BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - Russian-born Indra Devi, known to followers as the "First Lady of Yoga" who taught Hollywood how to stretch its limbs in the 1940s, died at 102 on Thursday in Argentina, her home for the past 17 years.

Born in Riga in 1899, Devi went to India in 1927 drawn by its spirituality and 10 years later was admitted to an ashram to study a discipline previously almost closed to women.

She opened the first U.S. yoga studio in California in 1947 and introduced the ancient Oriental practice, which blends strenuous physical stretches with spiritual balance, to stars like Gloria Swanson and violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

Her popular books "Forever Young," "Forever Healthy," "Yoga for Americans" and five others are credited with helping spread "hatha" yoga, which emphasizes the physical exercises popular with stressed-out urbanites all over the world.
The teacher died early in the morning of ailments "brought on by old age. She went in peace, without suffering at all," said David Lifar, head of the Indra Devi Foundation in Buenos Aires which she set up on moving to Argentina in 1985.