The history of yoga through yogi masters

Originally, yogi masters were only men, but in the 1960s the practice of yoga became more feminine.

When you practice yoga, your teacher will quickly tell you about yoga masters and their teachings. Hatha, Ashtanga, Kundalini, Vinyasa, Iyengar... So many styles of yoga for all needs and tastes. But, you may feel lost in the midst of these well-known spiritual women and men with inspiring stories. Yoga trends have evolved over time to adapt to the modern world. Discover the history of yoga through yoga gurus .

The beginnings of yogi masters with Hatha yoga

Yoga originated in India. At first, this art was practiced only by men, or even transmitted in secret from master to disciple. The oldest style of yoga is Hatha Yoga, dating back to before the 15th century, inspired by the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the text Haṭhayoga-Pradīpikā by Yogi Svātmārāma. The best-known Hatha yogi master is Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharia (1888 – 1989), an Indian yoga teacher . In 1924, he created a yoga school in Mysore, where he taught. He also passed on his knowledge to other great yoga masters such as Pattabhi Jois, BKS Iyengar and Indra Devi, but also his sons TKV Desikachar and TK Sribhashyam (1940 - 2017). In France, Shri Mahesh Ghatradyal (1924 – 2007) became the first Hatha yogi master and Felix Guyot created the first Hatha school in Paris in 1945.

Famous Yogis Who Evolved Hatha Yoga

BKS Iyengar (1918 - 2014), brother-in-law of Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharia and Indian Hatha Yoga master yogi, is particularly famous for having invented Iyengar Yoga after being the victim of a scooter accident. This type of yoga uses props to avoid injuries. Sri T. Krishnamacharia's son, TKV Desikachar (1938 - 2016) spread his father's teachings through his institution Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM). He is also at the origin of Viniyoga, which adapts to each yogi and is inspired by Hatha Yoga. As for Bikram Choudhury (born in 1946), an American yoga guru of Indian origin, he is the creator of Bikram Yoga, inspired by Hatha. It is a very dynamic style of yoga practiced in a room heated to 40 ° C.

Pattabhi Jois (1915 - 2009) was an Indian Ashtanga yoga master and founder of Vinyasa Yoga. Ashtanga was taught in Mysore, India. In the 1960s, it was thanks to André Van Lysebeth, a disciple of Jois, and his book I Learn Yoga, that Western students came from all over the world to study. Pattabhi was also Sting and Madonna's yoga teacher , but he also trained Ashtanga teachers. In the 1980s, this style of yoga spread to the United States under the name Power Yoga, thanks to Beryl Birch Bendere. However, other sources report that Byron Baptiste and Bryan Kest were the founders.

Other spiritual masters modernizing the practice of yoga

Swami Vivekananda (1863 – 1902) is the first spiritual master to have spread yoga in the West (in the United States) in 1893, after having made the decision to live in poverty. Kundalini Yoga finds its origins through this yoga master . Subsequently, this type of yoga was spread in California, in the 70s, by another yoga guru : Yogi Bhajan (1929 - 2004). As for the Indian yoga teacher Swami Sivananda (1887 – 1963), he is the founder of Integral Yoga following his meeting with his yogi master Swami Vishvananda. Subsequently, he trained Swami Vishnudevananda (1927 - 1993) who in turn created Sivananda Yoga.

Also discover other famous yogis :

• Babacar Khane is the originator of Egyptian Yoga,
• Roger Clerc is the author of the book The Yoga of Energy published in 1976 and who created several schools including the Academy of Yoga of Energy in 1978,
• Lionnel Coudron, a yoga teacher and doctor, sets up the Yogatherapy Institute, showing the link between yoga and health,
• Finally, John Friend, an American yoga teacher , invented Anusara Yoga in 1997.

Women can be yogi masters too

The first female yogi master was Eugenie Peterson (1899 – 2002) born in Russia. Later, in 1927, she went to India and took the name Indra Devi. This is how she discovered the country thanks to Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 – 1986) who had BKS Iyengar as a teacher and met Tirumalai Krishnamacharia at the wedding of the nephew of the Maharaja of Mysore, where the yogi master was giving a demonstration. At first, the yoga teacher did not want to teach a woman outside his family, but eventually did. She became his first female foreign student, spreading the discipline in China, the United States and Argentina. She was the one who gave the first yoga class in China.

In the 60s, the practice of yoga became more feminine. This is why you can find female yoga gurus like Eva Ruchpaul who is among the first yogini in Europe and who founded the Eva Ruchapaul Institute, but also Micheline Flack, creator of the institution Research on Yoga in Education (RYE).

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