At Kind You, we have written extensively about yoga, basic poses, pranayama, meditation, and related topics, but we also wanted to share with you our favorite yoga quotes. You will also have read about the chanting of Om and its divine secrets. Here is what The Art of Living says about yoga: “Derived from the Sanskrit word yuj, Yoga means union of the individual consciousness or soul with the Universal Consciousness or Spirit. Yoga is a 5000-year-old Indian body of knowledge. Though many think of yoga only as a physical exercise where people twist, turn, stretch, and breathe in the most complex ways, these are actually only the most superficial aspect of this profound science of unfolding the infinite potentials of the human mind and soul. The science of Yoga imbibes the complete essence of the Way of Life.”
Patanjali writes about the wisdom of yoga in The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: ““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 has also said that yoga is the practice of quieting the mind. Yoga and the wisdom of yoga have been embraced the world over as a path to holistic and spiritual evolution. Here, we bring you some yoga quotes that we live by, inspirational yoga quotes, the wisdom of yoga, yoga’s eternal mantras, and yoga as a way of life.
Inspirational Yoga Quotes
- “When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady. But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life. Therefore, one should learn to control the breath.” – Hatha Yoga Pradipika
- “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.” – B.K.S. Iyengar
- “The autonomic nervous system is divided into the sympathetic system, which is often identified with the fight-or-flight response, and the parasympathetic, which is identified with what’s been called the relaxation response. When you do yoga – the deep breathing, the stretching, the movements that release muscle tension, the relaxed focus on being present in your body – you initiate a process that turns the fight or flight system off and the relaxation response on. That has a dramatic effect on the body. The heartbeat slows, respiration decreases, blood pressure decreases. The body seizes this chance to turn on the healing mechanisms.” – Richard Faulds
- Yoga is a science, and not a vague dreamy drifting or imagining. It is an applied science, a systematized collection of laws applied to bring about a definite end. It takes up the laws of psychology, applicable to the unfolding of the whole consciousness of man on every plane, in every world, and applies those rationally in a particular case. This rational application of the laws of unfolding consciousness acts exactly on the same principles that you see applied around you every day in other departments of science.” – Annie Besant
- “Usually there’s about a three-month love affair with yoga. ‘I feel sSHort o good.’ After about two months of practice, people think they are practically enlightened. Then usually around the third month, something happens and the yoga actually starts to work. And the first thing the ego structure does is to look for an escape route. People start heading for the door just at the moment when they should stay.” – Richard Freeman
In closing, some short, pithy yoga quotes:
- “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” – The Bhagavad Gita
- “Yoga has a sly, clever way of short circuiting the mental patterns that cause anxiety.” – Baxter Bell
- “The most important pieces of equipment you need for doing yoga are your body and your mind.” – Rodney Yee
- “To perform every action artfully is yoga.” –Swami Kripalu
- “Yoga science is not just a scholarly pursuit. It is a moment by moment and thought by thought practical guide for living.” – Leonard Perlmutter
- “You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state.” – Sharon Gannon
- “Letting go is the hardest asana.” –Anon (My absolute favorite!)
