Yoga And Ayurveda: What Geeta Iyengar Says The Sister Sciences Share

Before you decide you are a “Pitta type” and plan your yoga around it, hear what the Iyengars said about Ayurveda. Geeta Iyengar studied Ayurveda, India’s traditional system of health, alongside yoga for most of her life. Her father, Mr BKS Iyengar, was asked whether your dosha (body type in Ayurveda) should decide how you practise. His answer is not what most people expect.

Flametree teaches in the Iyengar yoga style. Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. His daughter Geeta S. Iyengar taught beside him in Pune for decades. It is the style we teach at Flametree, in Darwin and live online.

Yoga and Ayurveda: the short answer

Yoga and Ayurveda are sister sciences from the same ancient Indian roots. In Geeta Iyengar’s words, the two share a great deal: a daily routine, good food, sound sleep and a steady mind. But their aims differ. Ayurveda aims at health; yoga aims further, at a quiet, clear and steady mind, with health as the by-product. Geeta saw the poses and the breath work of yoga as a kind of medicine in their own right. Here is the whole article in short.

• Same roots, different aims: Ayurveda aims at health; yoga goes further.
• Three doshas: Vata (air), Pitta (fire) and Kapha (water) run the body in Ayurveda.
• Poses work on all three: Geeta taught that asana and pranayama rebalance the doshas.
• Some poses warm, some cool: forward bends cool the brain and warm digestion.
• Mr Iyengar’s warning: do not box yourself in by your dosha type.
• Seasons matter: practice shifts with heat, rain and time of day, Darwin included.
• Start with a class: a trained teacher reads your body as you practise.

What is Ayurveda?

Ayurveda is India’s traditional system of health and medicine. The name joins two words: ayu, life, and veda, knowledge. So it is the knowledge of life. It works mainly through food, daily routine and herbal medicines, and it is thousands of years old.

Geeta Iyengar explains that yoga and Ayurveda both grew out of the same ancient Indian body of knowledge, the Vedas. Both aim at the betterment of people. Both stress a code of conduct and personal cleanliness. In her 2002 interview she was clear that the Vedas belong to no single sect or religion. We teach yoga as secular practice at Flametree, and Ayurveda can be read the same way: as a long-tested way of looking at the body.

What are the doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha?

In Ayurveda, three doshas (sometimes translated “humours”) keep the body working. Geeta Iyengar describes them through three of the five elements, the three that move.

Vata (air) causes movement of every kind, including the breath and the nerves. Pitta (fire) makes heat and digests food. Kapha (water) builds the body up and holds it together. When they are in balance, Ayurveda says, we are healthy. When food, sleep, moods, behaviour or the weather knock them out of balance, illness can follow.

This is the third of our three ways of knowing: known from long practice. Modern research has only begun to look at the dosha idea. Not yet tested is not the same as wrong. It is a lens that teachers and healers in India have used for thousands of years.

What is the link between yoga and Ayurveda?

Geeta Iyengar set the two side by side in her paper Yoga and Ayurveda, which grew from a lecture for her father’s 70th birthday celebrations in 1988. Here is what she says they share.

Yoga and Ayurveda share the same four foundations of health

The Ayurvedic physician Charaka named four steps to keep healthy. Geeta matched each one to yoga:

• Good food, sound sleep and a steady mind. Ayurveda calls these the three pillars of health.
• A daily and seasonal routine. Yoga’s niyamas (personal disciplines) cover the same ground.
• Letting go of harmful impulses such as anger, greed and jealousy. Yoga’s yamas (ethical guidelines) do this work.
• Avoiding illness from inside and outside, including the change of seasons.

Her view: asana (poses), pranayama (breath work) and pratyahara (drawing the senses inward) help keep the three doshas under control. The meditative stages of yoga bring balance to the mind.

Where yoga and Ayurveda differ

The aims are different. In her words, “Ayurveda aims at health and Yoga aims at self-realisation” (Geeta S. Iyengar, Yoga and Ayurveda). Ayurveda tries to stop disease. Yoga tries to quieten the mind. Health, she says, comes as a by-product of yoga.

Geeta Iyengar on yoga as medicine

Geeta made a striking comparison. In Ayurveda, a medicine has a taste, a quality, a strength, an effect and a special capacity. She said a well-done pose has all five too: its correct shape, its own quality, its intensity, its end effect and what it can do for a person.

She explained that a pose can warm one part of the body and cool another. For example, she taught that forward extensions cool the brain, heart and kidneys but warm the digestion. That is why forward bends quieten the mind and can lift the appetite. Some poses stir up heat, hunger and circulation, and so reduce Vata and Kapha. Others cool and soothe, and so settle Pitta.

Why Iyengar yoga uses props, in Ayurvedic terms

Geeta wrote that chairs, bricks, benches and the wall let someone who is unwell do a pose correctly without strain. Props, she said, create confidence, lessen pain and support the body. That is the reason Flametree classes use so many of them.

The cleansing practices, and why Iyengar yoga does them through poses

Old yoga texts list six cleansing practices (the shat kriyas), such as washing the nose and stomach with water. Geeta noted that the texts themselves say these are for special cases, and that pranayama can do much of the same work. In her father’s method, she wrote, twists, inversions and backbends do this cleansing from the inside, more deeply and without harmful side effects.

Does Iyengar yoga use Ayurveda?

Yes, quietly, and mostly in the background. In a 1995 interview Geeta was asked whether her Ayurveda training had shaped her teaching. Her reply: “While teaching I don’t think of Ayurveda” (Yoga Vaani 45, June 1996). She was already teaching before she studied it. Ayurveda helped her understand why a certain pose helped a certain problem.

Her example was a headache. She explained why Head To Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana) can bring relief while a pose that presses the heel into the lower belly can make it worse. In migraine, she said, Vata rises, and you need to send it downward. But she added that she would have chosen the right pose even without Ayurveda. The practice comes first; the theory explains it later.

For more on headaches, see our guide to yoga for headaches and migraine. For Geeta in her own words, see Geeta Iyengar quotes, explained.

Should you choose your yoga by your dosha? Mr Iyengar’s answer

In an interview recorded for the Canadian Iyengar community and printed in 1994, Mr BKS Iyengar was asked exactly this. He agreed that practice differs by constitution, mainly in how long each pose is held. Then he gave a warning.

If you plan your practice around a dosha label, he said, people “will find their excuses”. You condition your mind before you have improved anything. Nobody knows their exact mix of Vata, Pitta and Kapha, and it changes with the season and the time of day. His summary: “The practice speaks of constitution” (Yoga Vaani 35, April to May 1994).

In other words, a good teacher reads your constitution from how your body does the pose. A stiff body is taught one way, a loose one another. That, he said, is why he gave different students different instructions in the same pose, and why he invented so many props. On pranayama he was practical too: start with simple Ocean Breath (Ujjayi), and work up to Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Sodhana), which he called advanced.

At Flametree we suggest starting with some yoga poses before breath work, because the poses quieten the mind and make the breathing techniques easier to reach. See our guide to stress and burnout and our guide to sleep and energy for how the poses and breath work fit together.

Ayurveda doshas and the seasons, including Darwin’s

Melbourne senior Iyengar teacher Peter Scott brought Geeta’s lecture into his own teaching in a 2009 Yoga Vaani article (Yoga Vaani 97, March 2009). He drew on the Ayurvedic idea that the doshas shift through the day, the year and a lifetime:

• Time of day: roughly 2am to 6am is Vata time, 6am to 10am Kapha time, 10am to 2pm Pitta time. Early risers often feel clearer.
• Age: children are Kapha, full of growth; middle age is Pitta, full of drive; older age leans to Vata and dryness, so lighter, supported practice suits.
• Season: in hot, dry weather, avoid lots of fast, sweaty movement; in cold weather, keep moving and warm.

He also noted that the Australian tropics have quite different seasons from the south. Here in Darwin we feel it every year. The humid build-up before the wet is hot and draining; the dry season is easier. Our note on yoga for Darwin’s build-up shows how a practice can change with that heat, using cooling, supported poses.

Yoga, Ayurveda and modern medicine together

Geeta Iyengar did not set yoga against medicine. Asked in 2002 whether yoga and Ayurveda clash with Western medicine, she said no. Respect all three, she said, and “when all these three subjects come together, they can bring a wonderful result” (Yoga Vaani 76, December 2003).

Australian general practitioner and certified Iyengar teacher Dr Arjun von Caemmerer took this approach in a 2006 article on high blood pressure (Yoga Vaani 86, June 2006). Alongside the medical facts, he described three Ayurvedic patterns. A Vata pattern rises with stress, worry and broken sleep. A Pitta pattern shows as irritability, impatience and a red face. A Kapha pattern goes with extra weight, sluggishness and fluid retention. Our guide to high blood pressure and yoga covers what the research says.

What this means for your practice

You do not need to know your dosha to benefit from yoga. That is the Iyengar message. Come to class, do the poses well, and a trained teacher will adjust the work to the body in front of them: more warming work for a heavy, sluggish day, more cooling, supported work for a hot, frazzled one.

Iyengar teachers train for years before they are certified: at least three years as a student, then at least three more of teacher training (often closer to five), then assessment by a panel of senior teachers. Reading a student’s body, the skill Mr Iyengar described, is a big part of that. See why the difference between yoga and Iyengar yoga matters.

For the body systems Ayurveda cares most about, see our guides to yoga for digestion and healthy ageing.

Try Iyengar yoga in Darwin or live online

The best way to feel what Geeta and Mr Iyengar described is in a class. Your first class is free, in the studio or live online.

• New to yoga? Half price beginner classes, plus 2 free.
• Done yoga before, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 classes at half price.
• See when classes run: the Flametree timetable, in the studio and online.

Questions people ask about yoga and Ayurveda

What is Ayurveda?

Ayurveda is India’s traditional system of health and medicine. The name means “knowledge of life”. It works through food, daily and seasonal routine, and herbal medicines, and it sees health as a balance of three doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha.

What is the link between yoga and Ayurveda?

They are sister sciences from the same ancient Indian roots. Geeta Iyengar taught that both value good food, sound sleep, a steady mind and a daily routine. Ayurveda aims at health; yoga aims at a quiet, clear mind, with health as a by-product.

What are the doshas?

The doshas are Ayurveda’s three working forces in the body. Vata (air) runs movement, breath and nerves. Pitta (fire) runs heat and digestion. Kapha (water) builds and holds the body together. Balance between them is seen as health.

Does Iyengar yoga use Ayurveda?

In the background. Geeta Iyengar studied Ayurveda and used it to explain why a pose helps a problem, but said she did not think of it while teaching. Mr BKS Iyengar said the practice itself shows a person’s constitution, so the teacher adjusts each pose to the body in front of them.

Should I choose my yoga poses by my dosha type?

Mr Iyengar warned against it. A dosha label can become an excuse, and your mix changes with the season and the time of day. Learn the poses well with a trained teacher, who will adjust the practice to how your body responds on the day.

Which yoga poses cool Pitta?

In Iyengar teaching influenced by Ayurveda, long supported forward bends, supported shoulderstand, Plough Pose (Halasana) variations and legs up the wall (Viparita Karani) are the cooling, calming poses. Geeta Iyengar taught that forward bends cool the brain while warming the digestion.

Does Darwin’s climate change how I should practise?

Seasons matter in Ayurveda. In hot, humid weather such as Darwin’s build-up, avoid lots of fast, sweaty movement and include cooling, supported poses. In the drier, milder months there is room for more energetic standing poses and backbends. A Flametree teacher adjusts each class to the conditions.

Where can I learn Iyengar yoga with an Ayurvedic understanding in Darwin?

Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga in Darwin, at Woolner and Coolalinga, and live online across Australia. Your first class is free, and new students can start with half price beginner classes plus 2 free.

Where this comes from

Geeta S. Iyengar, Yoga and Ayurveda, reprinted in Yoga Vaani 44 (May 1996) and Yoga Vaani 97 (March 2009); reprint PDF on the Iyengar Yoga Australia site. BKS Iyengar, interview by Margot Kitchen, Yoga Vaani 35 (1994). Geeta Iyengar, interview by Chris Saudek, Yoga Vaani 45 (1996). Geeta Iyengar, interview by Judith Jones, Yoga Vaani 76 (2003). Peter Scott, “Building Strength and Understanding in Students”, Yoga Vaani 97 (2009). Arjun von Caemmerer, “Yoga and High Blood Pressure”, Yoga Vaani 86 (2006). Yoga Vaani is the journal of Iyengar Yoga Australia; back issues are in the association’s members’ e-library. Summaries are in our own words.

Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and live online. This page is general information, not medical advice.