Sitting on the cool black marble staircase of the Panmana Ashram towards the end of my teaching course, I began to contemplate establishing a teaching practice back in my home town of Adelaide.

My thoughts wandered from the practical, such as where I could teach, to the philosophical, such as how I could integrate the vast spiritual traditions of yoga into my classes. I also began to meditate on a name for my practice and found myself drawn to the word Indra.

Not knowing its source or meaning, I first asked my Swami, who told me that Indra is the name of the Hindu King of the Gods and ruler of the heavens. He is a symbol of courage and strength. Perfect, I thought! But less pleasingly he went on to inform me that Indra is also the warrior god of rain and thunderstorms…. perhaps not quite what I had in mind!

Wanting to know more I turned next to ‘professor Google’ and was surprised to find that a search of the terms ‘yoga’ and ‘indra’ produced a long list of results about Indra Devi, a real person known as the Mother of Western Yoga.

Counting the likes of Elizabeth Arden, Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe and Gloria Swanson among her students, Indra Devi was a yoga pioneer.

Indra Devi – the Mother of Western Yoga

My search revealed that Indra Devi was born Eugenie Peterson in 1899 into a privileged Latvian family. She studied as an actress and dancer in Germany, where she met a renowned philosopher and yogi called J. Krishnamurti and became fascinated with India. After an initial trip funded by a suitor, she later sold all of her possessions to buy a one way ticket to India where she initially became a Bollywood actress. A spiritual yearning and heart problems led her to explore the path of yoga, and she became the first foreign woman accepted to study with the legendary guru Tirumalai Krishnamacharya.

Indra Devi moved to Hollywood USA in 1947. There she opened her yoga school, attracting movie stars and Joe public alike. She gradually developed a style of yoga suitable for westerners, while emphasising that her method relied on the classical yoga teachings of Patanjali.

So that settled it! I was inspired by the story of this trailblazing woman, whose passion for yoga kept her teaching and sharing the wisdom and joy of yoga until her passing at the age of 102. I can’t honestly say why I was drawn to the name Yoga Indra, but I am pleased to be able to honour the memory and work of such an amazing and vital lady.