1893: Swami Vivekananda, the first Indian spiritual teacher to come to America, speaks about raja – or spiritual – yoga at the first Parliment of World Religions.
1899: Vivekananda starts the New York Vedanta Society, which explored the four branches of yoga practice: bhakti (devotion); karma (service); jnana (knowledge); and raja (the eight-limbed path of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra.)
1934: Paul Brunton’s book “A Search in Secret India” introduces Americans to Ramana Maharshi, one of yoga’s greatest teachers.
1947: Theos Bernard writes “Hatha Yoga: The Report of a Personal Experience,” one of the first guides to yoga
exercises.
1948: B.K.S. Iyengar teaches yoga to J. Krishnamurti, an Indian philosopher considered to exemplify jnana yoga.
1961: Richard Hittleman, a disciple of Ramana Maharshi, starts a TV show on which he demonstrates yoga poses. His books, including “The Twenty-Eight-
Day Yoga Plan,” sold millions of copies.
1966: B.K.S. Iyengar publishes “Light on Yoga,” still considered the bible of yoga.
1972: Lilias Folan debuts her PBS-TV series, “Lilias! Yoga and You,” which attracts millions of viewers.
1973: First Iyengar Yoga studio opens in Ann Arbor, Mich.
1984: The First International Iyengar Convention is held in San Francisco, attracting 800 people.
2001: The “Oprah Winfrey Show” devotes a whole program to yoga. She featured Rodney Yee, an Iyengar instructor who appeared in many Gaiam videos. The next day, 19 of the 20 highest-selling videos on Amazon.com were from Gaiam, with the top two sellers being the videos Oprah mentioned.
2005: There are 529 certified Iyengar teachers in America, teaching in
268 cities.
