Online Zoom Forum: B K S Iyengar: The Spiritual, Social and Humanitarian Vision in His life and Work.
Date: Wednesday 14 October 2026.
Time: 7pm-9pm (UK time).
Event Description:
Format: There will be five talks, each of 15 minutes, followed by discussion among the speakers and the chair, followed by Q & A.
Speakers:
Prof Ferdinando Sardella:
Title: From Discipline to Transformation: B. K. S. Iyengar and the Spiritual Meaning of Modern Yoga.
Description: The talk will reflect on how Iyengar’s work helped shape modern yoga as a disciplined bodily practice with deeper spiritual, ethical, and transformative dimensions. I will especially consider how his approach to embodiment, attention, and practice contributed to a wider understanding of yoga beyond physical exercise, while still remaining grounded in rigorous discipline.
Bio: Ferdinando Sardella is Professor of History of Religions at Stockholm University. His research focuses on modern Hindu traditions, bhakti, yoga, Gau?iya Vai??avism, ISKCON, and the global development of Hindu religious movements. He is the author of Modern Hindu Personalism: The History, Life, and Thought of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and co-editor of The Legacy of Vaishnavism in Colonial Bengal.
Dr Agi Wittich:
Title: B.K.S. Iyengar's Humanitarian Vision: Yoga as an Embodied Pedagogy of Care.
Description: This talk explores how Iyengar's method constitutes a humanitarian vision through pedagogy. Drawing on my research on Iyengar teaching lineage and trauma-responsive pedagogy, I argue that precision, temporal responsiveness, and responsive transmission create conditions for dignity, agency, and resilience, making yoga accessible across diverse bodies and life circumstances.
Bio: Dr Agi Wittich is a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher and scholar of Hindu traditions. She holds a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research focuses on Iyengar yoga, the Yoga Sutras, embodied pedagogy, trauma-responsive yoga, and the transmission of yoga knowledge across cultures.
Dr Suzanne Newcombe:
Title: Principled Pedagogy - How B.K.S. Iyengar transformed how yoga is taught and practiced.
Description: This talk will consider the process by which Iyengar’s teaching became codified, creating a systematic method that could be transmitted with or without direct contact with a guru of a Parampara lineage. It will specifically consider the process by which Light on Yoga and Light on Pranayama came to be published and the influence of British physical culture principles - which were always ‘more than just physical’ - on the training of yoga teachers.
Bio: Suzanne Newcombe is a Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at The Open University where she researches contemporary religion and the modern history of yoga. Publications include Yoga in Britain (2019), The Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies (2021) and Religion Spirituality and Public Health: Competing and Complementary Epistemes (2025).
Kristin Wendland, PhD:
Title: The Power of Practice: How Music and Yoga Transformed the Life and Work of Yehudi Menuhin.
Description: The American-born violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) was a household name during his brilliant international career as a child prodigy. Less widely-recognized, Menuhin became a man ahead of his time as a dedicated yoga practitioner when he sought to understand bodily mechanics and correct technical problems he encountered in his adult years. This talk will highlight how, through his study of yoga with the renowned guru B.K.S. Iyengar (1918-2014), Menuhin assimilated the eastern practice and philosophy into his musical life and work as a performer, teacher, and humanitarian. It will lift up Menuhin as an example of someone who has applied the physical-mental-spiritual practice of yoga to his life and work. As a western “early adopter” of yoga he can inspire practitioners today with the power of both his yoga and musical practice, and how to transfer lessons learned from the yoga mat to daily life.
Bio: A recently retired Professor Emerita, Kristin served as a Teaching Professor of Music for twenty-five years in the Department of Music at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She holds a B.M. in Theory from Florida State, M.M. in Composition from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, and PhD in Music Composition from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She has published two books on Argentine tango (2016 and 2024) and the monograph The Power of Practice: How Music and Yoga Transformed the Life and Work of Yehudi Menuhin (2024). Kristin now lives in the Florida Panhandle where she was born and raised. She continues her own yoga and music practices in her community, and she serves as Director of Music Ministries/Organist at Christ the King Episcopal Church in Santa Rosa Beach.
Elliott Goldberg:
Title: Dwelling Within the Body: How the Ruthless Precision of Iyengar’s Asana-Focused Yoga Facilitates Stillness, Tranquility, and Contemplation
Description: In 1972 B. K. S. Iyengar told his students in Pune, India, that precision in yoga practice is “ruthless.” “Very few understand the severity of yoga.”
Iyengar’s zeal for precision rests upon four principles. First. “The structure of the asana cannot change,” he wrote. “The shape of the asana is brought out in the presentation.” Second. Each pose is a variation of Tadasana, Mountain Pose, the foundational standing pose; in each pose, no matter how small the trace, Tadasana is alertly maintained as much as possible. Third. The whole body is alertly involved in assuming the pose. Fourth. “The pose is readjusted,” he wrote, “so that the various limbs and parts of the body are positioned in their places and feel rested.”
As a result of this harmonious arrangement of the segments of our body that paradoxically allows our body to rest, “the mind,” Iyengar wrote, “experiences the tranquility of bones and muscles.” We dwell within our body—manifested as an embodied experience of stillness, tranquility, and contemplation.
Bio: Elliott Goldberg is the author of The Path of Modern Yoga: The History of an Embodied Spiritual Practice, a scholarly (but not academic) book about the beginning and flourishing of asana-focused yoga (yoga as most of us know it, with the yogic postures foregrounded). Under his pen name, Max Popov, he’s the author of Weight Resistance Yoga: Practicing Embodied Spirituality, a resistance training manual, and Tell Me About Yourself, a screwy little chapbook. He lives in New York City as well as Ocean Grove, on the New Jersey shore.
An archive recording will be made for the EICSP archive.
NB: There will be no refund if you cancel your booking.
Cost: By Paypal or Bank Transfer:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
If you are having a difficulty paying by Paypal, then you can pay by bank transfer instead.
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Here are the bank transfer details:
Account Name: Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace
Bank: Bank of Scotland
Bank Address: Edinburgh Royal Mile Branch
Account Number: 06131159
Sort Code: 802000
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The IBAN number:
GB70 BOFS 8020 0006 1311 59
BIC:
BOFSGB21168