Iyengar yoga is not the best: Expert

With mega following in several countries, Iyengar yoga may be one of India’s more significant exports to the world, but this stream of yoga with brilliant healing properties still gets condescending ratings from purists.

‘The gymnast’s yoga’, as detractors term it for its emphasis on the use of props like ropes, belts and wooden gadgets for asanas (postures) and physical exercises, does not impress Norway-based Are Holen much. Holen, an internationally-acclaimed researcher in disaster psychiatry and founder of Norway’s first yoga school as well as the Acem School of Meditation, believes it’s not the best form of yoga.

“The Iyengar tradition has been quite popular in the West as ‘sports yoga’. I personally don’t think that it is the best kind of yoga,” Holen told DNA. He was in Trichy as a guest lecturer in the National Institute of Technology’s international technical consortium, Pragyan.

Holen, an avid follower and practitioner of the ancient Indian tradition dealing in the convergence of the body and the mind, feels Iyengar yoga is less meditation-oriented and stresses more on the physical aspect. “This way, it is a deviation from the traditional yoga system propounded by Patanjali,” he says.

The Norwegian’s emphasis on meditation is understandable considering Acem meditation techniques popularised by him are a throwback to the original forms of Indian meditation with a few changes in the core philosophy behind the practice. He says it is different in the sense that it is neutral. There is no religion, no guru, or no homeland. “We have a scientific frame and hopefully that can bring more people back to meditation,” Holen says.

His opinion might have some merit, but it pales in comparison to the benefits from Iyengar yoga, feel experts. This system can have myriad of therapeutic properties. The obvious advantages are increased flexibility and coordination. Many people use Iyengar yoga as a purely physical rehabilitation technique.