BKS iyengar yogashala (BKSIYS)

ONE POSE.
FIVE WAYS TO STUDY IT.

Each variation reveals something different about the same āsana.

Balance comes later.
First, the line.

In Vīrabhadrāsana III, the body is asked to become one straight line — from the lifted heel all the way through the fingertips.

Simple to describe.
Harder to hold.

This is where the props begin to teach.

With blocks, the hands press down and the spine can extend fully while the hamstrings are still learning.

With the wall, balance becomes less urgent, so you can study:
Are both hip points facing the floor equally?
Is the lifted leg straight and active?
Is the standing leg vertical — Tāḍāsana on one leg?

With the chair, the support changes.
The line does not.

With the heel against the wall, the body receives an immediate reference for horizontal.

Then eventually, the support falls away.
And the full pose begins to stand on its own.

Vīrabhadrāsana III is not simply a test of balance.
It is a study of alignment that happens to be done on one leg.

The progression:
Blocks
Wall
Chair
Heel against the wall
Full pose

Where are you in this progression?
We read every one.

Come practise with us.
Comment “JOIN CLASS” and we’ll share the details.

POSE. FIVE WAYS TO STUDY IT.

3 POSES. ONE WORD: URDHVA.

If you practice Iyengar Yoga, you may already know the poses.
But do you know what their names are telling you?
Urdhva means “upward”.

In the Level 1 āsana syllabus, we meet it in three names:
Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
Urdhva Prasarita Padasana
Urdhva Dhanurasana I

The Sanskrit is not simply a label to memorize.
The name can give us a clue to the direction, shape or action of the āsana.
And notice something interesting: “upward” does not look the same in all three poses.

The body changes.
The relationship with gravity changes.
The expression of Urdhva changes.

One word. Three very different experiences in practice.

💬 Without looking it up, how many āsanas with “Urdhva” could you name?

Interested in exploring Iyengar Yoga through practice?
Looking for Iyengar Yoga classes in Kuala Lumpur?

Join BKS Iyengar Yogashala Kuala Lumpur and experience a methodical practice where precision, awareness, and support help the body learn safely.

WITHOUT TRANSFORMATION, THERE IS NO PROGRESS.

“There is no progress toward ultimate freedom without transformation.”
— Guruji B.K.S. Iyengar

Transformation is not simply reaching a different shape.

It asks us to keep working, observing and allowing practice to change what was there before.

The body changes.
Understanding changes.
The way we practise changes.

Progress and transformation cannot be separated.

💬 What has changed most in you through practice?

PROPS ARE NOT TO MAKE THE POSE EASY.

Why do we use a prop?
Is it because the pose becomes simpler?
Because we cannot do the āsana independently?

Birjoo Mehta challenges that common understanding.
In Iyengar Yoga, the purpose of a prop is not simply to reduce difficulty.
It is there to help something happen.

Birjooji speaks about **internal alignment** — not merely the external shape we can see, but an uninterrupted movement of light through the body.

As he explains, the intention is for:
“the light to shine from the bottom of the spine all the way up to the top without interruption.”

If that is not happening, a prop may help us find it.
If it is already happening, the prop may not be needed at all.

So the question is not:
"Can I do this pose without a prop?"

Perhaps the better question is:
"What is the prop helping me understand?"

This November, Birjooji will lead our 5-day residential Iyengar Yoga retreat in Bellur — the birthplace of Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar.

📅 22–26 November 2026
📍 Bellur Iyengar Yoga Center, Kolar District, Karnataka
🧘 Open to Iyengar Yoga teachers and students with a minimum of 2 years of practice

An opportunity to study the method more deeply with a teacher who has spent decades learning directly within the Iyengar tradition.

💬 Has a prop ever helped you experience an āsana differently — rather than simply making it easier?

🔗 Retreat details:
https://www.bksiyengaryogashala.com/events/bellur-retreat/

📝 Registration:
https://www.bksiyengaryogashala.com/bellur-retreat-registration/

🙏 Please share this invitation with fellow Iyengar Yoga teachers and practitioners who may wish to join us.

Doubt is not the end of practice.
It is often part of practice.

Guruji B.K.S. Iyengar reminds us:
“If doubt comes, let it come. Do your work — let doubt carry on with its work, and see which gives up first.”

The instruction is simple:
keep practicing.

Not with force.
Not with drama.
But with steadiness.

Sometimes the breakthrough is not the disappearance of doubt.
It is the decision to continue anyway.

How do you respond when doubt appears in your practice?

ĀSANA IS A WAY TO UNDERSTAND YOURSELF.

A posture can be practiced again and again.
But repetition alone is not the study.

Guruji B.K.S. Iyengar said:
“The study of asana is not about mastering posture. It’s about using posture to understand and transform yourself.”

In āsana, we begin to notice more than shape.

Where do we resist?
Where do we hurry?
Where do we lose attention?
Where do we become steady?

The posture gives us something to observe.
And through that observation, practice becomes a way of studying ourselves.

💬 What has one āsana taught you about yourself?