Teach yoga from person to person

Originally the knowledge and techniques of yoga were taught individually, not in groups as we know it today. The student was looking for a good teacher who would pass on his wisdom to him, since it was considered that without the teacher's guidance it was not possible to reach the highest heights of yoga. In any case, the master could accept the disciple or not according to how he saw him prepared and the sincerity of his aspiration.

This began to change at the end of the nineteenth century with the appearance of different teachers who, in addition to imparting their knowledge collectively, also expanded it to the West.

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Pioneers of yoga

  • Ramakrishna (1836-1886)

Considered as an avatar, Master of Bhakti Yoga. For years he devoted himself to spiritual exercises within different religions. Finally he assured that he had come to realization with each of them; in this way he concluded that in all religions the “ultimate reality” dwells in its essence and this is achievable in all of them if the surrender to God is absolute. One of his illustrious disciples was Swami Vivekananda, one of the first to travel to the West.

  • Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950)

The father of Integral Yoga. The main essence of his message is the search for the awakening of divine consciousness in the near, which is found everywhere and which also exists in the inner divinity. It is like a psychic being that if you contact him it leaves its mark on the outside. There is a universal and outer aspect, a supermind, which is the "true consciousness" behind the ordinary mind. This supermind is the creator of the world and the evolutionary principle.

  • Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950) 

He was an incomparable Master of Jñana Yoga. He had a lot of influence outside India at the time, but never made it to travel. She taught the method of Soul self-inquiry through her permanent introspection around the question " Who Am I?”. The goal was to know where the " I " emerges from.

  • Swami Sivananda (1887-1963)

He lived in the Himalayas, and understood and spread yoga as part of the Vedanta doctrine. He had learned medicine and practiced as a doctor, but did not find in this discipline the expected solution; the disease came from some problem in the soul and the solution was in yoga. Between the 1960s and 1970s several of his disciples came to the West and opened schools. Between Swami Vishnudevananda, Swami Satchitananda or Swami Satyananda.

  • Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888-1989)

He was an Ayurvedic doctor and Hatha Yoga teacher. He practiced and taught the Viniyoga system of Hatha Yoga. He is credited with the revival of Hatha Yoga, as it masterfully combined movement and breathing. Some of Krishnamacharya's students are included as the most recognized teachers of physical or postural yoga: his son Desikachar, Indra Devi, Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois. He practiced and taught yoga until his last days, at the age of 101. For this character, yoga was the greatest gift India could make to the world. He was convinced that yoga is both a spiritual practice and a physical healing. He was respectful of the various religious beliefs of his students; he believed that each student was absolutely unique and therefore each had to be taught based on his ability and his particular moment, which for him meant that the experience of yoga could be different for each person.

  • Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) 

During the Parliament of religions held in Chicago in 1893, he made a deep impression on the American public. Before Vivekananda, other yoga gurus had visited Europe, but its impact was of far greater importance. This disciple of Ramakrishna identifies with the Vedanta Branch who holds that no one can be truly free until we are all. Thus, the desire for personal salvation must be subject to the salvation of one's neighbor and is the mark of true enlightenment.

Latest teachers

Collecting the work sown by the Masters, during the twentieth century several of his disciples continued with the expansion of yoga. We will highlight a couple of them:

  • Kris Pattabhi Jois (1915-2009)

He studied with Krishnamacharya in his early years, and has since inspired thousands of Westerners, becoming a very influential figure in the world of postural yoga. From series of movements and the vinyasa system, he baptized his work as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, very popular among those looking for a more sporty or dynamic yoga.

BKS Iyengar (1918-2014)

It gives its name to a style of yoga, Iyengar Yoga, based on Hatha Yoga, which focuses on the execution of asanas in a very methodical way. Also a student of Sri Krishnamacharya, he has practiced yoga for more than 75 years and has taught tens of thousands of students. He has written many books on yogic practice and philosophy, among which the aforementioned light on yoga, light on pranayama and the essence of yoga stand out.

All these teachers, the oldest and most recent, as well as the millions of practitioners who have followed them, have made yoga what it is today. Did you know all these teachers? Has one of them inspired you more than another? Why?