Amrit Desai

Amrit Desai is a yoga guru from India who helped introduce yoga to the West in the 1960s. He created Kripalu Yoga and I AM Yoga, and is the founder of several yoga and health centers in the US. In 1994 Desai admitted to sexual contact with at least three female resident disciples at the Kripalu Center and was forced to resign his position as Spiritual Director there.

Desai has been called "one of the most influential and sought-after figures in the development of Hatha Yoga in America over the last 40 years."

Early life and education Desai was born on 16 October 1932 in Pratappura in Gujarat, India to Chimanlal, a village merchant, and Buribhen Desa. At age ten, the family moved to Halol. At age 15, he encountered Swami Kripalvananda (Bapuji), a wandering Shaivite monk and kundalini yoga master

After studying engineering and training with the Indian Air Force in Madras, Desai returned to Halol where he took a job teaching art at the local high school. He married Urmila Shah in January 1955. The following year the couple moved to Ahmedabad, where he earned his art diploma over the next four years.

Desai traveled to the United States in February 1960 and entered the Philadelphia College of Art. His wife and infant son later joined him.

In 1970, Desai created a form of hatha yoga called Kripalu Yoga in honour of his guru. In 1976, an additional ashram was opened in Summit Station, Pennsylvania; the residential staff grew to 150. In 1983, the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health was founded in Lenox, MA. In an open letter to the Kripalu community, Desai stated "I deeply regret any suffering I have caused to the people directly involved and to the entire Kripalu family."