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.

It took me whole decades to appreciate the depth and true value of yoga. Sacred texts supported my discoveries, but it was not they that signposted the way. What I learned through yoga, I found out through yoga.

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

You must purge yourself before finding faults in others.

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.

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

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