Pierre Bernard introduced yoga and Tantric mysticism to the United States in the early twentieth century, earning the hilariously grandiose moniker Oom the Omnipotent from sensationalist newspapers.

Yoga Arrived in New York as Both Practice and Mystery

For Pierre Bernard’s students, yoga was not just a set of poses. His teaching joined physical postures and controlled breathing to ideas drawn from Tantra, a diverse family of Indian religious traditions involving ritual, discipline, and the transformation of ordinary experience. In that setting, breath and body were not simply fitness tools; they were part of a larger attempt to train attention and pursue spiritual knowledge.

That combination made the teaching intriguing—and difficult for American audiences to categorize. Bernard offered an unfamiliar practice in a city where many people had little direct knowledge of Indian traditions. His wealthy students could encounter it through private lessons, while newspapers presented its teacher as an exotic spectacle.

The Press Made the Teacher Part of the Story

The nickname “Oom the Omnipotent” captured a tension in Bernard’s public image: he claimed authority over esoteric teachings, while reporters turned that authority into a headline. Sensational coverage could attract attention, but it also made the practice seem strange or scandalous rather than intellectual and disciplined.

Bernard’s significance lies partly in that uneasy introduction. Yoga reached some Americans not through a neutral account of its traditions, but through a teacher who adapted and presented them—and through a press eager to dramatize him. The result was a public image in which breathing and postures sat beside the promise of hidden spiritual knowledge.