Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888-1989) is credited with being instrumental in the resurgence of interest in hatha yoga. His students included Indra Devi, B.K.S. Iyengar, major yoga teachers in their own right. Born in 1888 in Mysore, India, Krishnamacharya received his first instruction in Sanskrit and yoga from his father. He went on to attend the Royal College of Mysore and later spent seven years studying in Tibet. He returned to Mysore in 1924 and later opened a yoga school. In 1976, Krishnamacharya's son and closest disciple, T.K.V. Desikachar, founded the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, a yoga center in Madras. Krishnamacharya worked there until his death in 1989.

Although he distanced himself from the term later in life, his style or school of yoga has sometimes been referred to as Viniyoga.