About Yoga

Yoga is an ancient discipline which promotes mental and physical health and well being. You will learn movements to discover strength, suppleness and poise and to become at ease with your body and yourself. No special abilities are needed to start; many minor tensions, aches and pains will disappear.

The practice of Yoga has been around for about 6,000 years in India. The word ‘Yoga’ means union. It has the same root as the English word, yoke. The union referred to is the union of one’s true self with the universal – in modern language – “to be at one with the world”.

Iyengar Yoga

Iyengar yoga is the method of practising yoga developed by Sri BKS Iyengar. It is charactarised by precision and attention to detail. All aspects of yoga are incorporated into the way postures are performed, so that the student comes to his or her practice from a life of treating themselves and others well; in the correct alignment of each pose the natural breathing is enhanced and the student can become absorbed in the action so that a quiet, meditative state of mind is achieved. As in music, the richness, subtlety and depth of understanding which is possible in the study of Iyengar Yoga reveals itself through years of practice.

Yoga as therapy

There is a long tradition in India of using yoga to cure or alleviate illness or injury. The body can be supported in positions which improve blood supply to organs, enhance the actions of nerves and glands, and put bones in the optimum position for healing. If you are unwell or in pain, don’t stop coming, but ask your teacher how to modify your practice to enhance your recovery.

BKS Iyengar 1918 -2014

BKS Iyengar was born in India in 1918. Today his method is the most widely practised in the world. More that fifty countries have national Iyengar Yoga Associations to teach and promote his method and maintain his rigorous standards. IY(UK) is the oldest association in the world and has over a thousand teachers.

BKS Iyengar developed in himself an unsurpassed ability to observe the fine changes that are brought about by movements and the subtle mental and physical effects of each pose and each adjustment in each pose. He showed that the mental and spiritual effects which are the fruits of yoga can be attained by attending to the body and its actions.

Certified teachers of Iyengar yoga are required to maintain contact with Iyengar’s institute in Pune, Maharashtra, India, named after his late wife – the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) – and his senior teachers. They have an understanding of the body and posture work which is unequalled in other schools. All the teachers at Yogadham are fully qualified and certificated teachers of Iyengar Yoga.