Iyengar Yoga Home Practice Videos with Raya Uma Datta
27 March 2025|
Iyengar Yoga Home Practice Videos with Raya Uma Datta We are very excited to welcome Raya Uma Datta to Iyengar Yoga London Maida Vale for the first time this May. Raya led the 2016 UK Iyengar Association convention and is one of the key teachers at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune where he has been practising since he was ten years old and teaching since the age of twenty. The three-day Spring Intensive with Raya promises to be a remarkable learning opportunity for students and teachers. Raya recorded six yoga lessons with Yoga for Unity which you [...]
Origins of the Modern Yoga Mat
24 October 2024|
Angela Farmer was a student of BKS Iyengar when he first started teaching yoga in London. Here, she tells the story of her mission to find a solution to slidey feet in his classes. Angela's innovation led to the development and manufacture of the first sticky yoga mats. If you look at the images in Light On Yoga there isn't a mat in sight, but this iconic prop has become synonymous with modern yoga. In BKS Iyengar’s first classes in London 53 years ago, there were no mats. We worked on the floor of school halls, church halls etc. In [...]
BKS Iyengar’s Speech at the Opening of the Maida Vale Institute, 12th May 1984
18 April 2024|
Below are extracts from a speech given by BKS Iyengar in 1984 at the opening of what was then called the Iyengar Yoga Institute in Maida Vale, known today as Iyengar Yoga London. BKS Iyengar's words convey how important it was to him to have established a yoga centre in London as a hub from which the benefits of the practice could be spread far and wide. He also describes his expectations of his students and the profound and practical wisdom of the yoga sutras of Patanjali. "As you are all aware, today’s function is just a formal one since [...]
7 Day Visitor’s Pass
26 June 2023|
7 Day Visitor's Pass £36 We’ve been welcoming visiting students from around the UK and around the world since B.K.S. Iyengar opened our centre forty years ago. To make it easy to keep up your practice while you’re in town, we offer a 7 Day Pass for visiting students. 7 classes over 7 days Covers all class levels. Choose from Beginners, General and Intermediate classes. See class level information below. Buy your pass in advance so you can book ahead Click to buy the pass and set up your account. You will have credit for seven classes added to your [...]
Geeta Iyengar on Why We Practise Difficult Asanas
26 June 2023|
Why practise difficult asanas? Light on Yoga can be considered as one of the classical texts on yoga in the modern era, having inspired and continuing to enthuse millions. But there is a group of readers who get nervous and overwhelmed by seeing the advanced asanas like the Eka Pada Sirsasana cycles and balancing asanas. The sceptical mind questions whether we need to practise these advanced asanas to enable a higher level of consciousness. Geeta lyengar answered this question during the New Zealand lyengar Yoga Convention in 2003. A transcript of her answer is reproduced here. In fact, this [...]
Research Article – Yoga for People living with Multiple Sclerosis
13 February 2023|
Research Article - Yoga for People living with Multiple Sclerosis Yoga therapy teacher, Korinna Pilafidis-Williams, runs a class for neurological conditions including multiple sclerosis and parkinsons at Iyengar Yoga London. MS is an incurable neurodegenerative and chronic inflammatory disease that affects the central nervous system. In Europe and North America, it is the most common cause of neurological disability in young adults, with diagnosis normally between 20-40 years. Symptoms of MS vary but can include depression, fatigue, chronic pain, muscle weakness, spasticity, decreased strength, balance and gait problems. All of these can lead to reduced physical activity and increased risk [...]
The Iyengar Yoga Long Covid Pilot Study – A teacher’s & a student’s perspectives
15 December 2022|
The IYUK Long Covid pilot study was conducted from October to December 2021. It was initiated by Gerda Bayliss, an Iyengar Yoga teacher, who contracted Covid and was left with severe Long Covid (LC). Her parents, Alan Brown and Diana Bayliss, also Iyengar Yoga teachers, helped with her recovery. She also received advice from Lois Steinberg in the US, attending her online classes. Together with the therapy committee of IYUK, they devised a suggested Iyengar yoga programme for those with Long Covid. This programme is based on Lois Steinberg’s respiratory system practice. The study is being evaluated by an independent researcher [...]
3 Cooling yoga poses
19 July 2022|
Did you know that some yoga poses can help lower the temperature of the body? Try the three postures below, recommended by IYL teacher Korinna Pilafidis-Williams and demonstrated here by our Judy Smith, to stay cool and calm in the hot weather this week. Please work to your own capacity for a healthy heatwave! 1. Supta Padangusthasana The leg extended to the side is supported on a bolster and the foot of the leg on the floor is pressed firmly into the wall. Keep both heels strong and legs straight. Lengthen the sides of your trunk. 2. Adho Mukha Upavistha Konasana Forward [...]
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