An ancient practice with roots in India, yoga gradually became a 20th-century phenomenon in the West largely due to the influence of B.K.S. Iyengar, who died at the age of 95 in 2014. Filmmaker Jake Clennell’s informative documentary profile combines loads of archival material with more recent footage of Iyengar’s public activities to tell his story. A sickly child from an impoverished family, Iyengar suffered from tuberculosis, malaria, and malnutrition before his brother-in-law, a yoga instructor, taught him the fundamentals of the discipline, and throughout his subsequent life Iyengar would credit yoga for his physical and spiritual health. Iyengar includes numerous expected scenes of Iyengar’s public demonstrations of rigorous yoga exercises, but there are also some surprises, such as 1950s TV footage of Iyengar with his friend, violinist Yehudi Menuhin, a relationship that proved to be pivotal to Iyengar’s exposure in Europe and the U.S. Scenes of a sometimes stern, nonagenarian Iyengar with his students are fascinating for the (literally) measurable precision that he demanded in sessions. For anyone who has ever wondered how yoga came to be so popular in America, this film serves up a portrait of the man who was responsible. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)
Iyengar: The Man, Yoga, and the Student’s Journey
(2018) 106 min. In English & Kannada w/English subtitles. DVD: $29.95 ($349 w/PPR from www.kinolorberedu.com). DRA. Kino Lorber (avail. from most distributors). Volume 34, Issue 5
Iyengar: The Man, Yoga, and the Student’s Journey
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