Geeta S. Iyengar (7 December 1944 – 16 December 2018), the eldest daughter of Yogacharya

B. K. S. Iyengar Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is the founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga ...

, was a

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

teacher credited with advancing

yoga for women Modern yoga as exercise has often been taught by women to classes consisting mainly of women. This continued a tradition of gendered physical activity dating back to the early 20th century, with the Harmonic Gymnastics of Genevieve Stebbins in ...

Life and work

Geeta Iyengar, eldest daughter of the founder of the worldwide

Iyengar yoga Iyengar Yoga, named after and developed by B. K. S. Iyengar, and described in his bestselling 1966 book '' Light on Yoga'', is a form of yoga as exercise that has an emphasis on detail, precision and alignment in the performance of yoga postures ...

method, Yogacharya

, was described as "the world's leading female yoga teacher". Iyengar studied

with her father from an early age. After graduating high school in 1961, she began substituting for her father when he was away on international teaching tours. When he retired in 1984, she became co-director, with her brother Prashant S. Iyengar, of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) as well as undertaking her own international teaching tours.

Teaching

Iyengar adapted her father's method of yoga to the specific requirements of women. Specific

asana An āsana (Sanskrit: आसन) is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and late ...

pranayama Pranayama (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम, "Prāṇāyāma") is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In classical yoga, the breath is associated with '' prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the ''prana-shakti'', or life en ...

and sequences are given for different stages in a woman's life including

menstruation Menstruation (also known as a period, among other colloquial terms) is the regular discharge of blood and Mucous membrane, mucosal tissue from the endometrium, inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. The menstrual cycle is characterized ...

pregnancy Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestation, gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Conception (biology), Conception usually occurs ...

, postpartum, and

menopause Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time when Menstruation, menstrual periods permanently stop, marking the end of the Human reproduction, reproductive stage for the female human. It typically occurs between the ages of 45 and 5 ...

. Like her father, Iyengar explained how yoga is used as a method to unify body and mind, and strengthen the respiratory system, circulatory system, nervous system, muscles, epidermis, and the mind. In addition to teaching at RIMYI, Iyengar periodically toured worldwide to carry on the

Iyengar Yoga Iyengar Yoga, named after and developed by B. K. S. Iyengar, and described in his bestselling 1966 book '' Light on Yoga'', is a form of yoga as exercise that has an emphasis on detail, precision and alignment in the performance of yoga postures ...

lineage. She was a well-known figure in yoga around the world, in North America, Australia, South Africa, and Europe. She trained yoga teachers around the world, for example in Italy. She died on 16 December 2018, two days after her father's birth centenary, aged 74. She was unwell and used a wheelchair for more than a year. She had said that she would not depart this earth until she had completed her father's 100th birth anniversary celebration.

Publications

* Iyengar, Geeta. ''Yoga: A Gem for Women'', 2002. * Iyengar, Geeta. ''Yoga in Action – Preliminary Course'', 2000. * Iyengar, Geeta. ''Yoga in Action - Intermediate Course-I'', 2013. * Clennell, Bobby; Iyengar, Geeta. ''The Women's Yoga Book: Asana and Pranayama for All Phases of the Menstrual Cycle'', 2007. * Iyengar, Geeta. ''Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood: Safe Practice for Expectant & New Mothers'', 2010.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iyengar, Geeta 1944 births 2018 deaths Indian yoga gurus