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.
B.K.S. IyengarChange leads to disappointment if it is not sustained. Transformation is sustained change, and it is achieved through practice.
B.K.S. IyengarIs 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.
B.K.S. IyengarIn backbends, one touches the body physically, mentally, intellectually, consciously and spiritually everywhere.
B.K.S. IyengarThink 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.
B.K.S. IyengarFeeling the movement of movements is wandering to the past or future. Living in the movements of movement is being in the present.
B.K.S. IyengarWhenever asana is done mechanically from the front brain, the action is felt only on the peripheral body, and there is no inner sensation, there is no luminous inner light. If the asana is done with continual reference to the back of the brain, there is a reaction to each action, and there is sensitivity. Then life is not only dynamic, but it is also electrified with life force.
B.K.S. Iyengar