Who is Yogi Amrit Desai?
Yogi Amrit Desai, popularly known as Gurudev Shri Amrit, is a renowned yoga teacher who pioneered Yoga, especially Hatha Yoga, in the West in the early 1960s. Yogi Amrit has been repeatedly honoured as one of the earliest pioneers to play a significant role in bringing Yoga to the West. He was honoured with Jagadacharya (World Teacher) in 1980. He travelled extensively and widely gave yoga nidra and meditational lectures in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. He founded five yoga and health centres in the US and is a co-founder of Ayurvedic Sciences University.
Amrit Desai’s early life
Amrit Desai was born on 16th October 1932 in Halol, Gujarat. At age 10, Amrit Desai’s family moved to Halol, where he met his guru, Swami Kripalvananda (Bapuji).
Yoga contributions
In the early 1960s, he started training Yoga teachers. More than 10,000 yoga and yoga nidra teachers have been certified and trained in 45 countries, including many European countries, China, Japan, Russia, Australia, Iceland, and Canada. Over the years, he has founded some of North America’s largest non-profit Yoga centres. Through his yoga initiatives, the Yoga Society of Pennsylvania was founded in 1966, and by 1970, it had become the largest of its kind.
Kripalu Yoga lineage
Desai created a form of Hatha Yoga called Kripalu Yoga in honour of his guru. His Meditation in Motion is based on Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga. The system combines the rigorous discipline of Ashtanga yoga and surrender, Kundalini yoga. He is the creator of two Yoga brands, namely ‘Kripalu Yoga and I AM Yoga,’ and the founder of five Yoga and health centres in the US. He is the first carrier of the Lord Lakulish and Kripalu Shaktipat Lineage to the West.
Amrit Desai’s I Am Yoga (Yoga Nidra)
The Integrative Amrit Method (I AM) of Yoga Nidra is designed as more than a form of relaxation. This meditation technique relaxes the body and creates a different relationship with stress-producing thoughts and emotions. The Integrative Amrit Method, I AM Yoga, includes Amrit Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Quantum Breath Meditation, and Yoga Therapy.
Kundalini awakening
Yogi Amrit’s Kundalini awakening revolves around Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and the practice of Ashtanga Yoga. The Integrated Amrit Method (I AM Yoga) is Meditation in Motion. As a result, the inner dimension of Yoga creates powerful therapeutic and transformative benefits that are missing in the mainstream approach to the practice of Hatha Yoga.
Amrit Yoga Institute, Florida
The centrehonoured offers professional training in Yoga, yoga nidra, yoga therapy, Quantum Breath meditation, and many health and spirituality-related programs.
Awards
- He was honored by the World Religious Parliament founded by Swami Vivekananda with the esteemed title of Jagadacharya (World Teacher) in 1980 in New Delhi.
- Vishwa Yoga Ratna by the Vishwa Unnayan Samsad in 1987.
- Unity in Yoga Plaque in 1993
- Conferred the Doctor of Yoga Science in 1974 by Jagadaguru Shankaracharya Maharaj, Dwarka.
Books
- Kripalu Yoga: Meditation-in-Motion (1985)
- In the Presence of a Master (1992)
- Amrit Yoga: Explore, Expand, Experience (2004)
- Amrit Yoga and the Yoga Sutras (2010)
- Yoga of Relationships (2015)
- Embodying the Power of the Zero Stress Zone (2017)
