Approximately 20.4 million Americans, 8.7 percent of the adult population, practice yoga. I’m one of them. Without the work of B. K. S. Iyengar, it’s unlikely most practitioners would even know yoga exists, let alone be able to do the poses. He was the teacher who introduced the props found in most yoga studios – straps, bolsters, blocks and blankets. Everything flows from proper alignment, and if someone needs assistance to meet that goal, he or she should have it. Mr. Iyengar passed away last Wednesday, August 20.

The child once told he would not live past the age of 20, lived to be 95. The boy born into poverty became one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People.”

“Yoga is the golden key that unlocks the door to peace, tranquility and joy.”

Every life has turning points and milestones. Opportunities offered. Some accepted, some declined. Some pursued with determination, others with half-hearted enthusiasm. B. K. S. Iyengar recognized such moments and responded with integrity. Here are two stories.

When he was sixteen, B. K. S. Iyengar accepted an invitation from his brother-in-law. Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, the man often referred to as the Father of Modern Yoga, invited his teen-age relative to join the Maharaja of Mysore’s royal school at Jaganmohan Palace. B. K. S. Iyengar discovered yoga and used it to bring his physical body to optimum fitness.

“To my best violin teacher”

In 1952 renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin was giving a series of concerts in India at the invitation of Prime Minister Jawaharal Nehru. As it happened, the previous year, while waiting to see his osteopath, Mr. Menuhin found a pamphlet about yoga. Mr. Menuhin, who suffered a variety of muscular and skeletal ailments, was intrigued.

When Mr. Menuhin met Prime Minister Nehru, he mentioned the book. The prime minister smiled and dared the violinist to stand on his head. Menuhin did so. Delighted, Nehru also went into the pose. The story made headlines throughout India. Many yoga teachers offered their services to Menuhin. At some point, Menuhin discussed the situation with the wife of cardiologist Rustam Vakil. She recommended the family guru, B. K. S. Iyengar.

Menuhin requested a meeting, but had a full schedule. He could only spare five minutes at 7:00 in the morning. Those five minutes stretched into three and a half hours. Menuhin became a lifelong student, invited B. K. S. Iyengar to join him in Switzerland and introduced him to students and prominent people, including then eighty-year-old Elisabeth, Queen Mother of Belgium who allegedly said, “If you can’t teach me to stand on my head, you can leave.” Of course, B. K. S. Iyengar met the challenge.

In 1954, Yehudi Menuhin presented B. K. S. Iyengar with a watch to commemorate their time together. On the watch’s back was an inscription: “To my best violin teacher.”

Mr. Iyengar’s reputation began to spread. In 1966, he published Light on Yoga with a forward by Yehudi Menuhin. The small book featuring 200 poses has been translated into seventeen languages and never gone out of print.

“How can you know God if you don’t know your big toe?”

B. K. S. Iyengar didn’t introduce yoga to the United States, but he made the practice practical and accessible.  “The qualities demanded from an aspirant are discipline, faith, tenacity and perseverance to practise regularly and without interruptions.” [1] Anyone can do yoga, provided he or she is committed to the practice. As Patricia Walden recalled in 2000, “Iyengar was, like, ‘Stand on your feet. Feel your feet.’ He was so practical.”

The term Iyengar became so common, Oxford Dictionary compilers made Mr. Iyengar’s name a noun:

Iyengar

Syllabification: I·yen·gar
Pronunciation: /ēˈyeNGɡär

NOUN

A type of ashtanga yoga focusing on the correct alignment of the body, making use of straps, wooden blocks, etc. as aids to achieving the correct postures.

And then, in 2004, Time Magazine named B. K. S. Iyengar as one of the “100 Most Influential People” in the world.

B. K. S. Iyengar blessed us and changed many lives. His was a life well-lived.

Acknowledgements:

Featured Photo: B. K. S. Iyengar. Photo by Mutt Lunker, 2004. Creative Commons Attribution. Wikimedia Commons.

Statistic on American yoga practitioners from “American Yoga: How Many People Practice in the United States?” Huffington Post. Dec 7, 2012. here

Note [1]. B. K. S. Iyengar. Light on Yoga. 1966. p.57.

Iyengar Entry. Oxford Dictionaries

Patricia Walden quotation taken from Ellen Barry. “B.K.S. Iyengar, Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West, Dies at 95” New York Times, Aug. 20, 2014. Access here. More on Patricia Walden here.

Anon. “BKS Iyengar Obituary.” Mail & Guardian. Aug 21, 2014. here.

Kofi Busia. The maestro and the Queen. here.

Editor. “Yoga Loses Luminary BKS Iyengar” Aug 20, 2014. Yoga Journal. here

Ninmala George.“Obituary: B.K.S. Iyengar.” Aug 23, 2014. Washington Post. here

Harshith Mallya. “Six Life Lessons from B. K. S. Iyengar.” Aug. 21, 2014. Your Story. here

Michael Richards.“B.K.S. Iyengar.” April 26, 2004. Time Magazine. here.  

Ayesha Venkataraman.“B.K.S. Iyengar: The gurugi who brought yoga to the masses.” Aug 23, 2014, Aljazeera America. here 

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Is she in the U.S. or some other continent?
If she’s in Hawai`i, where is she?
Is she at home? The Handsome Bloke swears this is seldom the case.

Well, today, Tuesday, I momentarily know where I am. I am at a Retreat Center called Lumeria which is on the Makawao side of Maui. I arrived on Sunday via the route Hawaiian Air clerks call “traveling backward.” I live on the Big Island of Hawai`i. The next island to the north is Maui. But, there is only one flight daily from Hilo to Maui. Otherwise, one first has to go north to Honolulu, change planes, and then fly south again. Good opportunity to get some reading done.

Stepped off the second flight into what I consider a major tropical downpour. This is unusual for Maui, so the taxis are not located under cover. So, you guessed it, by the time I dragged myself and my bag across the street, I was drenched to the skin. And, then I momentarily could not find my phone without which I not only could not find the address to my destination, but would be without most of my life details. Thought I might cry – who could tell? I was already wet. Just then the phone appeared. Artificial reality to the rescue.

But the destination makes it all worthwhile. The Lumeria Center is a truly magical pocket of Hawai`i. [www.lumeria.com] The website pictures are accurate, and I’ve added a few of my own to this blog. The atmosphere is serene. The food excellent. And, it stopped raining.

Even better — the reason I came. A 10 day Purna Yoga Retreat led by Aadil Palkhivala and Savitri from the Alive and Shine Center in Bellevue WA. [www.aliveandshinecenter.com] I do believe that Savitri is the foremost practitioner of meditation in our world. And Aadil is a true master. But what makes Purna Yoga special is the way it integrates body-mind-spirit so that we experience life to the fullest.

So, I don’t know where Carmen Sandiego is right now. But I know that I am on an incredible journey through life. And so are you. Embrace it.

Photos by Author.  All Rights Reserved.

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Purna Yoga

I didn’t post last week, because I attended a four-day yoga workshop at Big Island Yoga Centers in Kealakekua, Hawai`i. Aadil Palkhivala, founder of Purna Yoga, led us through sessions on hips, knees, inversions, twists, backbends, backs, necks, and shoulders. I didn’t realize I could focus on so many body parts – fortunately not at the same time. Nevertheless, it took all my concentration to keep up, and so, alas, none could be spared. To learn more about Purna Yoga, check out http://www.yogacenters.com or listen to the radio show http://www.aliveandshineshow.com

[Sidebar: This position is called “Full Lotus” – like the flower.  No, I cannot yet achieve this model of flexibility — which may be why I have other names for the position.  Just sayin’]

History at the Manago Hotel

I had a second adventure the same weekend, because I stayed at the historic Manago Hotel in Captain Cook, about four miles up the road from the Yoga Center.  It is a fascinating slice of ”Old Hawai`i”  — in business since 1917.   http://www.managohotel.com  I’ll be sharing about the Manago Hotel in my next blog.

Legends of Pele at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.

Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is about a 40 minute drive from my house.  It, too, is another world.  The domain of Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes.  Hawaiian practitioners still conduct ceremonies and make offerings at the Kīlauea  Summit.

If you look closely at the bottom portion of the photograph I took yesterday, you will note the remanents of a ho`okipu, an offering left behind.

The volcanic gas rising from Halema`uma`u Crater is sourced from the molten lava lake beneath the crater floor.  The crater has been active since March 2008.  Take a look at the park website and web cam http://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm

The Legend of `Ōhi`a, Lehua, and Pele.

(There are several versions of the story, so you may know a different one.)

Once there a boy called `Ōhi`a and a girl called Lehua who grew up together.  When they became young adults, they had eyes only for each other, and swore to be together always.  `Ōhi`a was very handsome, and one day, as he walked through the forest, he met a beautiful woman.  The woman invited `Ōhi`a to be her lover, but he refused.  She invited him again, and `Ōhi`a rejected her a second time.  The woman was Pele.  Enraged, Pele turned `Ōhi`a into a tree.

Later, Lehua searched the forest looking for her lover.  When she realized what had happened she cried incessantly, until the gods took pity on her and transformed Lehua into the lovely flower that blooms on the `ōhi`a tree.  Thus the lovers reunited, never to be separated again.

This is how the ‘ōhia lehua tree, a species of flowering evergreen, came to be created.

I took this photo yesterday.  See how closely Lehua clings to `Ōhi`a`s strong branches as she prepares to bloom.  I find it a beautiful metaphor of eternal love.

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