Born in 1888, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya is regarded as the grandfather of modern yoga. Today his teachings have become very popular through his students, especially TKV Desikachar, BKS Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois and Indra Devi.

T Krishnamacharya, a direct descendant of Nathamuni, a ninth century yogi, began his formal education at the age of six, at the Parakala Math. His thirst for knowledge drove him to travel widely and learn all aspects of the Vedic tradition from the best teachers across India. Thanks to his quest and eagerness he mastered all the philosophical schools of Indian learning, Ayurveda, and Sanskrit. At the age of twenty-eight, he trekked to lake Manosarovar at the foot of Mt. Kailash, in the Himalayas, to learn Yoga from Ram Mohana Brahmachari who became, his teacher. He left Manosarovar seven and a half years later at the command of his guru, to share his wisdom with and for the benefit of the society at large.

Being a master of several disciplines, Krishnamacharya was offered high Scholastic positions in great institutes of learning and in courts of Kings. But he chose to be a teacher the promise he made to his Guru.

On many occasions he demonstrated to the world the great potentials of yoga, in different areas of health and control over oneself. The most prominent among them was being able to stop the heartbeat for more than two minutes, using yogic practices. With his vast learning in yoga as well as other systems of Indian Philosophy, he emphasized that the practice of yoga must be adapted to the individuals, and not the individual to yoga. This was probably one of his most significant contributions in the field of health and healing, through yoga.

Through his teachings, T Krishnamacharya always insisted on the search to utilize the spirit of yoga to improve our quality of life. He never insisted on one particular technique, but rather emphasized that techniques must be evolved to suit the needs of the individuals at the given moment. This is indeed the yoga of yoga. This aspect of his teaching can be seen by the vast differences in the teaching his students received, when they studied at different points of time.

Krishnamacharya lived over a hundred years and continued to teach till the last few days of his mortal life.