On the Light

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to On the Light , a podcast dedicated to illuminating the profound teachings and legacy of Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar and the auspicious subject of Yog. I’m your host, Susan Johnson. Today, I’m joined by Alan Goode, an Australian Iyengar Yoga teacher whose practice began in 1975 and whose first visit to Pune to study with Guruji in 1983 became a turning point in his life. I...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to On the Light , a podcast dedicated to illuminating the profound teachings and legacy of Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar and the auspicious subject of Yog. I’m your host, Susan Johnson. In this conversation, I speak with Prashant Iyengar about a book Guruji published on the occasion of his 60th birthday in 1978, titled Body the Shrine, Yoga Thy Light . Prashantji helps us expl...

Send us Fan Mail Today I am delighted to welcome back Eric Small. Eric has been teaching for more than sixty-five years and has devoted much of his life to working with people living with multiple sclerosis, a condition he himself was diagnosed with as a young man. In this conversation, Eric reflects on his first encounters with Guruji, the extraordinary guidance he received from teachers returnin...

Send us Fan Mail Today's episode with Prashant Iyengar is one of my favorites. If you're a regular listener to my conversations with Prashant, you'll notice that I often begin by posing a topic or question in a rather mundane way—one might even say with a somewhat unintelligent delivery—and Prashantji responds with something profound and extraordinarily insightful. His wisdom and ab...

Send us Fan Mail ✨ In lieu of a Monday episode, I have exciting news to share with the On the Light community! For the first time, On the Light will host a live episode with Prashant Iyengar, exclusively for paid subscribers. As a show of appreciation for your support, this event is **free for all current monthly subscribers to ** On the Light . If you're not yet a subscriber, you can still...

Send us Fan Mail My guest today is Claudia Díaz Boitano, a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher from Chile whose life and work have been deeply shaped by the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar and the teachers who carried those teachings forward. I'm also joined by my dear friend, Yemile Mizrahi, who suggested I reach out to Claudia and helped make this conversation possible. Together, we explore Claudia&...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is an absolute must-listen for anyone who teaches yoga, and for any practitioner of yoga as well. In this thought-provoking conversation, Prashant Iyengar reminds us that teaching is about far more than conveying techniques, postures, or information. Every interaction with a student leaves an impression, and with that comes a profound responsibility. As teachers, we a...

Send us Fan Mail My guest today is Virendra Naik, one of the many students who grew up in the children's classes at RIMYI in Pune. Raised within the atmosphere of the Institute, he experienced firsthand the teachings of Guruji, Geetaji, and other senior teachers who shaped generations of Iyengar Yoga practitioners. In this conversation, Virendra shares memories from those early years, the les...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I am honored to speak with Eyal Shifroni. Eyal is a senior Iyengar Yoga teacher from Israel, a longtime student of the Iyengar family, and the author of nine books on yoga practice and philosophy. Eyal began studying began studying yoga in 1978 in the Sivananda tradition and came to studying Iyengar Yoga in 1982. He has spent more than four decades immersed in the...

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode, I am joined by senior Iyengar Yoga teacher Rebecca Lerner. Rebecca's journey into yoga began through rehabilitation after a devastating injury as a teenager that permanently altered the course of her life. What started as a search for healing became a lifelong path of study, practice, and teaching. Over the decades, Rebecca has studied with B.K.S. Iyengar,...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to On the Light . I'm your host, Susan Johnson. This is the third conversation in my series with Prashant Iyengar exploring the History of Yog. In our previous two episodes, Prashantji encouraged us to understand our own history before turning to the history of the Yog tradition itself. Today, we begin exploring that tradition. Prashantji explains the relationshi...

Send us Fan Mail In our previous conversation, Prashantji challenged us to rethink what it means to study the history of yoga. Before looking outward, he suggested that we first examine our own history—to honestly acknowledge our mistakes, express gratitude where it is due, and recognize the ways our past continues to shape who we are today.  Today, he expands that idea in remarkable ways, invitin...

Send us Fan Mail Today's episode is especially meaningful to me because it was recorded in person in Pune, during my recent visit to study at the Institute. My dear friend, Yemile Mizrahi, joined me for this interview as well, making the experience even more memorable. This is the first in a series of conversations on the history of yog. I arrived with what I thought was a straightforward que...

Send us Fan Mail If you've ever traveled to Pune to study at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, there's a good chance you've met today's guest. His name is Amin, and for many years he has welcomed students from around the world—not only by driving them through the streets of Pune, but by helping them feel safe, cared for, and at home. For countless practitioners, a r...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to On the Light . I'm your host, Susan Johnson. If you enjoy  On the Light , please consider liking, sharing, or subscribing. And if you’re able, a small monthly donation helps support the continued production of this podcast. My guest today is Victoria Austin—an Iyengar Yoga teacher, Zen priest, and longtime student of B.K.S. Iyengar and Geeta Iyengar. For more...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to On the Light . I'm your host, Susan Johnson. My guest today is Nikki Costello, a longtime student and teacher of Iyengar Yoga. Nikki reflects on her first encounters with Light on Yoga , her studies with Mary Dunn and Gulnaz Dashti, and the profound experiences that shaped her understanding of the teachings at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pu...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to On the Light and to what is now our fifth season. I'm your host, Susan Johnson. My guest today is Jaki Nett Jaki is one of the recipients of the Lighting the Way Award presented by IYNAUS in recognition of her decades of dedication to the study, practice, and teaching of Iyengar Yoga. Jaki received this honor at the recent IYNAUS Convention in Philadelphia. In...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Light on Cooking: The Iyengar Tradition . I’m your host, Susan Johnson In this opening conversation, Prashant Iyengar reflects on the role of food within the life and culture of Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar—not simply what was eaten, but the deeper philosophy surrounding food, discipline, ritual, timing, silence, and awareness. What unfolds is far more than a discussion ab...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Light on Cooking: The Iyengar Tradition , a companion podcast to On the Light . In this series, conversations move into the kitchen and toward the role of food within the life and teachings of Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar. Through stories shared by family members, students, and long-time practitioners, we explore cooking, nourishment, daily ritual, and the ways yoga extend...

Send us Fan Mail This episode holds a special place for me because …it is my 50th interview! and it feels deeply appropriate that this milestone is shared with Prashant Iyengar. From the very beginning of this podcast, Prashantji has been a guiding presence. His generosity with his time, his willingness to engage in these conversations, and his continued support have made this work possible in way...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to On the Light . I’m your host, Susan Johnson. In this episode I am deeply honored to be in conversation with Eric Small—a pioneering teacher of Iyengar Yoga whose work has spanned more than six decades. At 93, Eric brings a lifetime of experience shaped by direct study with Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar and Geeta Iyengar, as well as his groundbreaking work adapting yoga for...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to On the Light . I’m your host, Susan Johnson. Today I’m joined by longtime Iyengar Yoga teacher Mary Reilly. Mary began practicing yoga in the early days of Iyengar Yoga in the United States, studying with teachers who had just returned from India after working directly with B.K.S. Iyengar. What began as a simple attempt to regain her concentration after finishing a dema...

Send us Fan Mail Today I’m joined by Jennie Williford, a longtime practitioner and teacher of Iyengar Yoga. Jennie has spent the past two decades studying, teaching, volunteering,  and helping build Iyengar Yoga communities across the Midwest and beyond. In this episode, Jennie shares how she first discovered Iyengar Yoga, what drew her deeply into the method, and her experiences studying at the R...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to On the Light. I’m your host, Susan Johnson. Today, it is my great honor to speak with Gloria Goldberg, a longtime student and teacher of the Iyengar method, whose decades of dedicated study and service have placed her in direct contact with Guruji, Geetaji, and the Iyengar family for many many years. Gloria’s journey began in the early 1970s, when she was first dra...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to On the Light. I’m your host, Susan Johnson. In today’s episode, I’m grateful, as always, to sit down with Prashant Iyengar for another conversation that takes us deeper into the subject of Sangeet. Prashant begins by explaining that Sangeet arises from the Natya Shastra — the ancient Indian treatise on dramaturgy and the performing arts, a text that explores music,...