T. K. V. Desikachar
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T.K.V. Desikachar is the son and primary student of Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, a prominent yogi credited with being a driving force behind the resurgence of Hatha yoga in recent decades.
TKV Desikachar started his career as a civil engineer. Inspired by his father's teachings on Yoga in Madras (now Chennai), he left his engineering career and became a student of his father in the sixties. In 1976 as a gurudakshina (offering) to his father and teacher, Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, he established Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM), which is now a leading institute of Yoga and Yoga Studies based in Chennai, India. Today, TKV Desikachar is known and respected the world over as an authority on Yoga. He studied with his father for over 30 years; his style of teaching encompasses a broader spectrum than many more famous schools of yoga, which focus more heavily on asana practice than Krishnamacharya's more versatile and adaptive approach. This approach was briefly termed viniyoga but Desikachar abandoned the term, preferring a more anonymous and brand-free approach to his father's teachings.
Teaching regularly in India and overseas, TKV Desikachar has participated in many international conventions and conferences. His books include Health, Healing and Beyond and The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice. He has recently authored the first ever translation of the classical yoga text Yogayajnavalkya Samhita. He has also co-authored with his son Kausthub, a book titled Vedic Chant Companion. His latest work, The Viniyoga of Yoga, co-authored with Kausthub and Frans Moors, deals with the application of asana and pranayama to various needs.
[edit] KYM status
The KYM is a registered Public Charitable Trust, recognized by the Department of Family Health and Welfare, Government of Tamilnadu. [1]
Today the KYM is a multi-departmental institution with a faculty of over thirty dedicated teachers from varied backgrounds. Mrs. Menaka Desikachar, one of its founding members, is a senior yoga educator and therapy consultant. Her sons, daughter and daughter-in-law are also a part of KYM. The activities of KYM include Yoga Studies, Yoga Therapy, Research on Yoga and Publications. Vedavani, a separate unit of KYM, is solely dedicated to the teaching and transmitting of Vedic chanting and research into its many aspects. KYM's MITRA division carries out its philanthropy.
[edit] Yoga
Although he has distanced himself from the term, the style or school of yoga that he teaches has sometimes been called Viniyoga.
