Amrit Desai is a pioneer of yoga in the West, and one of the few remaining living yoga gurus who originally brought over the authentic teachings of yoga in the early 1960s. He is the creator of two brands of yoga, Kripalu Yoga and I AM Yoga, and is the founder of five yoga and health centers in the US. His yoga training programs have reached more than 40 countries worldwide and over 8,000 teachers have been certified. Homegrown Gurus (2013) states: "Although Desai has not received scholarly attention, he has arguably been one of the most influential and sought-after figures in the development of Hatha Yoga in America over the last 40 years." Biography Early life Born on 16 October 1932, Amrit Desai is the second son of Chimanlal, a village merchant, and Buribhen Desa in Pratappura in Gujarat, India. When Amrit was ten, the family moved to Halol. At age 15, he met his guru, Swami Kripalvananda (Bapuji), a wandering Shaivite monk and kundalini yoga master who was offering free talks on the Bhagavad Gita in Halol. Desai taught himself yoga asana (postures) from a chart he found tacked to the wall of the local gym. He started teaching others outside the cowshed where his guru lived. After the swami observed him teaching one day, he allowed him to witness his private sadhana. The swami went into a trance-like state and began to perform movements unlike anything he had seen on the asana charts. Desai recalls: "The pranic energy became so strong his body was hurled across the room with tremendous force. As I watched in awe, he was dancing, weaving in and out of complicated asanas." After studying engineering and training with the Indian Air Force in Madras, Desai returned to Halol and took a job teaching art at the local high school. He married his betrothed, Urmila Shah, in January 1955. The couple moved to Ahmedabad a year later where he earned his art diploma over the next four years. They had three children between 1959 and 1968. He saved enough money to travel to America, and in February 1960, arrived at the Philadelphia College of Art with only enough money in his pocket to cover his first semester's tuition and rent. By teaching yoga and washing dishes alongside his studies, he saved enough money to bring his wife and infant son to the US two