Michael O'Neill

Michael O’Neill, known for his photographs of the famous, first set out to make portraits of the most influential yogis of our time—B. K. S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois, T. K. V. Desikachar, Rodney Yee, Colleen Saidman Yee, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa—as well as those famed for integrating yoga into their high-profile lives, such as Donna Karan, Sting, and Trudie Styler. But as Michael’s own yoga practice deepened, so did his drive to look past the personalities and poses to document the roots of yoga. While meditating with monks in the Tibetan Plateau and living with sadhus in their tents at the Kumbh Mela, Michael said of his work: “All I wanted to do was pay homage to yoga’s classical lineage and understand this unique moment before it slips away.”