--- title: Mark International Day of Yoga With Vintage Yoga Photos description: For the International Day of Yoga on June 21, revisit LIFE Magazine's yoga photos from the days before there was a studio in every city canonical: https://time.com/4359070/yoga-history-photos/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-21T12:00:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:37.408Z og:title: Mark International Day of Yoga With Vintage Yoga Photos og:description: For the International Day of Yoga on June 21, revisit LIFE Magazine's archive of yoga photos from the days before there was a studio in every city og:url: https://time.com/4359070/yoga-history-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858a5b49f15b78f6/698896a6cd1bba7c03700ff4/160606-international-yoga-day-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: International Yoga Day og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mark International Day of Yoga With Vintage Yoga Photos twitter:description: For the International Day of Yoga on June 21, revisit LIFE Magazine's archive of yoga photos from the days before there was a studio in every city twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858a5b49f15b78f6/698896a6cd1bba7c03700ff4/160606-international-yoga-day-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Yoga's 20th-Century Evolution Captured in Classic Photographs by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Jun 21, 2016 12:00 PM UTC  Boy twisting himself into a yoga position, 1940. Boy twisting himself into a yoga position, 1940.Wallace Kirkland—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Jun 21, 2016 12:00 PM UTC When this year’s [International Day of Yoga](http://idayofyoga.org/) rolls around on Tuesday, there will be plenty of ways for yoga devotees in the U.S. and around the world to celebrate. A survey conducted earlier this year by _Yoga Journal_ and Yoga Alliance [found](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2016-yoga-in-america-study-conducted-by-yoga-journal-and-yoga-alliance-reveals-growth-and-benefits-of-the-practice-300203418.html) that the number of Americans who practice yoga was up to 36 million, with those people spending a combined $16 billion a year on accessories, classes and other yoga expenses. In addition, 80 million people who had never done yoga said they thought chances were good that they’d give it a shot this year. That means things have seriously changed since the early 20th century, when the practice first began to creep into the American spiritual and athletic mainstream. But, from LIFE Magazine’s very first years in the 1930s, the publication and its photographers were chronicling that growth. In 1937, the magazine [followed](https://books.google.com/books?id=kksEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA9&dq=yoga&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir-brmiajNAhVEMj4KHR78BYkQ6AEIMTAA#v=onepage&q=yoga&f=false) the news that a Yale scholar from India had examined the science behind yoga, which was explained to readers as a mystic Hindu practice that let the expert, through muscular control, detach from mind and body to allow the “higher world-soul” to join with him. “Whatever the religious result of yogic exercises may be,” the magazine reported, “they undoubtedly have therapeutic value, help general bodily health.” A few years later, [in the article from which the first slide above is drawn](https://books.google.com/books?id=EEkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10&dq=yoga&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir-brmiajNAhVEMj4KHR78BYkQ6AEIOTAC#v=onepage&q=yoga&f=false), the magazine profiled the “lithe young devotees of an ancient and honorable religion” whom photographer Wallace Kirkland had met on a trip to India. In the decades that followed, with the help of [celebrities like violinist Yehudi Menuhin](https://books.google.com/books?id=FkIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA93&dq=yoga&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir-brmiajNAhVEMj4KHR78BYkQ6AEINTAB#v=onepage&q=yoga&f=false) and [participants in the truth-seeking of the 1960s and ’70s](https://books.google.com/books?id=j1AEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA25&dq=yoga&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir-brmiajNAhVEMj4KHR78BYkQ6AEIQTAE#v=onepage&q=yoga&f=false), the magazine stopped having to explain what yoga meant to readers. As for the reason behind the practice’s popularity, perhaps it all came down to the explanation offered by “yoga guerrilla” profiled in 1970, and pictured above in the 16th slide: “Yoga gets me reconnected,” he [told](https://books.google.com/books?id=j1AEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA25&dq=yoga&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQuNv2kKjNAhWE4D4KHaXUBl0Q6AEIPzAE#v=onepage&q=yoga&f=false) LIFE. “As soon as I get into the position it begins to happen for me. The center of the earth becomes located in my stomach, my head is in the stars, and yet I am here too. Yoga really works, which is why I think it will be popular.”  Boy twisting himself into a yoga position, 1940. Wallace Kirkland—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Boy twisting himself into a yoga position, 1940. Wallace Kirkland—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Folk singer John Jacob Niles performing elbow-standing exercise, adapted from yoga, to relax. 1943. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Hindu man practicing yoga, 1949. Eliot Elisofon—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Hindu man practicing yoga, 1949. Eliot Elisofon—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Ballet Dancer and Movie Actress Ricky Soma arching back as Tony Soma (R) and family take various Yoga positions, 1947. Lisa Larsen—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Sir Paul Duke on the BBC TV show, "Laughter and Life" showing yoga exercises, 1949. William Sumits—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Violinist Yehudi Menuhinobserving as Yogi Vithaldas practices Yoga, 1953. Wallace Kirkland—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Hindu swami performing yoga on Ganges riverbank, 1953. James Burke—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Teenagers practicing yoga, 1953. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Douglas Madsen, sometime sculptor, clothes and jewelry designer, teaches yoga to some of his neighbors in Big Sur, 1959. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  People practicing yoga in Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  American women at Rancho La Puerta learning yoga exercises, 1962. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Entertainer Mitzi Gaynor performing yoga, 1962. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Women practicing yoga at the Every Woman's Village, 1966. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Hippie Tom Law, during his yoga meditations in desert, 1969. Michael Mauney—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Yoga Psychedelic Trip, 1970. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Yoga Psychedelic Trip, 1970. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4359070/yoga-history-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4359070/yoga-history-photos/"},"headline":"Yoga's 20th-Century Evolution Captured in Classic Photographs","datePublished":"2016-06-21T12:00:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:37.408Z","description":"For the International Day of Yoga on June 21, revisit LIFE Magazine's archive of yoga photos from the days before there was a studio in every city","url":"https://time.com/4359070/yoga-history-photos/","keywords":["curiosities","Newsfeed","Sports topic","photography","yoga","LIFE Magazine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858a5b49f15b78f6/698896a6cd1bba7c03700ff4/160606-international-yoga-day-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858a5b49f15b78f6/698896a6cd1bba7c03700ff4/160606-international-yoga-day-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"International Yoga Day","caption":"Vintage Yoga photo from LIFE magazine.","creditText":"Wallace Kirkland—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/curiosities/","name":"curiosities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4359070/yoga-history-photos/","name":"Yoga's 20th-Century Evolution Captured in Classic Photographs"}}]}] ```