B. K. S. Iyengar Quotes

156 Sourced Quotes

Happy is the man who knows how to distinguish the real from the unreal, the eternal from the transient and the good from the pleasant by his discrimination and wisdom.

B. K. S. Iyengar
Keep your attention internal, not external, not worrying about what others see, but what the Self sees.

B. K. S. Iyengar
Extension brings space, space brings freedom, freedom brings precision. Precision is truth.

B. K. S. Iyengar
As long as the body is not in perfect health, you think about it, and that prevents you from thinking of the mind. The sound mind is a sound body.

B. K. S. Iyengar
Faith, courage, and intelligent and uninterrupted awareness - these qualities are to be present whether one is wide awake, half asleep, or in deep slumber. An individual who lives like this performs his daily actions with a mind free from selfishness. This is poise in action. And this poise leads to that serenity which is in the truest sense a healthy mind in a healthy body.

B. K. S. Iyengar
Asanas penetrate deep into each layer of the body and ultimately into the consciousness itself.

B. K. S. Iyengar
You must fill every inch of your body with the asana from your chest and arms and legs to the tips of your fingers and toes so that the asana radiates from the core of your body and fills the entire diameter and circumference of your limbs. You must feel your intelligence, your awareness, and your consciousness in every inch of your body.

B. K. S. Iyengar
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
You must be as joyful when you fail again and again as you are joyful when you succeed. It is often when you fail that you move toward the goal without being aware of it. You must feel joy even when you have not fully succeeded but only moved toward achievement of your goal.

B. K. S. Iyengar
Yoga is an interior penetration leading to integration of being, senses, breath, mind, intelligence, consciousness, and Self. It is definitely an inward journey, evolution through involution, toward the Soul, which in turn desires to emerge and embrace you in its glory.

B. K. S. Iyengar
A stable mind is like the hub of a wheel. The world may spin around you, but the mind is steady.

B. K. S. Iyengar
After a session of yoga, the mind becomes tranquil and passive.

B. K. S. Iyengar
The needs of the body are the needs of the divine spirit which lives through the body.

B. K. S. Iyengar
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.

B. K. S. Iyengar
Our greed comes from our fear that we will not have enough - whether it is money or love that we grasp. Yoga teaches us to let go of these fears and so to realize the abundance around us and within us.

B. K. S. Iyengar
The challenge of yoga is to go beyond our limits - within reason. We continually expand the frame of the mind by using the canvas of the body. It is as if you were to stretch a canvas more and create a larger surface for a painting. But we must respect the present form of our body. If you pull too much at once, we will rip the canvas. If the practice of today damages the practice of tomorrow, it is not correct practice.

B. K. S. Iyengar
When the restlessness of the mind, intellect and self is stilled through the practice of Yoga, the yogi by the grace of the Spirit within himself finds fulfillment.

B. K. S. Iyengar
Asana done from the brain makes one heavy and done from the heart makes one light.

B. K. S. Iyengar
From Freedom of the Body comes Freedom of the Mind and then Ultimate Freedom!

B. K. S. Iyengar
Do not allow past experiences to be imprinted on your mind. Perform asana each time with a fresh mind and with a fresh approach.

B. K. S. Iyengar
Yoga has a threefold impact on health. It keeps healthy people healthy, it inhibits the development of diseases, and it aids recovery from ill health.

B. K. S. Iyengar
In whatever you are doing, be one: body, soul, mind. Do it beautifully and with purity.

B. K. S. Iyengar
The conjunction of effort, concentration and balance in asana forces us to live intensely in the present moment, a rare experience in modern life.

B. K. S. Iyengar
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.

B. K. S. Iyengar
An intellectual mind that is unconnected to the heart is an uncultivated mind.

B. K. S. Iyengar
Yoga is effort. Only practice is important. The rest of knowledge is only theory.

B. K. S. Iyengar
Do to your capacity. Always strive to extend your capacity. Ten minutes today, after a few days, twelve minutes. Master that, then again extend.

B. K. S. Iyengar
When an asana is done correctly the body movements are smooth, there is lightness in the body and freedom in the mind.

B. K. S. Iyengar
When the mind is controlled and still what remains is the soul

B. K. S. Iyengar
Asanas keep your body, as well as your mind, healthy and active

B. K. S. Iyengar