Holystone Yoga Holidays:
The Yoga

Iyengar Yoga

Iyengar Yoga has been developed over 75 years of detailed work on the postures by BKS Iyengar, who studied yoga with T. Krishnamacharya in the 1930s, and his daughter Geeta Iyengar.  Students hold individual postures for anything from 30 seconds to ten minutes depending on whether it is a strenuous pose or a relaxing one.  We don't use sequences of movement from one posture to another, except  salute to the sun, unlike Vinyasa and Astanga yoga in which the whole class is based on sequences.  

In Iyengar yoga we pay very detailed attention to precise alignment and I will correct your alignment in the class.  To help achieve this correct alignment, even for people who are less fit and flexible, we use a range of props: belts, blocks, bolsters, chairs and the wall.  The classes are broadly similar to those taught as Hatha Yoga although students who normally attend a Hatha Yoga class may find that the precise attention to detail makes some postures feel unfamiliar.   

The thing I love about Iyengar yoga is that it is very down to earth and practical. Instructions will be things like push your thigh muscles back or rotate your upper arms.  We don't give metaphysical instruction in an asana (posture) class. The careful movement into the poses and the attention paid to alignment make it a particularly versatile style of yoga which can allow people at all levels of ability to achieve more than they expected in the classes.

Breathing is not emphasised in the asana classes but practised separately in pranayama classes once the student has strengthened the muscles and nerves through asana practice.  One of the evening classes in the three day break may be devoted to Pranayama.  There is no chanting.