Tirumalai Krishnamacharya
Indian yoga teacher, scholar, Ayurvedic healer, and the man widely called 'the father of modern yoga' — the source teacher whose three best-known students (B. K. S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois, and Indra Devi) carried his synthesis of asana, breath, and Sanskrit scripture to virtually every corner of the postural-yoga world. Born 1888 in Karnataka into a long Sri Vaishnava lineage tracing to the saint Nathamuni, Krishnamacharya was a polymath: he held seven degrees, mastered six Indian darśanas, was fluent in Sanskrit and several Indian languages, was a celebrated Vedic chanter, and a deeply trained Ayurvedic practitioner. From 1933 to 1955 he served as yoga teacher in residence at the Mysore Palace, where he developed the dynamic vinyasa-based asana practice that became the seed of modern yoga. After 1955 he taught privately in Madras (Chennai) until his death in 1989 at age 100, transmitting an increasingly therapeutic, individualized form of yoga to his son T. K. V. Desikachar and other students.
quotes in library
Quotes by Tirumalai Krishnamacharya
110 quotes“A person with injury needs different yoga than a healthy person.”
“Find what works for you. Discard what does not.”
“Practice what you can do today.”
“Tomorrow you may be able to do more. Or less.”
“Both are fine.”
“Yoga is not a competition.”
“It is a personal investigation.”
“What is your body telling you today?”
“Listen and adapt.”
“That is real yoga.”
“The teacher must observe the student carefully.”
“Watch the breath. Watch the face. Watch the eyes.”
“These tell you whether the practice is right for the student.”
“If the breath shortens, soften the posture.”
“If the face strains, soften the posture.”
“If the eyes harden, soften the posture.”
“Yoga is meant to bring softness, not hardness.”
“At Mysore, I taught yoga to children, soldiers, scholars, princesses, and renunciates.”
“Asana with breath is yoga.”
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