Viniyoga means the practical application or use of yoga. In 1983 after a life of teaching and sharing yoga Desikachar started to use Viniyoga to mark or brand the lineage of yoga he came from and passed on. To truly understand what any lineage is, you have to look at where it came from and the journey those teachers and teachings took along the way.
The Viniyoga teachings came from Tirumalai Krishnamacharya through his son Desikachar. Desikachar was the first teacher to teach Viniyoga, but he is far from the last. Viniyoga is very popular and active in Southern California. Maybe this is due to availability, or perhaps these teachings appealed to people in this region. It’s hard to tell why it took hold here, but it did, and as a result, many of the teachers in this region study the teachings of this lineage. Very few modern yoga teachers stick solely to one teacher or lineage.
As a result of the written word, the internet, and modern life aspects like the ease of travel, yoga lineage is so much more complicated. Any yoga teacher can learn and be influenced not only by their teacher and their own life experiences but also by many other avenues of teachings and lineages. From the start, my second teacher talked about the Viniyoga lineage. Surprisingly in researching my lineage, that second teacher (Gerhard Gessner – Prana Yoga in La Jolla, CA) is the only one that had lineage information in his bio.
I didn’t know the term Viniyoga until I kept hearing it from a group of teachers. Eight years into my career (that’s 20 years into my practice), I realize that the Viniyoga lineage is the closest to my own lineage. Like my teacher (Robert Birnberg) and his teacher before him (Desikachar) they did not feel the need to name a yoga lineage they are instead just focused on the teaching of the principles and transparency of lineage. Viniyoga was named or created in honor of, or posthumously, Desikachar. And that is why I find it to be the closest well-known lineage to my own.
I have found many of the teachers I have studied under in this same lineage. I also learned that the teachers who have impacted me brought me training that seemed so different – even when presenting the same poses and material they were training in a different lineage!
I have included as much lineage information as I currently have, and I expect this chart will continue to grow as I continue my journey. Look for me at the bottom of the green ovals, and my teachers have pink stars.
* This is a work in progress. Please email me if you have any information that would be a good addition to the chart.
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