Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion:
Women’s History Month 2024
Lovingly referred to as the first lady of yoga, Indra Devi was perhaps one of the most influential early practitioners of yoga in the United States in the mid-to-late 1940s. Though Devi died in 2002 at the age of 102, she is (and always will be) considered instrumental in both the global diffusion of the practice of yoga as well as specifically in the United States.
Though her achievements, impact, and influence are impossible to narrow down, she is best known as a pioneer in the teaching of yoga and one of the earliest yoga disciplines of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, an instructor considered the father of modern yoga. In 1937, she was admitted to his school, winning her the title of the first woman chela (pupil) and notably the first western woman ever at an Indian ashram.
Over the course of her life, she taught and diffused yoga in China, India, Russia, the United States, Mexico, and beyond—she became one of the most impactful teachers and is credited as one of the most influential global diffusers of yoga.
Lizzy Prindle
