Iyengar yoga in Canada – the early years…

An update on…

A history of Iyengar yoga in Canada* – a timeline of the early years

Susan Bull of Salt Spring Island BC added her first visit to RIMYI in Pune in 1981, with Dr. Bruce Carruthers.

* This is a work in progress.  We welcome additions and corrections! news@iyengaryogacanada.com.

It started with a book.  A book now dog-eared and worn, but still read, reprinted many times and translated into many languages. That book, of course, is B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga. In the early 1970s – and perhaps before – yogis in Canada were studying from it.  And, then, slowly they came to know more of Mr. Iyengar and his yoga. They learned from students of his students.  Then they travelled to, themselves, become his students. And here we are today.  We practise and learn and teach Iyengar yoga all across Canada.

A rich history of Iyengar yoga in Canada is to be found in every corner of our country, in newsletters, in articles, in photographs, in memories.  We have made a place for this history on the IYAC/ACYI website. As we learn of them, we will post links to relevant materials.  We have, for example, links to the early newsletters of the Victoria centre and of the Vancouver association. You can see what we’ve gathered up to now by clicking here.

Occasionally, we will post excerpts from this history in The Journal, IYAC/ACYI’s online newsletter.  Our first such excerpt, in July 2021, was from the memoirs of Maureen Carruthers, perhaps the earliest Canadian yogi to come across Iyengar yoga. You can read it here.

Do you have a bit of history you’d like to share? Please contact news@iyengaryogacanada.com.