A Woman to Know: Indra Devi
We women must listen to our inner voice. It is easier for women to do this as we are not afraid to say what we feel. — Indra
(Photo via Women in the World)
They called her "The First Lady of Yoga" or "The Ambassador of Yoga." She was born in Russia and trained as a ballet dancer, but after traveling throughout Asia in the 1920s, she began studying under legendary yogi Sri Krishnamacharya. She was the first female student admitted to his yoga studio.
After rising to the highest levels of yoga in India, Indra moved to the U.S., and then to Hollywood. She taught starlets like Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson and (allegedly) even Marilyn Monroe warrior poses, swan dive stances, headstands, the whole thing. By the 1970s, she had created a national fitness sensation. Her books — "Yoga for Americans," "Yoga For You," "Renew Through Yoga" — flew off the shelves, and up to her death at age 102, American yogis turned to her as the leader of Western vinyasa.
Add to your library list:
The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi (Michelle Goldberg)
Yoga for Americans (Indra Devi)
Yoga for You (Indra Devi)
Renew Your Life Through Yoga (Indra Devi)
Read more:
Indra Devi, 102, Dies; Taught Yoga to the Stars (The New York Times)
Posing as fitness (The New York Times)
Iyengar and the Invention of Yoga (The New Yorker)
The woman who brought yoga to the West (The Rubin Museum of Art)
Indra Devi was not just a nice old lady (The Huffington Post)
The wild life of Indra Devi, the woman responsible for your yoga obsession (The New York Times)
The extraordinary story of the woman who took yoga from India to the world (HuffPost India)
Listen more:
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