Top 297 Quotes & Sayings by B.K.S. Iyengar - Page 3

In order to find out how to reveal our innermost Being, the sages explored the various sheaths of existence, starting from body and progressing through mind and intelligence, and ultimately to the soul. The yogic journey guides us from our periphery, the body, to the center ofour being, the soul. The aim is to integrate the variouslayers so that the inner divinity shines out as through clear glass.

First yoga deals with health, strength and conquest of the body. Next, it lifts the veil of difference between the body and the mind. Lastly, it leads the Sadhaka to peace and unalloyed purity.

When you see a mistake in somebody else, try to find if you are making the same mistake.

How can you know God if you don't know your big toe?

Yoga is firstly for individual growth, but through individual growth, society and community develop.

Live before you die, so that death is also a lively celebration.

Spirituality is not some external goal that one must seek, but a part of the divine core of each of us, which we must reveal.

Fear and fatigue block the mind. Face both, then courage and confidence flows into you.

The back is like a frame, the front body, the painting that it throws into relief.

Many ask me whether pranayama ... postpones old age. Why worry about it? Death is certain. Let it come when it comes. Just keep working. The soul has no age. It doesn't die. Only the body decays. And yet, we must never forget the body, since it is the garden we must cherish and cultivate.

We need sound bodies so we can develop sound minds.

Extension brings space, space brings freedom, freedom brings precision. Precision is truth.

One has to see oneself through one's actions, works, and mind. Knowing the Self by the self is not as easy as writing that line. A #? yogi sees things in every movement he makes, maybe when practicing, maybe when teaching, or maybe when talking to people. You should have courage in your convictions and pursue what is dear to you all these years.

The supreme adventure in a man's life is his journey back to his Creator.

Happy is the man who knows how to distinguish the real from the unreal, the eternal from the transient and the good from the pleasant by his discrimination and wisdom.

Willpower is concrete, not ethereal. When you do something, you demonstrate your willpower, and it becomes all the easier to have the same power of will the next time.

The best way to overcome fear is to face with equanimity the situation of which one is afraid.

You have to get rid of borders, limits, and classifications; then light comes. We see everything on the screen of our ideas. We must get rid of that screen to be able to see what is behind. X's ideas are limited, that is why he remains on the surface. Y got rid of the limits, so she always goes to the depths. We should always meet people and new subjects with no set frame of mind. We have to live like that even after long acquaintance. We must get rid of every set idea to approach everything and everyone with love.

The yogi learns to forget the past and takes no thought for the morrow. He lives in the eternal present.

Yoga is effort. Only practice is important. The rest of knowledge is only theory.

Yoga is an art, a science and a philosophy. It touches the life of man at every level, physical, mental, and spiritual. It is a practical method for making one's life purposeful, useful and noble.

You must do the asana with your soul. How can you do an asana with your soul? We can only do it with the organ of the body that is closest to the soul - the heart. So a virtuous asana is done from the heart and not from the head. Then you are not just doing it, but you are in it. Many people try to think their way into an asana, but you must instead feel your way into it through love and devotion

Death is unimportant to a yogi; he does not mind when he is going to die. What happens after death is immaterial to him. He is only concerned with life-with how he can use his life for the betterment of humanity. Having undergone various types of pain in his life and having acquired a certain mastery over pain, he develops compassion to help society and maintains himself in purity and holiness. The yogi has no interest beyond that.

It is while practicing yoga asanas that you learn the art of adjustment.

Yoga is more than physical. It is cellular, mental, intellectual and spiritual-it involves man in his entire being

As long as you do not feel the serenity in the body, in each and every joint, there is no chance for emancipation. You are in bondage. So while you are sweating and aching, let your heart be light and let it fill your body with gladness. You are not only becoming free, but you are also being free. What is not to be glad about? The pain is temporary. The freedom is permanent.

One's spiritual realization lies in none other than how one walks among and interacts with one's fellow beings.

Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.

The hardness of a diamond is part of its usefulness, but its true value is in the light that shines through it.

Be inspired but not proud.

To do is hard, but to teach is still harder. Do not teach only to teach. Teach to improve the pupil. To be a teacher requires tremendous, vigorous discipline on oneself. We are teachers because somebody demands it from us. But the teacher should first rub his own self, and teach afterwards

Illuminated emancipation, freedom, unalloyed and untainted bliss await you, but you have to choose to embark on the Inward Journey to discover it

When the mind is controlled and still what remains is the soul

If everyone practiced yoga, pharmacies would have to close.

Why think of liberation at some future time? Liberation is in the little things, here and now.

Love begets courage, moderation creates abundance and humility generates power. Courage without love is brutish. Abundance without moderation leads to over-indulgence and decay. Power without humility breeds arrogance and tyranny.

Asanas penetrate deep into each layer of the body and ultimately into the consciousness itself.

While doing the postures, your mind should be in half-consciousn ess, which does not mean sleep. It means silence, emptiness, space, which can then be filled with an acute awareness of the sensations given by the posture. You watch yourself from inside. It is a full silence.

Yoga is about the will, working with intelligence and self-reflexive consciousness, can free us from the inevitability of the wavering mind and outwardly directed senses.

As breath stills our mind, our energies are free to unhook from the senses and bend inward.

When the asana is correct, there is lightness, a freedom. Freedom comes when every part of the body is active. Let us be free in whatever posture we are doing. Let us be full in whatever we do.

Yoga is the golden key that unlocks the door to peace, tranquility and joy.

Approach each asana with freshness every day.

The ultimate goal of yoga is to realize the brilliance of your soul.

It is not yoga that injures, but the way one does yoga that leads to injury.

Yoga is an interior penetration leading to integration of being, senses, breath, mind, intelligence, consciousness, and Self. It is definitely an inward journey, evolution through involution, toward the Soul, which in turn desires to emerge and embrace you in its glory.

Backbends are not poses meant for expressionism. Backbends are meant to understand the back parts of our bodies. The front body can be seen with the eyes, but the back body can only be felt. That's why I say these are the most advanced postures, where the mind begins to look at the back.

We often fool ourselves that we are concentrating because we fix our attention on wavering objects.

You know the known, so go a little into the unknown. The mind that is caught up in the known - extended a little beyond reason. The moment you go beyond , you move in the soul. Releasing the bondage of your mind to extend further, reach the unknown a little more. The further you go, you realize that the known is limited and the unknown is vast.

As each individual is electrically alive and dynamic, so yoga is a living, dynamic force in life. In order to savor its essence, one needs a religiously attentive dynamic practice done with awareness and absorption.

People remind me of my age, but while practising I am beyond my body and its age.

Is it necessary to practice all these asanas, further and further? Is it necessary to develop scientific researches further and further? To a yogi, the body is a laboratory, a field of experiments and perpetual researches.

Ignorance has no beginning, but it has an end. There is a beginning but no end to knowledge.

There is only one reality, but there are many ways that reality can be interpreted.

The material body has a practical reality that is accessible. It is here and now, and we can do something with it. However, we must not forget that the innermost part of our being is also trying to help us. It wants to come out to the surface and express itself.

Yoga aims for complete awareness in everything you do.

It is through the body that everything comes to the mind. It is through and with your body that you have to reach realization of being a spark of divinity. How can we neglect the temple of the spirit?

Why should you practice Yoga? To kindle the divine fire within yourself. Everyone has a dormant spark of divinity in him which has to be fanned into flame.

Asana is perfect firmness of body, steadiness of intelligence, and benevolence of spirit.

All of us have a dormant spark of divinity in us which has to be fanned into flame by yoga.