Yogi to the Stars Dies: Should Western Yoga Die Too

B.K.S. Iyengar died last week.  He was 95.

He was the Hindu yogi who helped popularize yoga in the West. He taught some of the greatest stars of the 20th century, including  the writer Aldous Huxley, designer Donna Karan, actress Annette Benning,  and Bollywood star, Kareena Kapoor, to name just a few.

According to the New York Times, “Mr. Iyengar’s practice is characterized by long asanas, or postures, that require extraordinary will and discipline. A reporter who watched daily practice in 2002 when Mr. Iyengar was 83, said that he held one headstand for six minutes, swiveling his legs to the right and the left…”

But was Mr. Iyengar’s yoga too much about posture and not enough about spirituality?

That’s the charge many Hindus are making, according to the Washington Post.  For example, the Hindu American organization started a campaign in 201o called “Take back Yoga.”  They told the Post that they think yoga has been “purposefully delinked… from its roots in Hinduism.”

It’s an interesting argument. Is western yoga more concerned with posture and health instead of spirituality?

Here’s a clip from PBS Religion & Ethics about Iyengar from 2006.