About Krishnamacharya & Desikachar

Professor T. Krishnamacharya, who is considered to be one of the greatest yogis of the past century, with an incredible vast knowledge of yoga. People traveled from all over the world to experience his teachings and amazing healing ability’s through the many tools of yoga. Krishnamcharya had the knowledge and ability to heal people of all types of illness. Krishnamcharya is responsible for much of the yoga being taught in the world today. As early as the 1930s young men such as B.K.S Iyengar (his brother-in-law) and Pattabhi Jois, (Ashtanga yoga) who would go on to become famous teachers and popularise yoga throughout the world, studied with him. Krishnamcharya first Western student, Indra Devi, devoted her life to presenting yoga to the west. Krishnamcharya studied for decades, first with his family and then more formally at universities. Finally he found his own teacher, Sri Ramamohan Brahmachari, with whom he lived with and studied in the Tibetan Himalayas for eight years. In 1989 Krishnamcharya passed away at the age of 101. 

T.K.V Desikachar is the son of Krishnamcharya. Desikachar studied daily with his farther from 1960 until 1989. Together they summarized and clarified the ancient understanding and practice of yoga so that all people of all ages, regardless of their cultural or religious background, can learn and benefit from yoga teachings. Through some of the knowledge that his farther had passed on to him, Desikachar has always maintained that yoga is not a standardized practice. The emphasis on personal shaping of the yoga practice is hallmark. Krishnamcharya & Desikachar have always maintained that yoga must take into account each person requirements and needs, lifestyle, age and ability. (Hence why private lessons are much better for the student) Desikachar emphasizes that the teacher/student relationship is of great importance in the study of yoga. This relationship is one of friendship and mutual trust and the teacher context should be free of attachment and steeped in a sense of natural friendship. Today Desikachar travels the world training, teaching, and workshops, ect. Desikachar and his son Kausthub Desikachar set up the Krishnamacharya Healing & Yoga Foundation in honour of his father’s legacy, which is doing amazing work in the healing & training aspects of yoga.