B.K.S. Iyengar Quotes

The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in.

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.

Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.

Hatha Yoga teaches us to use the body as the bow, asana as the arrow, and the soul the target.

Life without tapas, is like a heart without love.

The study of asana is not about mastering posture. It's about using posture to understand and transform yourself.

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.

In backbends, one touches the body physically, mentally, intellectually, consciously and spiritually everywhere.

Backbends are not poses meant for expressionism. Backbends are meant to understand the back parts of our bodies. The front body can be seen with the eyes, but the back body can only be felt. That's why I say these are the most advanced postures, where the mind begins to look at the back.

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.

Yes, flexibility of body and physical perfection for Yogasana is important. However more important is the state of your mind, Meditative mind. Your flexibility might be excellent but if your mind is not attentive, you are merely doing some physical exercise, not Yoga.

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

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.

In forward bends, one uses the outer mind while in backbends the outer mind is silenced and the inner mind is made to work.

When you are practicing, do not just do that for the sake of doing. Learn to reflect while you are practising. Make your mind and brain observe and relearn what you are doing. Doing is mechanical; learning is dynamic.

That's the beauty of backbends. Emotionally we can never be disturbed, for the emotional centre becomes an extrovert. When you do Viparita Dandasana, your head looks backwards, but your conscious mind stretches everywhere. Study by observing how the mind gets regulated. You not only know the freedom in the spine, but also the freedom in the spirit.

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

Backbends are to be felt more than expressed. The other postures can be expressed and then felt. Like in meditation each person has to feel backbends.

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.

Change is not something that we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom, and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they're meant to be.

I also say with backbends, you have to be cautiously bold. Not carelessly bold. You have to descend to the dictation of the spine. You cannot command from the brain to do the poses. As you play with a child, guarding the child from injuries, similarly you have to play in backbends, guarding your spine.

Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit.

Yoga is the golden key that unlocks the door to peace, tranquility and joy.

If you keep your armpits open, you won't get depressed.

Nothing is achieved by a mind that doubts

The decision to relax rather than to grip, even in the face of impatience or fear, is a conscious and brave choice.

True concentration is an unbroken thread of awareness.

Before peace between the nations, we have to find peace inside that small nation which is our own being.

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

Healthy plants and trees yield abundant flowers and fruits. Similarly, from a healthy person, smiles and happiness shine forth like the rays of the sun.

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

Yoga is as old and traditional as civilization, yet it persists in modern society as a means to achieving essential vitality. But yoga demands that we develop not only strength in body but attention and awareness in mind.The yogi knows that the physical body is not only the temple for our soul but the means by which we embark on the inward journey toward the core.

Yoga is a mirror to look at ourselves from within.

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.

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

The body is my temple, asanas are my prayers.

Sometimes our body is willing, but our mind is weak. Sometimes our mind is willing, but our body is weak. Do not be afraid. Strive to extend your capacity but do not be disappointed with yourself. What does not challenge us, cannot change us.

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.

When the asana is correct, there is lightness, a freedom. Freedom comes when every part of the body is active. Let us be free in whatever posture we are doing. Let us be full in whatever we do.

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

It is through the alignment of the body that I discovered the alignment of my mind, self, and intelligence.

It is while practicing yoga asanas that you learn the art of adjustment.

Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit. When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open.

Don't practice for cosmetic beauty, practice for cosmic beauty. Practice for inner beauty and inner light.

Love begets courage, moderation creates abundance and humility generates power

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.

As a fire blazes brightly when the covering of ash over it is scattered by the wind, the divine fire within the body shines in all its majesty when the ashes of desire are scattered by the practice of pranayama.

Pranayama teaches the aspirant to regulate his breathing and thereby control the mind.

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.

Do not aim low, you will miss the mark. Aim high and you will be on a threshold of bliss.