Yoga Life Quotes & Sayings

Life is a series of awakenings. — Swami Mukerji

You must purge yourself before finding faults in others.
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.
Do not look at others' bodies with envy or with superiority.
All people are born with different constitutions.
Never compare with others.
Each one's capacities are a function of his or her internal strength.
Know your capacities and continually improve upon them. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga is a life-saver. — Ione Skye

Spiritual process is not for the dead or the dying; it is for the living who want to become fully alive in all dimensions of life. — Jaggi Vasudev

My path, my life, my career has really been a journey from moving from, in a sense, darkness to light. From pain to joy through the experience of yoga and meditation. It's an ongoing adventure that's unfolding every day. — MC Yogi

I'm truly blessed with great genes. I've never done anything drastic in my life, and I can proudly say I haven't tried any of those crazy fad diets, either. I believe in eating right and living healthy. Plus, I love going to the gym, and I enjoy yoga because it streamlines your body. — Malaika Arora Khan

Emotional baggage, which is carried over from the past, colors our perceptions. Likewise, past conclusions and beliefs, based on reasoning that may or may not have been accurate, also tint our perception of reality. Retaining our capacity for reason is common sense, but definite conclusions and beliefs keep us from seeing life as it really is at any given moment.
Emotional reactions can be unreasonable, and reason can be flawed. It's difficult to have deep confidence in either one, especially when they're often at war with each other. But the universal mind exists in the instant, in a moment beyond time, and it sees the universe as it literally is. It's the universe perceiving itself. It is, moreover, something we can have absolute confidence in, and with that confidence, we can maintain a genuinely positive attitude. — H.E. Davey

As you pass through this life, have you done all that you really wish to for others? — Frederick Lenz

Life is eternal game, there are no rules. Indulge yourself. — Osh Marty

Life is made up of a collection of moments that are not ours to keep. The pain we encounter throughout our days spent on this earth comes from the illusion that some moments can be held onto. Clinging to people and experiences that were never ours in the first place is what causes us to miss out on the beauty of the miracle that is the now. All of this is yours, yet none of it is. How could it be? Look around you. Everything is fleeting.

To love and let go, love and let go, love and let go...it's the single most important thing we can learn in this lifetime. — Rachel Brathen

Know, in every moment, that you have attracted this situation into your life experience so you can grow and learn the lessons necessary to get to the next level. — Dashama Konah Gordon

By keeping the mind in the present, unless you deliberately want to contemplate the past or future, it's possible to firmly face life without fear. Then, no thoughts of past failures or future problems will exist in the mind, and a truly positive mental state will result - fudoshin, the immovable mind. — H.E. Davey

Meditation is that dimension of science which focuses on creating the right kind of interior, so that you can live a peaceful and joyous life. — Jaggi Vasudev

Whatever happiness and peace that one knows in one's life is generally so fragile that it is always subservient to the external situation. So most of your lives go in trying to manage a perfect external situation which is just impossible to do. No human being is ever capable of creating a perfect external situation because the outside situation will never be hundred percent in your control, no matter how powerful a human being you are. So yoga focuses on the inner situation. If you can create a perfect inward situation, no matter what the external situation, you can be in perfect bliss and peace. — Jaggi Vasudev

By becoming clearly contemplative in a matter of weeks, my prayer had been given a particular and novel cast; and this was matched by the distinctness in the reprecussions my daily sessions of exercises were having on my everyday life, as well as on the many different occupations which a monk is vowed to carry out. The genuine sense of euphoria that followed the exercises persisted in me and transfigured my day. During the early months I had to face up to the sort of difficulties which put one's nerves to the test, and which would certainly have put me on my back before. As it was, everything went off so smoothly and I took it all so well that I trained everyone under my charge to develop the attitude of 'accepting rather than undergoing. — Jean Dechanet

I don't train for sports. I've never trained for sports. I train for life, and sport is just a part of that. So when I start training, that's lifestyle training and that's why I go through so many things, whether it's yoga, kickboxing, wrestling or swimming. — Ray Lewis

He who is persistent will realize God. So try your best to make meditation a regular experience in your life. — Paramahansa Yogananda

Having a tough time, things aren't working out no matter what you try and do? That's because you are spending your whole life just doing things for yourself. That's a very limited view of your being. — Frederick Lenz

Things that we do every day make up who we are and the results we have in our life. Bank accounts collect from constant deposits and good health is achieved or maintained from what we put into our bodies daily. — Malti Bhojwani

Retaining our capacity for reason
is common sense, but definite conclusions and beliefs keep us from seeing life as it really is at any given moment. — H.E. Davey

If I give Susan a new Cuisinart then she'll be happy ... If she's thankful to me, my life will be better ... she will do something for me. — Frederick Lenz

Yoga adds years to your life and life to your years. — Alan Finger

In shamanism and certain yogas, Taoist yoga, claim very clearly that the purpose is to familiarize yourself with this after-death body, in life, and then the act of dying will not create confusion in the psyche. You will recognize what is happening. You will know what to do. And you will make the clean break. — Terence McKenna

When the power of breath (Sa) is controlled it becomes rested (as) and in that
state it transforms into protector(tra); this is the basic principle of life and
consciousness, wherein the senses, mind, intelligence all are protected and
directed through the power of breath in a rested state, this is called Sa+as+
tra (SASTRA). It is the most powerful weapon alive and the most powerful
protector as well. One who stills, directs, controls and allows it to rise from
the core of the body to the subtle, subtler, subtlest levels of consciousness is
considered to be well versed in Sastras. Ananth Yoga allows one to work on
the Grossest, Gross, Subtle, Subtler levels of consciousness, through the
breath power leading on to connect to the subtlest level of consciousness. — Maitreya Rudrabhayananda

I was interested in the kicks and the punches. I felt like I could utilize that in my real life, and not just in fake land. I've always done yoga for my breathing, and hiking for my mind, but I was also exercising, at the same time. — Zoey Deutch

In the yoga sutras, they have this beautiful analogy that the journey of life is like the flight of an eagle, or the journey over multiple lifetimes is like a flight of an eagle. First, the eagle stretches its wings high, high, high, and experiences everything that the world has to offer in terms of flight. It's growing and flying and it's experiencing, and then it brings its wings down gracefully and that is the completion of the journey. — Karan Bajaj

Yoga is the technology of upgrading, activating, and refining these inner energies for the highest possibilities. Suddenly, your capabilities reach a level of brilliance that you never imagined possible. An accidental and limited life turns near-miraculous. But — Sadhguru

Your first pregnancy you have nothing to do except sleep and take care of yourself and go to prenatal yoga or whatever. Now I have a full-time job, I have a four-year-old, I've got a life that is demanding my attention, so I've gone to prenatal yoga once. It's such a bummer. — Busy Philipps

Anything that is secret and mysterious in this system of Yoga should be at once rejected. The best guide in life is strength. In spirituality, as in all other matters, discard everything that weakens you. Have nothing to do with it. Mystery-mongering weakens the human brain. It has well-nigh destroyed Yoga, one of the grandest of sciences — Swami Vivekananda

Ayurveda is a sister philosophy to yoga. It is the science of life or longevity and it teaches about the power and the cycles of nature, as well as the elements. — Christy Turlington

I'm a very typical yoga-practicing musician; I do it when I can. I'm not hardcore about it. A lot of my lyrics talk about celebrating life and working through pain. I think that's what yoga's about, getting rid of, moving energy and letting it flow through you. — Brett Dennen

Yoga means to unite the limited with the unlimited. — Jaggi Vasudev

In life you only have to travel 6 inches. That is the distance from your mind to your heart. — Bikram Choudhury

She [Mandy Ingber] brought yoga into my life. It completely changed my life ... It's one of the most fun workouts I've ever had ... So have fun and work hard because it will totally pay off. — Jennifer Aniston

It is important to learn that love is your life, love is spirituality. — Nirmala Srivastava

Picked up the yoga, put down the soda.
My healthy mind ... that's what's gon' help me over.
Life of a stoner (if you still concerned),
I never lose, I only win or learn;
It's all about your state of mind. — Dizzy Wright

The relaxation should not be a method. You should not relax through a Yoga posture. This very understanding is relaxing, this very understanding is relaxation. You relax, effort disappears. You live your ordinary life - you chop wood and you carry water from the well and you cook food and you eat and you sleep and you love and you live ordinarily with no hankering and no desire for anything extraordinary. — Rajneesh

As each individual is electrically alive and dynamic, so yoga is a living, dynamic force in life. In order to savor its essence, one needs a religiously attentive dynamic practice done with awareness and absorption. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Meditation means to know life beyond the sphere of the physical; to know and experience life not just at the surface but at the source. — Jaggi Vasudev

Being spiritual does not mean being dead serious. If you allow life to happen within you exuberantly, unbridled, you will touch the spirit. — Jaggi Vasudev

The word 'yoga' means skill - skill to live your life, to manage your mind, to deal with your emotions, to be with people, to be in love and not let that love turn into hatred. — Sri Chinmoy

Here is, in truth, the whole secret of Yoga, the science of the soul. The active turnings, the strident vibrations, of selfishness, lust and hate are to be stilled by meditation, by letting heart and mind dwell in spiritual life, by lifting up the heart to the strong, silent life above, which rests in the stillness of eternal love, and needs no harsh vibration to convince it of true being. — Patanjali

Yoga is the rule book for playing the game of Life, but in this game no one needs to lose. It is tough, and you need to train hard. It requires the willingness to think for yourself, to observe and correct, and to surmount occasional setbacks. It demands honesty, sustained application, and above all love in your heart. — B.K.S. Iyengar

ALICE HAD BEEN UP ALONE for a couple of hours. In that early morning solitude, she drank green tea, read a little, and practiced yoga outside on the lawn. Posed in downward dog, she filled her lungs with the delicious morning ocean air and luxuriated in the strange, almost painful pleasure of the stretch in her hamstrings and glutes. Out of the corner of her eye, she observed her left triceps engaged in holding her body in this position. Solid, sculpted, beautiful. Her whole body looked strong and beautiful. She was in the best physical shape of her life. Good food plus daily exercise equaled the strength in her flexed triceps muscles, the flexibility in her hips, her strong calves, and easy breathing during a four-mile run. — Lisa Genova

You might be anything. You might be having any organization, you might be having any position in life, you might be any great personality, makes no difference to God. What is important is that: are you seeking? — Nirmala Srivastava

A perfect life is to observe - to realize that you have no control over the events in your life, that there are no events in your life, that there is no life. — Frederick Lenz

Yoga is the art work of awareness on the canvas of body, mind, and soul. — Amit Ray

The law of life is to leave behind the ground one is standing on and then step forward. — Rama Swami

Yoga is for everyone. Personally I believe yoga would benefit anyone's life. It is such an amazing form of exercise and if you practice regularly it really slows your mind down and it helps you to get perspective. It keeps you incredibly fit and really flexible. It helps prevent ailments because you're working all the body. — Jayne Middlemiss

Yoga means we accept responsibility for the tasks in our life, and we know that being a king, being an enlightened teacher, being someone who sweeps the streets, we know that nothing is a greater yoga than anything else. — Frederick Lenz

The chief helps in this liberation are Abhyasa and Vairagya. Vairagya is non - attachment to life, because it is the will to enjoy that brings all this bondage in its train; and Abhyasa is constant practice of any one of the Yogas. — Swami Vivekananda

Doing yoga on the road was really a life-saver, and a life-changer ... .It kept me focused and gave me more control over the way I divided my energy. I realize that if [a place of goodness] is the basis for all decision-making, then the road is clear. — Sheryl Crow

Life means to be living.Problems will always be there. When they arise navigate through them with yoga- don't take a break. — B.K.S. Iyengar

When we are open, strong and fluid in our body, we are experiencing the best that life has to offer with very little limitation or constraints. — Dashama Konah Gordon

Since the early 1920s a unique spiritual path has existed in Japan. This distinctly Japanese version of yoga is called Shin-shin-toitsu-do, and it combines seated meditation, moving meditation, breathing exercises, and other disciplines to help practitioners realize unification of mind and body. Besides yoga, it is a synthesis of methods, influenced by Japanese meditation, healing arts, and martial arts; along with Western psychology, medicine, and science. Shin-shin-toitsu-do is widely practiced throughout Japan, although it is almost unknown in other countries. Through its principles of mind and body coordination people have an opportunity to realize their full potential in everyday life.A remarkable man created this path, and he led an equally remarkable life. He was known in Japan as Nakamura Tempu Sensei, and this is his story. — H.E. Davey

The desire of your vital being is towards work. And the vital being won't find any interest in yoga so long as you do not have any experience of the higher and fuller life that is in yoga. As long as this experience is not there, the vital being will not find any interest. — Sri Aurobindo

Yoga has expanded beyond asana for me. It's how I live my life and currently I'm throwing myself into a meditation practice. — Kathryn Budig

The study of yoga makes me inspired. And then the teaching of yoga makes it that much more real. The sense that this practice and this tool helps other people be centered, be present, and helps them really [be] embodied and [have] a life. — Rodney Yee

Yoga, as a way of life and a philosophy, can be practiced by anyone with inclination to undertake it, for yoga belongs to humanity as a whole. It is not the property of any one group or any one individual, but can be followed by any and all, in any corner of the globe, regardless of class, creed or religion. — K. Pattabhi Jois

Yoga is not a means to get SOMEWHERE as if you were not SOMEWHERE already. It is your direct and intimate participation with Life. — Mark Whitwell

Yoga is a way of life; it is an art, a science, a philosophy. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Polarity exists so that we may discover the truth beyond this world of duality, which is the ultimate purpose of life. — Dashama Konah Gordon

I need to get better at learning how to stay calm. I'm a bit of a worrier and a stress cadet. Yoga helps me to some degree, but I haven't been able to figure out meditation yet. I have a feeling it would be very good for me, but unfortunately, I'm still holding it all in until I explode part of my life. — Tricia Helfer

If we are not living IN our bodies, honoring them as our TEMPLE, we are closing off the divine channels (nadis) of energy that run through us. Additionally, when we are not in good physical shape, we limit our enjoyment of our life experience. Thus, yoga is spiritual and physical. — Dashama Konah Gordon

If you practice yoga every day with perseverance, you will be able to face the turmoil of life with steadiness and maturity. — B.K.S. Iyengar

It takes an honest look to observe our selves without judgment, and then to do something about it. Observing without judgment is the practice of yoga. Doing something about it is the stuff that makes up your life. — Tara Stiles

Jivamukti Yoga is a path to enlightenment through compassion for all beings. Jivamukti is a Sanskrit word that means to live liberated in joyful, musical harmony with the Earth. The Earth does not belong to us - we belong to the Earth. Let us celebrate our connection to life by not enslaving animals and exploiting the Earth, and attain freedom and happiness for ourselves in the process. For surely, the best way to uplift our own lives is to do all we can to uplift the lives of others. Go vegan! — Sharon Gannon

The nurturing flow of life, extreme intelligence, beauty, and perfect harmony are active in every one of us. Yoga was developed in ancient wisdom culture to gently reveal what we already have. Read this book. — Mark Whitwell

Coming to Haramara is like coming home. My body returns to the earth, my mind mesmerized by the rhythms of the ocean and my spirit flies in this magical place. Yoga is a way of life and Haramara Retreat is where we can re-educate ourselves to live in balance. — Rodney Yee

Any teaching will not transform you as long as you are deeply attached to your body. Yoga is towards reducing this attachment. — Jaggi Vasudev

Consciousness is the screen. The images on the screen are your perceptions, the illusion that life is solid, that there is a material universe. — Frederick Lenz

By embracing your mother wound as your yoga, you transform what has been a hindrance in your life into a teacher of the heart. — Phillip Moffitt

My life is so tumultuous. I dive into everything. I'm feeling all up and down and sleepy and moody and hormonal - it just gets crazy. Just to keep myself balanced, I do things like yoga and meditation. — India.Arie

Yoga is about awakening. Yoga is about creating a life that brings more beauty and more love into the world. — John Friend

The more you treat your body and the cells as intelligent being the more you will be sharp, quick, competent, and fulfilled. — Amit Ray

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. — B.K.S. Iyengar

A kaleidoscope consists of a tube (or container), mirrors, pieces of glass (or beads or precious stones), sunlight, and someone to turn it and observe and enjoy the forms. Metaphorically, perhaps the sun represents the divine light, or spark of life, within all of us. The mirrors represent our ability to serve as mirrors for one another and each other's alignment, reflecting sides of ourselves that we may not have been aware of. The tube (or container) is the practice of community yoga. We, as human beings, are the glass, the beads, the precious stones. The facilitator is the person turning the Kaleidoscope, initiating the changing patterns. And the resulting beauty of the shapes? Well, that's for everyone to enjoy... — Lo Nathamundi

Illusion doesn't mean that something is not real. Illusion simply means that something is less real than something else. This life and this world certainly exist - who is to say the reality of the dream is not real? — Frederick Lenz

What yoga philosophy and all the great Buddhist teachings tells us is that solidity is a creation of the ordinary mind and that there never was anything permanent to begin with that we could hold on to. Life would be much easier and substantially less painful if we lived with the knowledge of impermanence as the only constant. — Donna Farhi

I encourage students to check out different styles of yoga and different teachers even within one system. Seek the teacher that inspires you, and practice the yoga that makes you feel the best. You'll then find the authentic practice for your life and path. — David F. Swensen

The very way you breathe, sit, stand, eat, walk, work - everything can become yoga. You can use any process of life to transcend your limitations. — Jaggi Vasudev

Someday I will have revenge. I know in advance to keep this to myself, and everyone will be happier. I do understand that I am expected to forgive N and his girlfriend in a timely fashion, and move on to a life of vegetarian cooking and difficult yoga positions and self-realization, and make this so much easier and more pleasant for all concerned. — Suzanne Finnamore

Now I know why yoga is so life-giving for so many. I have never experienced a practice that combines such physical challenge and spiritual wellbeing in my life. — Emily Saliers

Acharya Balkrishna on Yog

"Who will not be delighted to behold the exotic scenery and flora of the barren lands of Himalayas. Similar is the power of Yog which beautifies the deserted life and fructifies hope in the shattered hearts. By taking refuge in Yog, the fallow mind will blossom into flowers indeed. — Acharya Balkrishna

I don't put much stock in powers that people have to hurt others, in sorcery and all this nonsense. There are murders and there are dictators. That is just a part of life. The intelligent use of power in yoga can assist you avoiding that side of humanity. — Frederick Lenz

Yoga, in all its forms, provides a means for the practitioner to master the body and the mind so that the soul (or true self) can emerge to share in the experience of life. — Lei Camille

Life must always go on and Yoga is not about an escape from life. Yoga's about a way of dealing with life more effectively; to be able to involve oneself with one's family, one's friends, one's social commitments, one's job and yet at the same time maintain one's centre. — Paul Harvey

I've never meditated in my life. I don't practice yoga nor any religion. I'm a tourist on the realm of stillness. — Pico Iyer

You spend so much time in your head in life. And what yoga does is, it asks you to allow your head to be quiet, to allow it to be still, just for an hour and a half. Just deal with your body and your breath. And it's a great workout. I love it. — Colin Farrell

I am intrigued by different religions and respect them all, but to be honest, I feel the most spiritual when I am doing yoga or looking at an ocean. Being spiritual is feeling a connection with a higher power and knowing that life is about more than just achieving goals. It is about feeling good in the moment. — Heather Graham

My bodysuit is how I start everyday. I wear a bodysuit everyday of my life. It's how I start my yoga practice. It's underneath it all. For me, what goes under the clothes is as important as what goes on top of the clothes. It's a layering aspect, so it's inside. — Donna Karan

The soldier is willing to give their life, perhaps for someone they never even met in their country. That's a very high love. — Frederick Lenz

Love is at the heart of the world, just as it is at the heart of your life. Your relationships with your lover, your family, your friends, and the world around you define the quality of your emotional wholeness and reflect your relationship with yourself. — Sebastian Pole

I had discovered something; there was a pleasure in becoming something new. You could will yourself into a fresh shape. Now all I had to do was figure out how to do it out there, in my life. — Claire Dederer

Our greatest fear is that we will lose the love in our life ... that we will be abandoned, left alone, bereaved, misunderstood, deprived, hated and rejected ... but we can never be OUT OF LOVE. We are love and if our minds separate ourselves from who we really are it is a painful delusion. Ego personalities, including our own, might separate ourselves from love but love never dies because it is what we are made of. — Susan Mitchell

We do yoga to make life more beautiful.. to stop misery from entering our world. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

I hoped to get instruction in Yoga, expected wonderful teachings, but what the teacher did was mainly to force me to face the darkness within myself and it almost killed me ... I was beaten down in every sense until I had to come to terms with that in me which I kept rejecting all my life. — Irina Tweedie

Yoga teaches us that we can have whatever we may want in life if we are willing to provide it for others first. — Sharon Gannon

Eternity gives life to all and sustains all, transforms all on the wheel of dharma - until all attain perfection. — Frederick Lenz

The wife has begun planning a secret life. In it, she is an art monster. She puts on yoga pants and says she is going to yoga, then pulls off onto a country lane and writes in tiny cramped writing on a grocery list She thinks she should go off her meds maybe so as to write more fluidly. Possibly this is not a good idea.
But only possibly. — Jenny Offill