Over 50 of the World’s Most Renowned Yoga Instructors Will Mark Iyengar’s Seventieth Year as One of the World’s Most Influential Yoga Teachers this July
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--From July 9 – 15, 2007 Yoga Instructors from across the globe will convene at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California to celebrate B. K. S. Iyengar and share their knowledge and practice with attendees. In keeping with Iyengar’s emphasis on openness and accessibility, the Festival is open to students of all levels of practice, with classes available to beginning, intermediate and advanced students, as well as yoga teachers.
The Festival opens with a Five Day Iyengar yoga intensive held from July 9 – 13. The instructors will consist entirely of Advanced Certificate Holders, Teacher Trainers and/or Assessors in the Iyengar yoga tradition. All have at least 25 years of experience as teachers and teacher trainers. This many teachers, with this experience, and from around the globe, rarely teach at one event.
Following that is an Open Weekend Festival, July 13 – 15. This will feature some of the most influential and well-known instructors in Yoga today who are gathering together from many different traditions especially for this occasion. Teachers include Beryl Bender Birch, Seane Corn, Lilias Folan, Gary Kraftsow, David Life, Dharma Mittra, Shiva Rea and Rodney Yee.
“B. K. S. Iyengar celebrates seventy years as a yoga teacher this year, and he is revered as the single most influential person in spreading the teachings of yoga throughout the world,” said Kofi Busia, himself an Advanced Certificate holder and one of Mr. Iyengar’s longest established and most internationally renowned teachers. “There is little we can do to capture the contribution Iyengar has made to yoga today. There may be millions of yoga practitioners worldwide, and many modalities now in existence, but he developed the foundation of yoga as we know it today and touched the minds, bodies and spirits of all those who have tried it. This festival is a celebration of that immense contribution.”
In addition to attending the festival, some of the most influential and well-known yoga teachers and practitioners have come together to contribute to a book celebrating Iyengar’s life and work, ‘Iyengar: The Yoga Master.’ Compiled and introduced by Kofi Busia, the essays represent an internationally diverse group of yoga teachers, as well as celebrities who feel deep gratitude to Iyengar yoga. The book provides a view of the great yoga pioneer—through the eyes of close friends and senior students. Contributors include: Patricia Walden, Rodney Yee, T. K. V. Desikachar, Baron Baptiste, Judith Lasater, Sharon Gannon, David Life, Shiva Rea, Aadil Palkhivala, Alan Finger, Gary Kraftsow, Richard Freeman, Lilias Folan, Manouso Manos, Annette Bening, Julian Sands and Ali MacGraw.
With the assistance of the Iyengar National Association of the United States, all proceeds from the Yogacharya Festival, and Royalties from the sales of ‘Iyengar: The Yoga Master,’ will be used to further the objectives of the Bellur Charitable Trust which is bringing electricity, piped water, schools and other essential amenities to Bellur, India, the birth place of Iyengar.
Busia continued, “The festival is not just a celebration, but an opportunity for teachers and attendees to give back. Every class at the Festival is a personal gift to Iyengar from that Presenter, celebrating what each one feels they have learned and captured through him. As they celebrate and honor, each attendee will also be contributing to the future and amenities of impoverished communities in India.”
Registration for the festival is now open, more information can be found at http://www.yogacharya.org.