Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (18 November 1888 – 28 February 1989) was an Indian yoga teacher, ayurvedic healer and scholar
He is seen as one of the most important gurus of modern yoga, and is often called “the father of modern yoga” for his wide influence on the development of postural yoga
Like earlier pioneers influenced by physical culture such as Yogendra and Kuvalayananda, he contributed to the revival of hatha yoga
Krishnamacharya held degrees in all the six Vedic darśanas, or Indian philosophies
While under the patronage of the King of Mysore, Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, Krishnamacharya traveled around India giving lectures and demonstrations to promote yoga, including such feats as apparently stopping his heartbeat
He is widely considered as the architect of vinyāsa, in the sense of combining breathing with movement; the style of yoga he created has come to be called Viniyoga or Vinyasa Krama Yoga
Underlying all of Krishnamacharya’s teachings was the principle “Teach what is appropriate for an individual
" While he is revered in other parts of the world as a yogi, in India Krishnamacharya is mainly known as a healer who drew from both ayurvedic and yogic traditions to restore health and well-being to those he treated
He wrote four books on yoga—Yoga Makaranda (1934), Yogaasanagalu (c
1941), Yoga Rahasya, and Yogavalli (Chapter 1 – 1988)—as well as several essays and poetic compositions
Krishnamacharya’s students included many of yoga’s most renowned and influential teachers: Indra Devi (1899–2002); K
Pattabhi Jois (1915–2009); B
K
S
Iyengar (1918-2014); his son T
K
V
Desikachar (1938-2016); Srivatsa Ramaswami (born 1939); and A
G
Mohan (born 1945)
Iyengar, his brother-in-law and founder of Iyengar Yoga, credits Krishnamacharya with encouraging him to learn yoga as a boy in 1934