BKS Iyengar yoga postures- a feeling for his individual expression

The expression of lenghtening and exact direction in BKS Iyengar´s yogaposes

BKS Iyengar.Warrior.Virabhandrasana I
BKS Iyengar. Wheel Pose.Chakrasana
BKS Iyengar.Parivrtta Parsvakonasana
BKS Iyengar.Parivrtta Parsvakonasana
BKS Iyengar.Warrior
Iyengar.Eka Padabakasana
BKS Iyengar. Scorpion Variation (Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana)
BKS Iyengar. The splits. Hanumanasana
BKS Iyengar. The splits. Hanumanasana
BKS Iyengar. Revolved side angle pose. Parivrtta Parsvakonasana
BKS Iyengar. Scorpion-variation. Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana

The Yoga Postures of BKS Iyengar as well as of other professional yogis are not only advanced. They show a very individual expression and character. One quality I want to show here is the lengthening and direction. BKS Iyengar´s postures often seem to have a very strong extension to the outer space. The poses often express a clear direction upwards, diagonal or horizontal. They seem to be like an archer reaching out for his aim. This quality seems important for me. How does this expression of direction come into existance? In art, it is an interesting fact, that a line seems to go on, seems to go further, if I imagine an aim way beyond where my line is ending while I make the stroke.

Brush strokes of sarvangasana shouderstandpose (Model:Geeta Iyengar). with creating a movement rising up.

If I do a bush stroke and imagine an aim far away, my lines gets an expression of keep on moving further or rising up, creating an feeling of endlessness. That means there has to be an conscious connection to the space around.

In Yoga I discovered, there can also be a conscious connection to the space. The postures of Iyengar seem to move inside the space. If there is a conciousness for the space, a feeling for the space and the movement the pose does not seem to end where the hands or the legs ends. By the same time there is a very clear direction. This means Iyengar has a clear feeling and consciousness for the exact shape of the pose and for the direction in the space.

The feeling for how a pose is created in the space can give you a new feeling for a pose and creates and you can create a stronger and deeper expression. In these drawings I want to make this lengthening and direction of BKS Iyengar visible.