On Monday this week, Google honored the man who brought yoga to the West with a doodle. After all, Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja (B.K.S.) Iyengar was born on December 14, albeit 97 years ago. He passed away just last year in August.
"Founder of the the Iyengar school of yoga, he is credited with spreading the practice and study of yoga throughout the world," Google noted on its Cultural Institute page.
"His style--Iyengar Yoga--is characterized by tremendous control and discipline, which he exercised in ways not limited to confoundingly long headstands," the description went on to say.
"To remember the pioneering and deeply spiritual yogi on what would have been his 97th birthday, Kevin Laughlin used a few of the master's poses, or asanas, to help complete the logo on today's homepage," the tech giant explained.
Iyengar's foray to the West could be credited to his meeting with renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin when he was invited to give concerts in India in 1952 by the first Prime Minister of India.
The musician was reportedly impressed when the renowned yogi was able to resolve Menuhin's sleeping problem.
"In less than one minute Iyengar apparently had him dozing and snoring gently away for the first time in days!" kofibusia.com noted. "The two men formed an extremely close friendship which lasted until Menuhin's death 47 years later in 1999."
Iyengar later travelled with Menuhin through Europe as his private tutor and gave demonstrations in the countries they visited, such as Britain, France, and Switzerland. Those visits paved way to forays into other Western countries, such as the US.
"The West knows yoga because of Iyengar," said Swami Dayananda Ashram's Yogi Santatmananda Saraswati, as noted by The Telegraph. "He developed a style of yoga for ordinary people."
"He introduced simple props and aids like ropes, blankets, wall to facilitate people to make it easy for the masses," he added.
Iyengar later released a book called "Light on Yoga," with the foreword written by Menuhin himself.
The guru's accomplishments and renown appear to be extraordinary when one considers his circumstances as a child. He had been a sickly boy plagued with malaria and malnutrition, aside from tuberculosis. However, with the help of his brother-in-law, a yogi named Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, he was able to overcome his health problems and go on to be a legend in modern yoga.
Today, his children has taken up his mantle in his stead as they, too, are renowned yoga practitioners. They "now run the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute - which BKS Iyengar founded in 1975 in honour of his late wife," The Independent said.
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