Biria Fayek (Faeq Biria)

Biography

Faek Sricharan Biria was born in November 1946. He received spiritual dedication at the age of 5 and since then has constantly improved his yoga practice. From childhood, he devoted a lot of time to the study of ancient languages.

In addition, Faek Biria received an excellent classical education in the West. He held Doctor of Science degrees in chemistry and pharmacology, master's degrees in chemical technology, master's degrees in literature, master's degrees in philosophy, a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics, as well as a diploma in pedagogy.

He taught chemistry at the University of Rouen and actively worked as a researcher in the field of the history of religion at the University of Paris, thanks to which he was awarded the title of professor.

A long trip to India, which he undertook in the early 1970s, changed his whole life. For more than two years, he traveled to study with the most famous teachers. He studied Sanskrit and yoga shastra, comprehended various systems of body and spirit training. It was then that he met Yogacharya B.K. S. Iyengar and since then studied with him until the death of the master in 2014. He accompanied Iyengar on all his trips and assisted him in teaching, as well as in editing his books. He was often called the messenger of the master.

Faek Biria began teaching yoga in France, and since 1983 he was sent as a teacher to other European countries.

In 1989, he held the first official Yoga Teacher Course in the Soviet Union at the invitation of the Soviet delegation to the United Nations, the USSR Olympic Committee and the Department of Psychology of Moscow State University. From that moment he came to Russia on a regular basis for many years.

He also successfully conducted a scientific study on the impact of yoga on pregnancy with the assistance of the All-Union Research Center for Maternal and Child Health in Moscow (now the National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology).

Since 1996, he began to conduct a Teacher's Course in Poland, taught in Hungary and Latvia. In the same year, he conducted a Teacher and Advanced Training Course in Japan.

Since 1998, he organized the Yoga Teacher Training Course in Israel and later in Tunisia.

Faek Biria regularly visited Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and Norway, teaching teachers and then helping them organize Teacher courses and qualification exams in their countries.

Since 2006, he began teaching courses in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru, which were attended by participants from all over South America.

In the same year, he was invited to conduct a Teacher's Course in China. The course was very successful, and since then 250 local teachers have already completed training, and more than 300 more people have completed the course later.

In 2015, he was invited by the Permanent Mission of India to UNESCO to present the practice of yoga to UNESCO members. In the same year, the Prime Minister of India, Sri Narendra Modi, visited UNESCO and urged the delegation not to stop there. As a result, the celebration of the First International Yoga Day at UNESCO was organized with the participation of 1500 ambassadors, delegates and representatives, as well as invited guests. At the gala, Faek Biria spoke about yoga, organized a demonstration and inspired everyone present at the end of the conference to join the practice of yoga. These courses, as well as other negotiations and presentations at UNESCO, led to the inclusion of yoga by UNESCO in the list of intangible cultural heritage of mankind in November 2016.

In April 2016, Faek Biria gave a Yoga for Peace report at the European Union headquarters in Brussels.

In 2017, he was invited to teach at the celebration of the 3rd International Yoga Day, organized under the patronage of the Indian Embassy in Paris, where more than 3,500 practitioners attended.

Faek Biria was the founder of the Ayengara Yoga Association of France, director of the Paris Iyengara Yoga Center and technical consultant to the Ayengara Yoga Associations of Israel, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

He taught in 46 countries and raised more than 1,000 teachers around the world, some of whom have become influential world-renowned teachers.

Faek Sricharan Biria attached particular importance to a rational and scientific approach to yoga, which is rooted in the Hindu doctrine of Dharma and Vedic traditions.

Faek Biria died in April 2022 at the age of 75.