Yoga was first introduced to America by Swami Vivekananda who came to USA in 1893 to address the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. He made a lasting impact on the delegates and lectured at major universities and retreats during his stay of about four years. He started the Vedantic centre in New York in 1896 and taught Raja Yoga classes. He focused on the religious aspect of yoga, which dealt with how to use meditation to become closer to God.

In 1920, Paramahansa Yogananda came as India’s delegate to the International Congress of Religious Leaders in Boston. He established Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles. Today, there are seven SRF centers in California where Yogananda’s meditation and Kriya yoga techniques are taught on regular basis. Again, his Kriya yoga technique is for the realization of God.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi brought yoga to the United States in 1959 in the form of Transcendental Meditation (TM). TM offered tangible yoga and became popular in reducing stress and fatigue. During 1960’s and 1970’s, TM became “the most widely practiced self-development program in the United States.”

Yogi Bhajan came to California in 1969 and started teaching “Kundalini Yoga, the Yoga of Awareness.” He was an inspiring teacher and developed a large following. Several of his followers became yoga teachers and some opened their yoga studios in various parts of the world, popularizing yoga for health and fitness. Thus began yoga evolution from spiritual to physical during the 1970s and 1980s.

B.K.S. Iyengar, considered one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world, was the founder of “Iyengar Yoga”. He was the author of many books on yoga practice and was often referred to as “the father of modern yoga”. His book, Light on Yoga, is called “the bible of yoga” and has been the source book for yoga students. Iyengar brought yoga to the west in the 70s and started hundreds of yoga centers, teaching Iyengar yoga which focuses on the correct alignment of the body within each yoga pose, making use of straps, wooden blocks, and other objects as aids in achieving the correct postures. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991, the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2014.