B.K.S. Iyengar Quotes - Page 5

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

If you can adapt to and balance in a world that is always moving and unstable, you learn how to become tolerant to the permanence of change and difference.

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

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

A good teacher helps you explore the maximum.

Willpower is nothing but willingness to do.

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.

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

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

We need sound bodies so we can develop sound minds.

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.

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

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.

When stability becomes a habit, maturity and clarity follow.

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

In your discipline, if doubt comes, let it come. You do your work and let doubt carry on with its work. And let us see which gives up first!

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.

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