Meet the 12 most renowned yoga gurus of India

Google doodle on yoga guru BKS Iyengar's 97th birth anniversary (Image courtesy: twitter.com)

Yoga has been an intrinsic part of Indian ethos for over 5000 years. On 97th birth anniversary of yoga guru BKS Iyengar, we doff our hat to the famous yoga gurus of the country:   

1. Tirumalai Krishnamacharya

The “Father of Modern Yoga” is widely known for being the architect of vinyasa and credited with the revival of Hatha Yoga. Mainly known as a healer, he mixed his knowledge of both Ayurveda and yoga to restore health. Under the patronage of the Maharaja of Mysore, he toured around India to promote yoga. He had a control over his heartbeats and he is believed to have mastered the art of holding the beats too.

2. Swami Sivananda

Do you know what’s the top trait a yogi must possess? That’s humour, according to the saint who was, by profession, a doctor. He penned a song describing the 18 properties that a yogi should practice and that placed humour at the top. He taught the Yoga of Trinity (Trimurti Yoga) that combines Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga and Master Yoga.

Swami Sivananda (L) (Image courtesy: obaitori.typepad.com)
Swami Sivananda (L) (Image courtesy: obaitori.typepad.com)

3. B K S Iyengar

One of the earliest students of T Krishnamacharya, he is the one who popularized yoga abroad. He had been struggling with diseases throughout his childhood which made him very weak. This is why he resorted to yoga, redefined Patanjali’s yoga sutras and finally gifted the world what is now known as “Iyengar Yoga”. Last year he died aged 95 but at that old age also he could perform sirsaasana (headstand) for half an hour. It was his regimen that kept him as fit as a fiddle despite suffering from two heart attacks in 1996 and 1998. He is adored by millions of followers in more than 70 countries. His book Light on Yoga (1966) is dubbed as the bible of yoga which has sold more than three million copies and has been translated into 19 languages.

4. K Pattabhi Jois

His brand of yoga is popular as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga that is based on the ancient text called Yoga Korunta and which attracted celebrity loyalists like Madonna, Sting and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Image courtesy: youtube.com
Image courtesy: youtube.com

5. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

He pioneered the transcendental meditation technique which had takers like the Beatles. It is a form of mantra meditation that is practised with closed eyes.

Image courtesy: youtube.com
Image courtesy: youtube.com

6. Paramahansa Yogananda

He introduced the West to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga. His form of yoga puts emphasis on uniting with the Infinite through a certain action or kriya.

Image courtesy: yogananda-srf.org
Image courtesy: yogananda-srf.org

7. Sri Aurobindo

The Indian nationalist, philosopher and poet developed Internal Yoga which helps transform human life into a life divine. His book The Life Divine and Synthesis of Yoga deal with the theoretical and practical aspects of Internal Yoga respectively.

Image courtesy: hinduperspective.files.wordpress.com
Image courtesy: hinduperspective.files.wordpress.com

8. Jaggi Vasudev

Popularly called Sadhguru, the philanthropist hails from Karnataka. He is the founder of Isha Foundation that offers yoga programmes around the world. The best thing is he conducts programmes for life-term prisoners. He also took a session with Indian Hockey team in 1996.

Image courtesy: bookandborrow.com
Image courtesy: bookandborrow.com

9. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The founder of the Art of Living Foundation has popularized the rhythmis breathing practice which is called Sudarshan Kriya. It came to him “like a poem”, as he describes it, while he was practicing silence for a 10-day long period on the banks of the Bhadra River, in Karnataka.

Image courtesy: speakingtree.in
Image courtesy: speakingtree.in

10. Baba Ramdev

Though, today, he is seen more in the political circle than in yoga camps, there’s no denying that his mass yoga camps kind of brought back yoga to the mainstream. His watch-and-practice yoga programmes on TV are a hit and that have made yoga a household name in India. The credit of us religiously practising Kapalbhati and Anulom-vilom goes to this man too. In shirt, he made us believe that yoga is not only for yogis but for commoners as well.

11. Bikram Choudhury

His famous 26 types of postures that are meant to be practiced in a hot environment of 40 degree Celsius are derived from Hatha Yoga and are designed to bring the body back to the brain. Each pose benefits a definite part of our system (body). This is called Bikram Yoga.

Image courtesy: bikramhotyogatmr.com
Image courtesy: bikramhotyogatmr.com

12. Suneel Singh

This new-age yoga mentor based in New Delhi blends age-old forms of yoga with newer forms of exercises to suit the urban lot. His contemporary yoga moves are influenced by zodiac signs, Yoga-Chi and Hasya Yoga.

Image courtesy: yogaposeweekly.letsglo.com
Image courtesy: yogaposeweekly.letsglo.com

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