Geeta Iyengar

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(1944-12-07)7 December 1944
Died16 December 2018 (2018-12-17) (aged 74)
NationalityIndian
OccupationYoga author and teacher
Known forYoga for women

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] Since her father's retirement in 1984,[3] she was co-director, with her brother Prashant S. Iyengar (b. 1949), 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 explains 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 used to say that she won't depart until she 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

References
  1. Nair, Manjula (December 16, 2018). "Geeta Iyengar, renowned yoga exponent, passes away at 74". The Times of India. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  2. Mungen, Donna (8 June 2001). "Mastering the Meeting of Mind and Body". Los Angeles Times.
  3. Rosin, Mark Bruce (2004). "Iyengar Yoga: 'Food for the Spirit'". Beliefnet.
  4. "Short Biography". Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  5. Dubrovsky, Anna (Winter 2012). "In Loving Gratitude". Yoga International. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
  6. Iyengar, 2002.
  7. Iyengar, Geeta (2008). "We Are All Karma Yogis". Ascent magazine. Archived from the original on 2011-11-07.
  8. Morton, Colleen (September–October 2001). "In Her Father's Light". Yoga Journal.
  9. Dobish, Patrina (July–August 2001). "An Odyssey with Geeta Iyengar". Yoga Chicago.
  10. Hollingworth, Michael (February 2010). "Geeta Iyengar in Australia" (PDF). Australia Yoga Life. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-22.
  11. Bacon, Gillian (August 2011). "Srimati Geeta S Iyengar's second visit to South Africa". Yoga Awakening Africa.
  12. Iyengar, Geeta (2009). "The Practice of Women During the Whole Month" (PDF). Iyengar Yoga.org.uk. First published in Poland 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-16.
  13. "Teachers". Instituto Iyengar Yoga Firenze.it. 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  14. "Geetaji's Icchamrityu". yogdand.com. 2019. Retrieved 13 Feb 2019.
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