A further major step was the founding of the first of many institutes abroad, the Iyengar Yoga Institute (IYI) in Maida Vale, London, in 1983. Iyengar Yoga became an institution with the 1975 founding of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, named in memory of his wife. Authorities such as the yoga scholar Elliott Goldberg have described it as the bible of modern yoga the book has sold over three million copies, and has been translated into at least 23 languages. Jain and others have noted that the book's biomedical claims, such as of toning up various organs of the body, were attractive to its audience but were stated directly without any supporting evidence. The yoga scholar Andrea Jain called the book 'arguably the most significant event in the process of elaborating the brand'. Ī landmark was the publication of Iyengar's bestselling book Light on Yoga in 1966, describing over 200 asanas in 'unprecedented' detail. Iyengar began teaching yoga as exercise gradually, starting with individual pupils such as the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, whom he met in 1952 Menuhin's fame helped to propel Iyengar Yoga as a brand in the Western world. Iyengar learnt yoga from Tirumalai Krishnamacharya at the Mysore Palace, as did Pattabhi Jois Iyengar Yoga and Jois's Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga are thus branches of the same yoga lineage, sharing many of the same asanas.
Further information: Yoga in Britain § 1945-1980ī.
