B.K.S. Iyengar Quotes, Status, and Thoughts

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

Freedom in a posture is when every joint is active.

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

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

To master fear is the most important battle to win.

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

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

Yoga is the method by which the restless mind is calmed And the energy directed into constructive channels.

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

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

Yoga releases the creative potential in life.

I can remain thoughtfully thoughtless, It is not an empty mind.

My Maman told me that only the crazy ones and the passionate ones accomplish anything in life.

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

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

The needs of the body are the needs of the divine self, which lives through the body.

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

Knowledge of yoga is no substitute for practice.

If you balance in the Present, you are living in Eternity

I think many of my students have followed the advice I gave years ago, to give more than you take.

Regular practice of yoga can help you face the turmoil of life with steadiness and disability.

The decision to relax rather than to grip, even in the face of impatience or fear, is a conscious and brave choice.

I always tell people, live happily and die majestically.

Do not look at others’ bodies with envy or with superiority.

The popularity of yoga and my part in spreading its teachings are a great source of satisfaction to me. But I do not want its widespread popularity to eclipse the depth of what it has to give to the practitioner.

Penetration of our mind is our goal, but in the beginning to set things in motion, there is no substitute for sweat.

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.

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.

A stable mind is like a hub of a wheel. The world may spin around you, but the mind is steady.

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.

The physical body is not only a temple for our soul, but the means by which we embark on the inward journey toward the core.

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.

Your body is the child of the soul. You must nourish and train that child.

Your body exists in the past and your mind exists in the future. In yoga, they come together in the present.

You must purge yourself before finding faults in others.

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

Yoga is a means and an end.

Words cannot convey the value of yoga – it has to be experienced.

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

Willpower is nothing but willingness to do.

When I practice, I am a philosopher. When I teach, I am a scientist. When I demonstrate, I am an artist.

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

The art of teaching is tolerance. Humbleness is the art of learning.

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

Life means to be living. Problems will always be there. When they arise navigate through them with yoga- don’t take a break.

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

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

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

Focus on keeping your spine straight. It is the job of the spine to keep the brain alert.

Do not stop trying just because perfection eludes you.

Confidence, clarity and compassion are essential qualities of a teacher.

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

Body is the bow, asana is the arrow, and the soul is the target.

Know your capacities and continually improve upon them.

Each one’s capacities are a function of his or her internal strength.

When we free ourselves from physical disabilities, emotional disturbances, and mental distractions, we open the gates to our soul.

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

But a yogi never forgets that health must begin with the body. Your body is the child of the soul. You must nourish and train your child. Physical health is not a commodity to be bargained for. Nor can it be swallowed in the form of drugs and pills. It has to be earned through sweat

A fusion of nature and soul.

It is Einstein’s famous equation E=MC^2, in which E is energy (rajas), M is mass (tamas), and C is the speed of light (sattva). Energy, mass, and light are endlessly bound together in the universe.

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

Meditation is oneness, when there is no longer time, sex, or country. The moment when, after you have concentrated on doing a pose (or anything else) perfectly, you hold it and then forget everything, not because you want to forget but because you are concentrated: this is meditation.

Love begets courage, moderation creates abundance and humility generates power.

We must create a marriage between the awareness of the body and that of the mind. When two parties do not cooperate, there is unhappiness on both sides.

You exist without the feeling of existence.

Yoga allows you to find an inner peace that is not ruffled and riled by the endless stresses and struggles of life.

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

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

“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.

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.

Nothing can be forced, receptivity is everything.

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.

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

Life itself seeks fulfilment as plants seek sunlight.

You have to create love and affection for your body, for what it can do for you.

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

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

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.

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

Asanas maintain the strength and health of the body, without which little progress can be made. Asanas keep the body in harmony with nature.

True concentration is an unbroken thread of awareness.

You do not need to seek freedom in a different land, for it exists within your own body, heart, mind, and soul.

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

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

There is no progress toward ultimate freedom without transformation, and this is the key issue in all lives.

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

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. Yoga means union – the union of body with consciousness and consciousness with the soul. Yoga cultivates the ways of maintaining a balanced attitude in day-to-day life and endows skill in the performance of one’s actions.

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

Be inspired but not proud.

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

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

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.

Yoga allows you to find a new kind of freedom that you may not have known even existed.

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

Yoga is like music. The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul creates the symphony of life.

My body is my temple and asanas are my prayers.

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

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.

Look after the root of the tree, and the fragrant flower and luscious fruits will grow by themselves. Look after the health of the body, and the fragrance of the mind and richness of the spirit will follow.

The study of asana is not about mastering posture. It's about using posture to understand and transform yourself.

A stable mind is like the hub of a wheel. The world may spin around you, but the mind is steady.

The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in.

The primary aim of yoga is to restore the mind to simplicity, peace, and poise, to free it from confusion and distress.

Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.

Balance in the body is the foundation for balance in life.

Change is not something that we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom, and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they're meant to be.

Yoga is a mirror to look at ourselves from within.

Yoga is like music: the rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life.

Breath is the king of mind.

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.

Awareness must be like the rays of the sun: extending everywhere, illuminating all.

Yoga uses the body to discipline the mind and to reach the soul.

When you are practicing, do not just do that for the sake of doing. Learn to reflect while you are practising. Make your mind and brain observe and relearn what you are doing. Doing is mechanical; learning is dynamic.

Regular practise of yoga can help you face the turmoil of life with steadiness and stability.

Hatha Yoga teaches us to use the body as the bow, asana as the arrow, and the soul the target.

Before peace between the nations, we have to find peace inside that small nation which is our own being.

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.

You must fill every inch of your body with the asana from your chest and arms and legs to the tips of your fingers and toes so that the asana radiates from the core of your body and fills the entire diameter and circumference of your limbs. You must feel your intelligence, your awareness, and your consciousness in every inch of your body.