Getting centered: Woman shares yoga technique she learned in the Middle East

Aileen Epstein-Ignadiou has been teaching yoga for 40 years and is the owner of the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Center of Las Vegas, 6342 W. Sahara Ave. For her, having the center means she can do what she loves and share it with her community, especially her students.

“Though the practice of yoga can be an important aspect of physical exercise, it penetrates to a deeper level inside your body,” Epstein-Ignadiou said. “Yoga is not just about the physical body but also about bringing everything within you into balance.”

Epstein-Ignadiou teaches four yoga classes at the Las Vegas Athletic Club, but she focuses on the Iyengar method by teaching about eight sessions per week at her studio. Her students range from ages 14 to 86, and classes generally have an attendance of six to 16 people.

“I have been teaching the Iyengar method for about 33 years,” she said. “I love it because through it, you don’t just do, you learn. It is about intellect and understanding how the movements help the physical and spiritual body.”

Epstein-Ignadiou started learning yoga at 18 while she was a student at Tel Aviv University. Although she had practiced and taught it for years, it was not until she moved to London and started practicing the Iyengar method that she decided to pursue learning it.

“It was important that we had a living guru, B.K.S. Iyengar, who was practicing and teaching,” she said. “We could ask him and learn from him, and that was very special to me.”

She has continually studied the method at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India, and even learned from B.K.S. Iyengar before he died in August.

“I have been to India about half a dozen times and learned at the institute for two months at a time,” she said. “The Iyengar method uses props and is focused on alignment and sequencing. The teachers in this method are highly trained, and it can take years to become an Iyengar teacher.”

Because of her determination to stick with the method, Epstein-Ignadiou built a state-of-the-art B.K.S. Iyengar studio, complete with the necessary props to fully immerse people in the method and help them through their path to wellness.

Because of how the method works, Epstein-Ignadiou said it helps particularly with injuries, pregnancies and illnesses.

“Throughout my childhood, I suffered chronic bronchitis, and I was starting to become asthmatic, but when I started with yoga, I found it was helping me become healthier,” Epstein-Ignadiou said. “If I didn’t do yoga, I would be on a breathing machine by now. I am also very active, and I myself do things that other people my age just can’t do any longer.”

Yoga student Monica Alveal, 44, has studied yoga with Epstein-Ignadiou for about three years and credits it with helping her get physically and emotionally healthy.

“When I came to do yoga with Aileen, it was the first time in my life that I did yoga, but I instantly loved it because it made me feel younger and healthier,” Alveal said. “While it is a good physical workout, yoga is not just for the ego, it is also medicine for the mind.”

The Iyengar method and Epstein-Ignadiou’s way of teaching it can be modified to suit any person’s physical ability.

“It can be modified on any level to fit the needs of anyone,” Epstein-Ignadiou said. “If someone has an injury or doesn’t have the physical ability to do a pose, I help them by modifying the pose and getting them to a position that they are able to do. When you come here, I teach you, but I work with you and any special needs you and your body may have. Everybody is different, so it is important to adapt the practice to everyone’s need.”

Yoga student Mike Wurtzel, 59, said he likes that Epstein-Ignadiou is accommodating in that capacity.

“I appreciate that she adapts the exercise to fit my physical ability and targets them to help me with my specific injuries and problems,” Wurtzel said.

Wurtzel has been studying yoga with Epstein-Ignadiou for about a year and said yoga has helped him feel better from the various injuries he incurred from a car crash and a horse-riding accident, as well as from arthritis in his joints.

“Aileen and Iyengar have been really good to me because they have helped me physically a great deal,” he said. “It is about trained modification. She is trained to help us modify our movements, and by doing that, it really helps us continue with the practice and feel better.”

Epstein-Ignadiou said that being able to benefit people’s lives is rewarding.

“I like to help people get healthier through yoga because that’s what yoga did for me,” Epstein-Ignadiou said. “It is important to remember that it is about inner exploration and inner discovery. It is important to focus on yourself.”

For more information on the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Center of Las Vegas, visit iyclv.com or call 702-222-9642.