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“Fast practice often becomes mechanical.”
“Yoga is the opposite of mechanical.”
“Conscious. Adapted. Sustained. Sincere.”
“These are the qualities of true practice.”
“Yoga is for one who eats moderately, sleeps moderately, works moderately, plays moderately.”
“Extremes do not support yoga.”
“The middle path supports it.”
“This is the message of the Bhagavad Gita as well.”
“Krishna teaches Arjuna to be moderate in all things.”
“Then yoga becomes possible.”
“To know the body is to know the gateway to the soul.”
“Through asana, the body is purified.”
“Through pranayama, the breath is purified.”
“Through meditation, the mind is purified.”
“Through devotion, the heart is purified.”
“Then the soul shines through.”
“This is the order of yoga.”
“In the end, yoga returns you to your starting point.”
“You are home. You always were.”
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