Last year, Vanity Fair magazine called him “the grand master of yoga.”

B.K.S. Iyengar, still alive and well at 88, is the 20th century’s premiere popularizer and translator of Indian yoga. As a sickly teen, Iyengar developed a highly-accessible type of hatha yoga that millions of people around the world now practice.

But unlike Hot Yoga’s Bikram Choudhury, or Rodney Yee of Gaiam’s Yoga Now franchise, Iyengar never trademarked, commercialized or branded the yoga that bears his name.

The hundreds of Iyengar studios around the world are a loose-knit federation of free-standing, non-profit enterprises. They need to raise money on their own — and came up with yoga’s equivalent of the walk-a-thon. Next weekend, our very own Renee Tavares, a San Francisco adept, plans to execute 108 tissue-testing poses on behalf of her sponsors, and this Iyengar Yoga Institute. In her owns words:

Yoga has been an invaluable gift to me that continues to enrich my life.
Most of you know first hand that yoga makes me more pleasant to be with

Not only that, it gives me something that I can pester you all about.
(Have you done your downward dog today?)

So, instead of hitting the pavement and running 27 miles for the greater
good, I’m doing 108 yoga poses in 3 hours on April 20th at Iyengar Yoga
Institute for San Francisco’s 2nd Annual Yogathon.

We are having our poses sponsored to raise funds to support the Institute’s
programs, including a teacher training program that ranks as the oldest and
most comprehensive yoga teacher training course in the U.S. We are happy to
be partnering with the Mission YMCA to bring yoga to their community; this
is a direct outcome of last year’sYogathon.

Can I count on you to be one of my sponsors?

108 is an auspicous number and 108 poses add up quickly! Here’s how your
pledges can add up to benefit the Institute:

5 cents/pose x 108 = $5.40 — you can dig that out the loose change in your purse or pockets or empty your vacuum cleaner bag

10 cents/pose x 108 = $10.80 — 2 lattes and two muffins, maybe!!!

15 cents/pose x 108 = $16.20 — less than a decent manicure and pedicure for cute yoga toes

20 cents/pose x 108 = $21.60 — less than the cost of an SF parking ticket

25 cents/pose x 108 = $27.00 — less than a Dodger ticket and Dodger dog (OK Giants ticket and garlicfries . . .)

30 cents/pose x 108 = $32.40 — a tank of gas? Not anymore!!

50 cents/pose x 108 = $54.00 — almost gets you dinner for two at the Clement Street Bar & Grill

75 cents/pose x 108 = $81.00 — a so-so seat in the canary perches at the SF Opera but you need GOOD binoculars

$1/pose x 108 = $108.00 — the absolute pinnacle of donation for you big spenders; and I promise, I am doing all 108 poses in 3 hours!! (you know who are) Love ya!

This is a good deal because you know it will keep me out of trouble for 3 entire hours on April 20th. And guess what? IT IS all 100% tax deductible for 2008 (OK, I know some of you are still working on 2007 taxes!!)

My email: Renee Tavares

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