B.K.S. Iyengar (December 14, 1918-August 20, 2014) was the greatest master of yoga of his generation. His students called his system Iyengar Yoga to honor him. Mr. Iyengar always referred to his practice and teaching as Patajali yoga. He based everything on the Sutras of Patanjali, the eight limbs of classical yoga covering physical and mental practices for freedom of well being in our life form.
Mr. Iyengar was introduced to the western audience by Yehudi Menuhin in the 1950’s and named a living icon by Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2004. He is the author of Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, the Art of Yoga, The Tree of Yoga, Light on Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and Light on Life. His school, the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune, India, continues under the guidance of his son Prashant and his granddaughter Abhijata as the primary teachers.
Two recordings of B.K.S. Iyengar are available for viewing on YouTube. Ultimate Freedom is a unique format of him presenting a lecture/demonstration directly to the camera. He used this style of presentation to promote his skills to the public in his early teaching years. This recording, filmed in one continuous shot, is a unique documentation his skill in action and capacity to communicate. 1938 Practice, a silent home movie recording that was rediscovered years later, includes footage of a youthful Sundraraj Iyengar, his guru T. Krshnamacharya, and his family. The woman doing yoga dressed in a sari is Mr. Iyengar’s sister who was married to the man who initiated him into yoga and became his guru.
Mr. Iyengar taught thousands of students all over the world and made the use of props during yoga practice such a universal commonality that other schools of yoga have adopted it. The basic yoga kit is now found everywhere in supermarkets and clothing shops. Through his own intense practice and creating solutions for his students, 
Mr. Iyengar evolved a precise method to make the benefits of yoga available to anyone regardless of stage of life or physical limitations without forcing the body or creating injuries. His knowledge and understanding of yoga came from 80 years of continuous practice. He continued to practice and evolve his method of yoga on a daily basis up until the last weeks of his life at age 95.
2016 was the 50th anniversary of the publication of his book Light on Yoga.
