Iyengar Yoga:
accessible, precise, transformative
SARASOTA & ENGLEWOOD/WELLEN PARK LOCATIONS
IN-STUDIO, ZOOM, & HYBRID
What we teach.
Asana
According to the guidelines of BKS Iyengar, asana classes focus on correct body alignment, sequencing of postures and timing, and breath awareness. This allows the student to learn and practice harmoniously. The goal is to develop a home practice.
Props (belts, blocks, blankets, etc.) are used when needed to facilitate learning and to help the body into the correct positions. Through the practice of asana, students develop strength, stamina, stability, concentration, and inner calmness.
Pranayama
Instruction in Pranayama (prana is “life force”; yama is “discipline” or “control”) is introduced in the Beginner asana class and included in intermediate asana classes. Pranayama class is devoted breath awareness, ujjayi, and other pranayama forms.
Students learn control of the breath through the practice of deliberate rhythms of inhalation, exhalation and retention. Through the practice of pranayama, the student further develops the skill of withdrawing the senses and calming the mind.
Philosophy
In every class, the instructors weave in the philosophy and spiritual wisdom of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. This enriches the students’ experience and gives greater insight to the power of the path of Yoga, on and off the mat.
The Philosophy class meets regularly to read and discuss yogic spiritual texts, including Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Katha Upanishads. Sacred texts reveal insights into the nature of consciousness and are amazingly helpful to maintaining perspective about personal and worlds events.
Thus, the tree of yoga — yoga-vrksa— leads us by its practice through layer after layer of our being, till we come to live and experience the ambrosia of the fruit of yoga, which is the sight of the soul.
BKS Iyengar, The Tree of Yoga
