Yoga is an entire part of many peoples ' exercise regimen . scholar attend yoga classes at their local studio or gym , watch out instructionalDVDsat home and leverage books to broaden their cognition . People around the domain enjoy the wellness , genial and religious benefits of yoga . But while yoga has been practiced by some Eastern culture for millennium , it was only introduced to the West in the 20th century . How much did the Beatles have to do with the West ’s sudden interest in this ancient art ?
Yoga in reality made its first appearance in the West in the former nineteenth C . It was studied as an Eastern doctrine in the early twentieth century and gained popularity as a part of the wellness andvegetarianmovement of the 1930s . But it was n’t until the 1960s that yoga really began to take off . big Indianyogisbegan moving to westerly countries to go their teachings .
It was around this time that the Beatles were first expose to yoga . While the group was take " service ! " in the Bahamas in 1965 , they adjoin Swami Vishnu - Devananda , the founder of Sivandana Yoga . He presented them with signed copies of his workplace , " The Illustrated Book of Yoga . " George Harrison was fascinated by the book and set about study yoga and Eastern religious belief . His wife , Pattie Boyd , encouraged him to study Eastern mysticism , Indian philosophy and become a vegetarian . By 1966 , Harrison journeyed to India to studysitar , a type of stringed instrument , under the overlord Ravi Shankar .
While Harrison studied in Bombay , Boyd heard of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , the founder ofTranscendental Meditation(TM ) . The Maharishi , hold Mahesh Prasad Varma , wanted to make meditation easy to understand and hard-nosed . In 1955 , he write his first record , " The Science of Being and the artistic production of life , " and start teach TM in 1958 .
Harrison and Boyd were struck by the Maharishi ’s teachings and buy tickets for the Beatles to see him in London . The radical follow the Maharishi to Bangor , Wales to study more about meditation . They eventually traveled to hisashram , or religious retreat , in Rishikesh in the Himalayas where they were connect by other celebrities like Mia Farrow , Donovan and Mike Love of the Beach Boys . The Beatles studied as a radical until sure members of the ring start out to lose interest in TM .
But after John Lennon accused the Maharishi of molesting Mia Farrow , the Beatles settle out with their former captain . The allegations were unproven and no mission were ever filed , but the wrong was done . proponent of the Maharishi suggested the split was not the shift of the yogi , but was or else because of the Beatles ' habit of LSD and other drugs in the ashram . George Harrison was the only appendage of the Beatles to later make reparation with the Maharishi .
However , the Beatles had been profoundly determine by their time with the Maharishi . Much of the music on the White Album was inspired by the yogi ’s word and their experience with TM . The Maharishi also profited from the connection . By the 1970s , more than five million people exercise TM [ informant : Times Online ] . Because the Beatles had helped popularize the yogi ’s pedagogy , they were part responsible for popularizing yoga in the West .
But of course the Beatles are n’t solely responsible for the Westernization of yoga . In the next section , we ’ll see about other influential teachers and practitioners .
Other people who made yoga popular in the West
There were many other people who avail popularize yoga in the West beside the Beatles . The yogis Sri Krishnamacharya , Swami Sivananda , Sri Yogendra and Swami Kuvalyananda all tried to make ancient yoga text applicable to modern refinement . These teacher made efforts to includewomenand foreigners in their circles . They promotedHatha yoga , the yoga of strong-arm processes . They also believed that Indian philosophy could coexist with westerly science and medicine .
The Yogi help establish connection to the westerly public . However , it was their students who really help spread the cogitation of yoga . Some of Swami Sivananda ’s student include Swami Satchitananda , who face yoga atWoodstock , and Swami Vishnu - devananda , who establish ashrams around the world . The influential Bellur Krishnamachar Sundaraja Iyengar was a student of Sri Krishanamacharya .
B.K.S. Iyengar was born in 1918 in Bellur , India . He was a ailing child who fought to overcomeinfluenza , malaria , tuberculosis and enteric fever feverishness . Doctors consider he would not live retiring long time 20 . Iyengar study yoga under his brother - in - law , Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya , who is credited with modernise Hatha yoga . By 1937 , Iyengar was teaching yoga himself , desire to spread the subject area that he believed had spare his life .
Iyengar ’s teachings spread to the West when he met the famous fiddler Yehudi Menuhin in 1954 . Iyengar attest the yoga airs that eventually became known as Iyengar yoga . Menuhin was so impressed by the yogi and the work that he arranged for Iynegar to travel with him and pass around yoga . In 1966 , Iyengar wrote " Light Within on Yoga , " which described and illustrated over 200 yogaasanas , or pose . Three million copies have been sold since the book ’s publication . In 2004 , Time Magazine named Iyengar as one of its " 100 Most Influential mass " for his role in bringing yoga to the West . Iyengar continues to manage classes at his institute in Pune , India .
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