TKV Desikachar

TKV Desikachar is the son and student of T Krishnamacharya. He studied with his father T Krishnamacharya from 1960 until Krishnamacharya’s death in 1989. For over 45 years, TKV Desikachar has devoted himself to teaching yoga and making it relevant to people from all walks of life and with all kinds of abilities. His teaching method is based on the fundamental principle of Krishnamacharya’s later life, that yoga must always be adapted to an individual’s changing needs in order to derive the maximum therapeutic benefit.

Despite being Krishnamacharya’s son, or maybe because he was, Desikachar  began yoga quite late in his life.  In his earlier adult life he pursued a career as a civil engineer. Asked in an interview once, why it is that he finally began to study yoga, he said "I started yoga because my father had helped a lady from India who had hardly slept for 30 years and I saw the effect. After that, I thought that I had to learn this from him and then I just started seeing in what ways Yoga really helps people." In his book ‘What We are Seeking’ he writes again about that time when he began to study with his father."When I started learning yoga with my father in 1961, I concentrated all my interest on the physical side and, because of the way I was built, in six months I had mastered all the posture. I thought that I had really made it — three hundred and fifty postures — it was like a status symbol for me. Slowly my teacher brought me to see that there were other aspects. Gradually he helped me to

understand that our progress in yoga is measured by other parameters — in particular the respect and concern we show for others and the spirit in which we act. This sort of evolution comes about on a different time scale — from what is involved for mastering the body. Furthermore, although our health and physical capacities affect our personality and action, it is not simply through an efficient body that we become more caring. No posture makes us more concerned about others. This is worth meditating on."

Desikachar is considered one of the world’s foremost teachers of yoga and a renowned authority on the therapeutic uses of yoga. In 1976 he founded the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandir (KYM) and continues to oversee it’s work.Today the KYM is a multi-departmental institution with a faculty of over thirty dedicated teachers from varied backgrounds. Desikachar’s wife Menaka Desikachar, one of its founding members, is a senior yoga educator and therapy consultant. Their 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.

TVK Desikachar is unusual among the major names in contemporary yoga in that the teaching he continues as his fathers work does not have a name. It was briefly termed ‘vini’ yoga but Desikachar abandoned the term, preferring a more anonymous and brand-free approach to his father’s yoga teachings. When asked about this he has said
"The focus should not be to sell a product. The focus is to serve society. For example, I have sent some of my students to my uncle [B.K.S. Iyengar] to study because I thought my uncle would be the right person to help these students. So they went there and learned and received benefits, but they still have connection with me. So I am more interested in how we can help somebody. The moment we use a label, we are more involved with labels….. In India, we don’t refer to “style.” We always call it yoga. Whatever technique works is fine for us. The sad thing today is that the style has become more important than service. Until I breathe my last breath, I am going to fight against that.”

In January 2006 TKV Desikachar along with his student and son Kausthub Desikachar, founded the Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation (KHYF). It’s objectives among other things are: Creation of an umbrella organization that will link all certified teachers and students worldwide who study and teach in the holistic teaching tradition of T Krishnamacharya; Development of a common curriculum of the highest standards that will form the basis of all KHYF Yoga educational and training programs, thus aiding in cross-cultural recognition and exchange of resources; Promotion and support of a highly skilled and interactive network of certified teachers and therapists committed to sharing Yoga with the public as an alternate healing methodology; Collaboration with healing professionals from other fields, as well as development and implementation of new paradigms for enhancing human health and well being.
Acording to their own website, "at the present time, the KHYF program is the only Yoga Teacher and Yoga Therapist Training Program of its kind in the world. What makes the KHYF Training Program even more unique is that it is supported by the educational, clinical, and research resources of the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram – the only Yoga Therapy Center of its kind in the world. The KYM has been providing Yoga Therapy services to the local and international communities for thirty years, and physicians frequently refer patients to the KYM for help managing their ailments. The center is noted for teaching healing techniques to people with epilepsy, gynecological problems, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and other mental and physical ailments. The KYM’s client-base also includes people seeking to improve their general health and athletic performance."

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