Special K

I just finished reading a book about Krishnamacharya, the person often referred to (and rightfully so) as the father of Modern Yoga. Born in 1888, he gained renown as the yoga teacher for Maharaja of Mysore, but for us L.A. yogis, probably what is most astonishing is that he was the first teacher of the three greatest popularizers of yoga in the west - BKS Iyengar, Sri Pattabhi Jois, and Indra Devi. The book itself seems to be out of print, and has the distinction of selling on Amazon at higher than its original list price. For a brief bio of Special K, this Yoga Journal article is great.

Bottom line though, I was completely inspired. This was a a person who took such an incredibly creative approach to yoga. Who invented much of what we consider today to be the basics of physical (a.k.a. hatha) yoga, who was an extraordinary intellect, an extraordinarily gifted philosopher and healer, and who should be ranked as one of the most important figures of the 20th century. IMHO.