B.K.S. Iyengar Quotes

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

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.

By persistent and sustained practice, anyone and everyone can make the yoga journey and reach the goal of illumination and freedom.

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.

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

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

Know your capacities and continually improve upon them.

If you open the armpits, the brain becomes light. You cannot brood or become depressed.

Breath is the king of 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.

Yoga is firstly for individual growth, but through individual growth, society and community develop.

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

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

Willpower is nothing but willingness to do.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Yoga is more than physical. It is cellular, mental, intellectual and spiritual-it involves man in his entire being

The commercialism may wash off sometime later.

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

Live before you die, so that death is also a lively celebration.

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.

While doing the postures, your mind should be in half-consciousn ess, which does not mean sleep. It means silence, emptiness, space, which can then be filled with an acute awareness of the sensations given by the posture. You watch yourself from inside. It is a full silence.

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.

Willpower is concrete, not ethereal. When you do something, you demonstrate your willpower, and it becomes all the easier to have the same power of will the next time.

Do not stop trying just because perfection eludes you.

You must do the asana with your soul. How can you do an asana with your soul? We can only do it with the organ of the body that is closest to the soul - the heart. So a virtuous asana is done from the heart and not from the head. Then you are not just doing it, but you are in it. Many people try to think their way into an asana, but you must instead feel your way into it through love and devotion

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

This practice of yoga is to remove the weeds from the body so that the garden can grow.

He who has learnt to control his tongue has attained self-control in a great measure. When such a person speaks he will be heard with respect and attention. His words will be remembered, for they will be good and true. When one who is established in truth prays with a pure heart, then things he really needs come to him when they are really needed: he does not have to run after them. The man firmly established in truth gets the fruit of his actions without apparently doing anything. God, the source of all truth, supplies his needs and looks after his welfare.

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.

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

Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life.

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

Yoga has to be done with the intellect of the head as well as the intellect of the heart

The material body has a practical reality that is accessible. It is here and now, and we can do something with it. However, we must not forget that the innermost part of our being is also trying to help us. It wants to come out to the surface and express itself.

Our flawed mechanisms of perception and thought are not a cause for grief, but an opportunity to evolve, for an internal evolution of consciousness that will also make possible, in a sustainable form, our aspirations toward what we call individual success and global progress.

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.

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

Yoga is an art, a science and a philosophy. It touches the life of man at every level, physical, mental, and spiritual. It is a practical method for making one's life purposeful, useful and noble.

The battle of yoga is with the body and with the ego. You must conquer your ego, or small self, so that you can let your soul, your big Self, be victorious.

Sirsasana the king of all asanas and the reasons are not hard to find.