B. K. S. Iyengar Quotes

Yoga ferried me across the great river from the bank of ignorance to the shore of knowledge and wisdom.

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

The physical body is not only a temple for our soul, but the means by which we embark on the inward journey toward the core.

When I stretch, I stretch in such a way that my awareness moves, and a gate of awareness finally opens. … When I still find some parts of my body that I have not found before, I tell myself, yes I am progressing scientifically... 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.

As we explore the soul, it is important to remember that this exploration will take place within nature (the body), for that is where and what we are.

Because I want to make a good death.

As animals, we walk the earth. As bearers of divine essence, we are among the stars. As human beings, we are caught in the middle, seeking to reconcile the paradox of how to make our way upon earth while striving for something more permanent and more profound.

When the yoga teacher B.K.S Iyengar (2001(2): 47) writes, “The consciousness is like a chariot yoked to a team of powerful horses. One of them is breath (prånå), the other is desire (våsanå),” he simply builds on the same tradition.

Physical health is not a commodity to be bargained for. … Nor can it be swallowed in the form of drugs and pills — it has to be earned through sweat. It is something that we must build up.

Of the two aspects of asana exertion of our body and penetration of our mind is our goal, but in the beginning to set things in motion, there is no substitute for sweat

The head is the seat of intelligence. The heart is the seat of emotion. Both have to work in cooperation with the body.

Yoga transformed my life from a parasitic one to a life of purpose. Later yoga inspired me to partake in the joy and nobility of life, which I carried to many thousands of people without consideration of religion, caste, gender, or nationality.

Yoga is about the will, working with intelligence and self-reflexive consciousness, can free us from the inevitability of the wavering mind and outwardly directed senses.

Health is not to be mistaken for mere existence. It is the balance of the body, mind and self... there rests the mind. If the breath scatters, the mind wanders. If mind wanders, the breath scatters. So still the breath to still the mind. Mind is the king.

I can remain thoughtfully thoughtless. It is not an empty mind.