Top 297 Quotes & Sayings by B.K.S. Iyengar - Page 2

Change leads to disappointment if it is not sustained. Transformation is sustained change, and it is achieved through practice.

The yogi cannot be afraid to die, because he has brought life to every cell of his body. We are afraid to die, because we are afraid we have not lived. The yogi has lived.

In whatever position one is in, or in whatever condition in life one is placed, one must find balance. Balance is the state of the present - the here and now. If you balance in the present, you are living in Eternity.

Without education, confidence does not come.

The challenge of yoga is to go beyond our limits - within reason. We continually expand the frame of the mind by using the canvas of the body. It is as if you were to stretch a canvas more and create a larger surface for a painting. But we must respect the present form of our body. If you pull too much at once, we will rip the canvas. If the practice of today damages the practice of tomorrow, it is not correct practice.

Keep your attention internal, not external, not worrying about what others see, but what the Self sees.

The beauty of a lake reflects the beauty around it. When the mind is still, the beauty of the Self is seen reflected in it.

Do not aim low, you will miss the mark. Aim high and you will be on a threshold of bliss.

You must purge yourself before finding faults in others. When you see a mistake in somebody else, try to find if you are making the same mistake. This is the way to take judgment and to turn it into improvement.

Willpower is nothing but willingness to do.

As we explore the soul, it is important to remember that this exploration will take place within nature (the body), for that is where and what we are.

Everybody should live quietly whether his experiences are happy or sad, whether they are successes or failures. That is contentment.

Without the accurate spine movement, one can't exist dynamically.

Hard work and humility are essential for spiritual sadhana.

Through surrender the aspirant's ego is effaced, and . . . grace . . . pours down upon him like a torrential rain.

We are a little piece of continual change, looking at an infinite quantity of continual change.

Do not stop trying just because perfection eludes you.

Health is not a commodity to be bargained for. It has to be earned through sweat.

A yogi never forgets that health must begin with the body. . . .Physical health is not a commodity to be bargained for. Nor can it be swallowed in the form of drugs and pills. . . . It is something that we must build up. You have to create within yourself the experience of beauty, liberation, and infinity. This is health.

I am standing on my own altar; The poses are my prayers.

Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit. When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open.

Savasana is being without was, being without will be. It is being without anyone who is.

In whatever you are doing, be one: body, soul, mind. Do it beautifully and with purity.

The light that Yoga sheds on life is something special. It is transformative. It does not just change the way we see things; it transforms the person who sees.

If you have the right mind, your body can do anything.

It is through the alignment of the body that I discovered the alignment of my mind, self, and intelligence.

A scientist sets out to conquer nature through knowledge - external nature, external knowledge. By these means he may split the atom and achieve external power. A yogi sets out to explore his own internal nature, to penetrate the atom (atma) of being. He does not gain dominion over wide lands and restless seas, but over his own recalcitrant flesh and febrile mind.

There is a universal reality in ourselves that aligns us with a universal reality that is everywhere.

When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world.

Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life, where you do not feel like you are constantly trying to fit broken pieces together.

If you practice yoga every day with perseverance, you will be able to face the turmoil of life with steadiness and maturity.

Yoga is as old and traditional as civilization, yet it persists in modern society as a means to achieving essential vitality. But yoga demands that we develop not only strength in body but attention and awareness in mind.The yogi knows that the physical body is not only the temple for our soul but the means by which we embark on the inward journey toward the core.

Firmness in the body leads to firmness in the nervous system.

It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity.

Yoga is the rule book for playing the game of Life, but in this game no one needs to lose. It is tough, and you need to train hard. It requires the willingness to think for yourself, to observe and correct, and to surmount occasional setbacks. It demands honesty, sustained application, and above all love in your heart.

The brain is the hardest part of the body to adjust in asanas.

Breath is the vehicle of consciousness and so, by its slow measured observation and distribution, we learn to tug our attention away from external desires toward a judicious, intelligent awareness.

Practice doing yoga with an innocent mind. Then, you will be able to cognize the things happening in your body

When I stretch, I stretch in such a way that my awareness moves, and a gate of awareness finally opens.

Health begins with firmness in the body, deepens to emotional stability, then leads to intellectual clarity, wisdom and finally the unveiling of the soul.

That's the beauty of backbends. Emotionally we can never be disturbed, for the emotional centre becomes an extrovert. When you do Viparita Dandasana, your head looks backwards, but your conscious mind stretches everywhere. Study by observing how the mind gets regulated. You not only know the freedom in the spine, but also the freedom in the spirit.

There is no difference in our souls...That is what yoga teaches. When you and I meet together, we forget ourselves -- our cultures and classes. There are no divisions, and we talk mind to mind, soul to soul. We are no different in our deepest needs. We are all humans.

In Savasana or in meditation, the light of the eyes is drawn towards the lotus of the heart, so that the seat of the intelligence of the head is brought into contact with the seat of the intelligence of the heart, which is called the mind. Thus one passes from the individualistic state of consciousness to the universal state of consciousness. It is the merging of the intellect of the brain with the intellect of the soul.

Any action done with beauty and purity, and in complete harmony of body, mind and soul, is Art.

We are creatures that are designed for continual challenge. We must grow or we begin to die....So just standing still isn't really an option. We have to move on. If not, disturbances will come.

Yoga cultivates the ways of maintaining a balanced attitude in day-to-day life and endows skill in the performance of one's actions.

Our greed comes from our fear that we will not have enough - whether it is money or love that we grasp. Yoga teaches us to let go of these fears and so to realize the abundance around us and within us.

As long as the body is not in perfect health, you think about it, and that prevents you from thinking of the mind. The sound mind is a sound body.

There is no difference in souls, only the ideas about ourselves that we wear.

The body is the prop for the soul. So why not let the body be propped by a wall or a block?

I don't stretch my body as if it is an object. I do yoga from the self towards the body, not the other way around.

As animals, we walk the earth. As bearers of divine essence, we are among the stars. As human beings, we are caught in the middle, seeking to reconcile the paradox of how to make our way upon earth while striving for something more permanent and more profound.

Action is movement with intelligence

The cure to combat the three Ss- stress, strain, and speed- can be found in three Ws- the work of devoted practice, the wisdom that comes of understanding the self and the world, and worship because ultimately surrendering to what we cannot control allows the ego to relax and lose the anxiety of its own infinitesimally small self in the infinitude of the divine.

If you keep your armpits open, you won't get depressed.

A good teacher helps you explore the maximum.

Know your capacities and continually improve upon them.

If the foundation is firm the building can withstand calamities. The practice of yoga is the foundation so that the self is not shaken under any circumstances.

An intellectual mind that is unconnected to the heart is an uncultivated mind.

We can rise above our limitations, only once we recognize them.