Roots Of Vinyasa Yoga?
In a very sacred way the essence of Vinyasa yoga and it's very seeds began with a sacred Yogi who lived in a cave at the foot of Mount Kailas in the Himalayas. His name wasSri Ramamohan Brahmachari a great yogi who lived only on fruit.
It is said that Sri Ramamohan Brahmachari was one of a handful of true Hatha Yogis that existed at the turn of the 19th century. It is said that he knew over 10,000 yoga postures.
A great yogi who had heard of Sri Ramamohan decided to seek him out to learn about Hatha yoga. His name was Sri Tirumala Krishnamacharya, a very influential teacher who began learning to speak and write Sanskrit from his father before the age of five, a Guru who was to light the fire of yoga influence over the western world without ever setting foot on it.
From the foot of Mount Kailash Krishnamacharya spent seven years studying the "Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, learning asanas and pranayama, and studying the therapeutic aspects of yoga from Sri Ramamohan. It is there he mastered many skills in Hatha Yoga and gained special powers.
The Maharaja of Mysore, who was a friend and practitioner of Krishnamacharya gave him a place to teach yoga the palace's gymnastics hall as his own yogashala . It was there he developed Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Vinyasa sequences split into three series consisting of primary, intermediate, and advanced asanas, Vinyasa Yoga was born. These sequences remained unknown in the West for almost 40 years.
Pattabhi Jois met Krishnamacharya as a boy of 12, Jois attended one of Krishnamacharya's many lectures. Intrigued, Jois asked Krishnamacharya to teach him yoga. Lessons started the next day and continued every morning for three years.
Pattabhi Jois was a major influence in the movement of Vinyasa Yoga and power yoga.
Krishnamacharya also briefly taught a boy named B.K.S. Iyengar who played the most significant role of bringing hatha yoga to the West. B.K.S. Iyengar was not Krishnamacharya's favorite student but it turns out he was not to bad after all.
History Of Vinyasa Yoga
Sri Ramamohan Brahmachari
Sri Tirumala Krishnamacharya
Pattabhi Jois - B.K.S. Iyengar
More about Krishnamacharya, Early Years
Krishnamacharya father was known as Ganapati Srinivasa Thathachariar and he was the first guru of Krishnamacharya. Ganapati Srinivasa Thathachariar would wake his son early and make him chant the Vedas. "He would join me in the chanting. "
It is very sweet and moving to hear the deep toned chanting in the still hours of the night".
"Whatever place, whatever time, the ancestors have framed the Yoga practices to suit them all. Only the attitudes and circumstances of human beings change. Time and space does not change. The same sun shines as always!"
Sri Tirumala Krishnamacharya
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