Geeta Iyengar
Indian yoga instructor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Geeta S. Iyengar (7 December 1944 – 16 December 2018[1]), the eldest daughter of Yogacharya B. K. S. Iyengar, was a yoga teacher credited with advancing yoga for women.
Geeta Iyengar | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | 7 December 1944 |
| Died | 16 December 2018 (aged 74) |
| Occupations | Yoga author and teacher |
| Known for | Yoga for women |
| Father | B. K. S. Iyengar |
Life and work
Geeta Iyengar, eldest daughter of the founder of the worldwide Iyengar yoga method, Yogacharya B. K. S. Iyengar, was described as "the world's leading female yoga teacher".[2]
Iyengar studied yoga 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.[2] When he retired in 1984,[3] she became co-director, with her brother Prashant S. Iyengar, of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI)[4] as well as undertaking her own international teaching tours.
Teaching
Iyengar adapted her father's method of yoga to the specific requirements of women.[5] Specific asanas, pranayama and sequences are given for different stages in a woman's life including menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause. 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.[6]
In addition to teaching at RIMYI, Iyengar periodically toured worldwide to carry on the Iyengar Yoga lineage. She was a well-known figure in yoga around the world, in North America,[7][8][9] Australia,[10] South Africa,[11] and Europe.[12]
She trained yoga teachers around the world, for example in Italy.[13] 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.[14]
Publications
- Iyengar, Geeta. Yoga: A Gem for Women, 2002. ISBN 978-0-931454-98-1
- Iyengar, Geeta. Yoga in Action – Preliminary Course, 2000. ISBN 978-81-87603-01-6
- Iyengar, Geeta. Yoga in Action - Intermediate Course-I, 2013. ISBN 978-81-87603-22-1
- Clennell, Bobby; Iyengar, Geeta. The Women's Yoga Book: Asana and Pranayama for All Phases of the Menstrual Cycle, 2007. ISBN 978-1-930485-18-1
- Iyengar, Geeta. Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood: Safe Practice for Expectant & New Mothers, 2010. ISBN 978-1-402726-89-7