The guru is not one who says, “I am the guru.” There are great stories in the Upaniṣads of the guru who rejected the very idea of teaching. One of th… - T.K.V. Desikachar

it is indeed true that by practicing yoga we gradually improve our ability to concentrate and to be independent. We improve our health, our relationships, and everything we do.

However beautifully we carry out an asana, however flexible our body may be, if we do not achieve the integration of body, breath, and mind we cannot claim that what we are doing is yoga.

In 1939 and 1940, Krishnamacharya was visited by a French medical team who wanted to verify that an experienced yogi could deliberately stop his heartbeat. For Śrī Krishnamacharya, this muchmarvelled-at examination was a rather bothersome demonstration, one that he undertook out of feeling responsible to validate yoga in the eyes of the skeptical scientific world.