Top 297 Quotes & Sayings by B.K.S. Iyengar - Page 5

Intellectuals tend to be arrogant. Intelligence, like money, is a good servant but a bad master. When practicing pranayama, the yogi [makes] himself humble and without pride in his intellectual attainments.

When every asana is multi-petaled, why do you make it single petaled?

I am old, and death inevitably approaches. But both birth and death are beyond the will of a human being. They are not my domain. I do not think about it. Yoga has taught me to think of only working to live a useful life...I will never stop learning, and it have tried to share some lessons with you. I do pray that my ending will be your beginning. The great rewards and the countless blessings of a life spent following the Inward Journey await you.

If we become aware of its limitations and compulsions, we can transcend them.

As long as you do not live totally in the body, you do not live totally in the Self.

As the trunk is one but the branches are many, yoga is one but adaptations may vary.

The ribs are the wings of the body. Open your wings.

Yoga, an ancient but perfect science, deals with the evolution of humanity. This evolution includes all aspects of one's being, from bodily health to self-realization.

As we shave it happens that we cut ourself with the razor blade; this does not mean that we must not shave in the morning any longer. It is the same thing for yoga.

The commercialism may wash off sometime later.

All games are meaningless if you do not know the rules.

Think light! Try to impart a feeling of lightness to the body. Think light. This can be achieved by mentally extending yourself outwards from the centre of the body, i.e., think tall. Think not just of raising your arms but of extending them outwards and when you are holding them still, think again of reaching still further away from your body. Do not think of yourself as a small compressed suffering thing. Think of yourself as graceful and expanding - no matter how unlikely it may seem at the time.

By drawing our senses of perception inward, we are able to experience the control, silence, and quietness of the mind.

Where does the body end and the mind begin? Where does the mind end and the spirit begin? They cannot be divided as they are inter-related and but different aspects of the same all-pervading divine consciousness.

Do not live in the future, only the present is real

Freedom in a posture is when every joint is active.

As a breeze ruffles the surface of a lake and distorts the images reflected therein, so also the chitta vrtti (fluctuations of mind) disturb the peace of the mind. The still waters of a lake reflect the beauty around it. When the mind is still, the beauty of the Self is seen reflected in it.

One day you too may experience what I have experienced. So right away go and practise.

To master fear is the most important battle to win.

Knowledge of yoga is no substitute for practice.

I planted the seed, now you must work a lot otherwise the tiny plant will die.

The whole thrust of yogic philosophical and scientific inquiry has therefore been to examine the nature of being, with a view to learning to respond to the stresses of life without so many tremors and troubles.

As a well cut diamond has many facets, each reflecting a different color of light, so does the word yoga, each facet reflecting a different shade of meaning and revealing different aspects of the entire range of human endeavor to win inner peace and happiness.

Relaxation: In. Every. Pose. There. Should. Be. Repose.

Yoga takes us to an unconditioned freedom, because yoga sees even good habits as a form of conditioning or limitation.

Where there is yoga, there is prosperity, success, freedom and bliss.

People say that steadiness of mind is an end; no, it is a beginning. I am there; I can explain everything up to that point. Then I struggle to discover what comes after, so this steadiness is not an end, it is the beginning and the instrument.

The flexibility we gain in asana is the living symbol of the suppleness we gain in relation to life’s problems and challenges.

I also say with backbends, you have to be cautiously bold. Not carelessly bold. You have to descend to the dictation of the spine. You cannot command from the brain to do the poses. As you play with a child, guarding the child from injuries, similarly you have to play in backbends, guarding your spine.

There must be relaxation in full extension.

Asana done from the brain makes one heavy and done from the heart makes one light.

Yoga is nothing if it is not perfect harmonyof the body, senses, mind and intellect, reason, consciousness and self. When all these are integrated that is true yoga.

Feeling the movement of movements is wandering to the past or future. Living in the movements of movement is being in the present.

Your body is the child of your soul.

Giving does not impoverish us nor does withholding enrich us.

The practice of asanas purges the body of its impurities, bringing strength, firmness, calm, and clarity of mind.

In forward bends, one uses the outer mind while in backbends the outer mind is silenced and the inner mind is made to work.

Regarding perfection, that's a very difficult question. I can say that I have superseded most in my sadhana [practice]. I am in it, and my mind and my intelligence gets better in my sadhana, and it reaches a certain place. When I stretch, I stretch in such a way that my awareness moves, and a gate of awareness finally opens... My body is a laboratory, you can say. 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.

Not all practitioners can jump to that highest level. They have to climb, step by step from the physical sphere to reach the spiritual sphere. If it is treated as exercise it is not the fault of yoga but of the practitioners.

Life without tapas, is like a heart without love.

Asanas keep your body, as well as your mind, healthy and active

Yoga is meant for the purification of body and its exploration as well as for the refinement of the mind.

As a fire blazes brightly when the covering of ash over it is scattered by the wind, the divine fire within the body shines in all its majesty when the ashes of desire are scattered by the practice of pranayama.

Yoga is a means and an end.

Training of the mind and body leads to awareness of the soul

Do not allow past experiences to be imprinted on your mind. Perform asanas each time with a fresh mind and with a fresh approach. If you are repeating what you did before, you are living in the memory, so you are living in the past. That means you don't want to proceed beyond the experience of the past. Retaining that memory is saying, 'Yesterday I did it like that.' When I ask, 'Is there anything new from what I did yesterday?' then there is progress. Am I going forward or am I going backward? Then you understand how to create dynamism in a static asana.

The conjunction of effort, concentration and balance in asana forces us to live intensely in the present moment, a rare experience in modern life.

Purity is when there is no anxiety, no worry, no thinking.

The union of nature and soul removes the veil of ignorance that covers our intelligence.

What I was is unimportant, what I am now is important.

In backbends, one touches the body physically, mentally, intellectually, consciously and spiritually everywhere.

The supreme adventure in a man’s life is his journey back to his Creator. To reach the goal he needs well developed and co-ordinated functioning of his body, senses, mind, reason and Self.

When an asana is done correctly the body movements are smooth, there is lightness in the body and freedom in the mind.

The sleeping tortoise takes all its limbs into its carapace. So does the yogi: going back into himself he does not see anything worldly any longer, he makes peace in himself.

Anything physical is always changing, therefore, its reality is not constant, not eternal.

Pranayama teaches the aspirant to regulate his breathing and thereby control the mind.

The body has to be invaded by the intelligence; each part has to become intelligent.