154: Meet the Grandmother of Yoga, Indra Devi
Age Less / Live More
Lucas Rockwood
4.8 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 June 2015
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Yoga teaching was dominated by men until Russian-born, Indra Devi, came to Los Angeles in 1947 and quietly changed the direction of modern yoga forever. Devi was not only the first woman to break through the gender barrier, she was also the first western woman to study and teach in India with Krishnamacharya, a modern master whose students spread yoga throughout the world.
On this week’s Yoga Talk Show, writer and researcher, Michelle Goldberg, shares highlights from her newest book all about the exceptional life of Indra Devi who is affectionately referred to as the grandmother of modern yoga.
Michelle Goldberg is an author and senior contributing writer for The Nation and her work has appeared in Salon.com, The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, Glamour, Rolling Stone, New York, The Guardian (UK) and The New Republic.
Her books include: Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World, and her newest title, The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi, the Woman Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West
In this Show, You'll learn:
- How a Russian-born woman became a leading voice for yoga in the West during a time when Indian men were considered the authorities on yoga
- The peculiar India-Los Angeles connection in most modern yoga
- What it meant to be a yoga teacher over 50 years ago
- Why modern yoga is much “younger” than most people believe
Links & References from the Show:
www.MichelleGoldberg.net
Got questions?
Write to us: podcast@yogabody.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You call that yoga? |
| 0:02.0 | I call that acrobat. |
| 0:04.0 | Hello and welcome to the yoga talk show. |
| 0:09.0 | This is Lucas Rockwood. |
| 0:10.0 | Thanks for tuning in. |
| 0:11.0 | This show is all about health, wellness, mind, body, fitness, overcoming injuries, eating plant-based nutrition, and a whole lot more. |
| 0:19.0 | Today's episode is one of the more cerebral we've ever done. I think it's an important topic and I wanted to spend some time on it. |
| 0:26.0 | Michelle Goldberg, who's a very well-renowned author and writer, is joining us to talk about her new book which is all about a woman named |
| 0:34.0 | Indra Debbie who you've probably never heard of. She is the grandmother of |
| 0:38.6 | Modern Yoga. She's one of the most prominent Modern Yoga women who came to Los Angeles in the 40s and |
| 0:46.2 | 50s and laid the groundwork for what has become really a global movement and |
| 0:51.3 | yet nobody's ever heard of her. |
| 0:53.2 | Yoga history is one of these very funny topics where there is more confusion than there |
| 0:58.8 | is clarity. |
| 1:00.0 | In recent years there's been some good books that have come out. |
| 1:02.8 | One of the best ones is called Yoga Body by Mark Singleton. |
| 1:06.0 | Has nothing to do with my Yoga Body Company, just coincidentally has the same name. |
| 1:10.1 | Unfortunately, it's a very academic book, so it's really hard to get through. |
| 1:13.1 | It's a difficult read, but it has a ton of amazing information talking about the real history, |
| 1:18.4 | the actual history of modern yoga practice. |
| 1:21.3 | I'm talking about that Tuesday night class 7 PM 90 minutes hot |
| 1:24.7 | and sweaty, vignasa, hot yoga, power flow, rock your abs, whatever it is. Where does this |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lucas Rockwood, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Lucas Rockwood and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.