them, and been able to give them the benefit of his many deep and intensive years of practice and reflection. But if that had been his sole achievement, the story of Iyengar yoga would have ended right there and then. People like Menuhin and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium would have died with fond memories of their private yoga teacher and the rest of the world would have been none the wiser. But ... that was not all there was to Iyengar; and no more so was that all that there was to the unique insights and teachings he had developed. India was granted its independence from the British rule on August 15th, 1947. All through the 1930s, '40s and 50s interest in all things Indian grew as the world at large learned more about India's ancient heritage, its philosophy, its arts and crafts, its music and its culture. When he first came to Europe in 1954, it was the first time that many Westerners had been exposed to yoga. As the 'counter-culture' revolution of the 1960s hit its stride, such things as yoga and meditation became a part of world culture. The name of BKS Iyengar may not, at any one given moment, have been as widely recognizable as that of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Sri Chinmoy, or Ravi Shankar, but he has lasted as long as any and is now at the very least as well known as they -- and he is considerably better known than many others who had their 10 minutes of fame and then disappeared into obscurity. It is indeed arguable that over his lifetime BKS Iyengar has done more than any other person to spread the word about the practice and benefits of yoga. This begs the two questions 'Why?', and 'How?'. Iyengar has been able to do this because of his pedagogical approach -- i.e. his theory and practice of teaching. Iyengar's own adventure with teaching yoga began because he wished to resolve a specific problem: how to teach what he had himself learned in such a way that it was clear and easy to understand to those who came to study with him. Days and weeks and months and years of deep and intense study and reflection had gradually enabled him to draw forth the essential principles. Yet although the essential principles he elucidated were easy to grasp, the depth and profundity of the human mind and spirit -- the real topics in yoga -- remained ever evident. Even as Iyengar students set to on absorbing those same fundamentals, they could appreciate, right from the outset, that a lifetime of opportunities for the study of the body, the mind, the spirit, and the diverse interactivity yet unity of these, had also been made available to them. Thus Iyengar's students were able to make immediate and genuine but non-trivial beginnings to a study they could see would reshape their lives. And the exact same techique he had used to help Queen Elisabeth stand on her head at 85, or remedy the musculature of Menuhin's violin playing would work for anyone of similar build, disposition and circumstances. The techniques were not reserved for the famous or for royalty alone. As the profile of such activities as yoga and meditation grew, so also did the name of Iyengar. The reason was simple. Iyengar was offering to ordinary people exactly the same commodity he was offering to the entitled and the rich and famous: an opportunity to grow in spirit and to gain satisfaction in life by applying the deceptively simple techniques he had gleaned through years of dedicated study. All over Europe the word spread about the magic that BKS Iyengar could weave by no more than getting people to move their fingers and toes. And from all corners of the continent they flocked to him. When BKS Iyengar accepted Menuhin's invitation in 1954, it set the pattern of his life and his teaching for the next two decades. He would leave India to teach Menuhin, Menuhin's family and their close friends. Initially, those friends would join in on the Menuhin's sessions. But eventually, outside sessions in other premises had to be arranged to satisfy the ever-increasing numbers who wanted to join in. After a few years there were large numbers of people dotted around the various countries of Europe who eagerly awaited his return the following year so that they could continue learning from him, and so that they could keep being transported to the places and the states of mind and spirit that he seemed able to guide them to by doing no more than indicating to them precisely where and how they should arrange the various parts not just of their bodies, but of their whole beings. They came because the master teacher had perfected the art, the theory, the practice and the science of instructing them in the five duties of an Iyengar, the gross and the subtle, and the external and the internal, alike.
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	© 2005 Kofi Busia
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