Yoga Quotes

We have collected and put the best Yoga Quotes. Enjoy reading these insights and feel free to share this page on your social media to inspire others.

May these Yoga Quotes inspire you to never give up and keep working towards your goals. Who knows—success could be just around the corner.

Yoga (योग) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophical traditions. There is a broad variety of yoga schools, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The term “yoga” in the Western world often denotes a modern form of Hatha yoga, which includes the physical practice of postures called asanas.

The origins of yoga have been speculated to date back to pre-Vedic Indian traditions; it is mentioned in the Rigveda, but most likely developed around the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, in ancient India’s ascetic and śramaṇa movements. The chronology of earliest texts describing yoga-practices is unclear, varyingly credited to Upanishads. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali date from the first half of the 1st millennium CE, but only gained prominence in the West in the 20th century. Hatha yoga texts emerged around the 11th century with origins in tantra.

Yoga accepts. Yoga gives. – April Vallei

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

Yoga allows you to find an inner peace that is not ruffled and riled by the endless stresses and struggles of life. – B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga becomes one lifelong journey to internal revelation. – Aadil Palkhivala

Yoga begins right where I am – not where I was yesterday or where I long to be. – Linda Sparrowe

Yoga begins with listening. When we listen, we are giving space to what is. – Richard Freeman

Yoga believes in transforming individuals before transforming the world. Whatever change we want to happen outside should happen within. – Anonymous

Yoga brings the knowledge, passion and action together. – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Yoga class is great. You can close your eyes and imagine yourself in a relaxing place. – Grant Tucker.

Yoga does not always cure stress. It neutralizes it through increasing awareness and by changing self-perception. – Debasish Mridha

Yoga does not change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees. – B.K.S Iyengar

Yoga does not just change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees. – B.K.S Iyengar.

Yoga does not remove us from the reality or responsibilities of everyday life but rather places our feet firmly and resolutely in the practical ground of experience. We don’t transcend our lives; we return to the life we left behind in the hopes of something better. – Donna Farhi

Yoga does not transform the way we see things; it transforms the person who sees. – B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga exists in the world because everything is linked. – Desikashar

Yoga happens beyond the mat, anything you do with attention to how you feel is doing yoga. – Unknown.

Yoga has sly, clever ways of short circuiting the mental patterns that cause anxiety. – Baxter Bell

Yoga is 99% Practice & 1% theory. – Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory. – Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois

Yoga is a dance between control and surrender — between pushing and letting go — and when to push and when to let go becomes part of the creative process, part of the open-ended exploration of your being. – Joel Kramer

Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame. – B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga is a method to come to a nondreaming mind. Yoga is the science to be in the here and now. – Osho

Yoga is a mirror to look at ourselves from within. – Sadhguru.

Yoga is a way of getting totally drunk – not on alcohol but on life. You know, they call it divine. – Sadhguru

Yoga is a way of getting totally drunk… on life… they call it divine. – Sadhguru.

Yoga is a way of moving into stillness in order to experience the truth of who you are. – Erich Schiffmann

Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With yoga, we become aware of how and where we are restricted — in body, mind, and heart — and how gradually to open and release these blockages. As these blockages are cleared, our energy is freed. We start to feel more harmonious, more at one with ourselves. Our lives begin to flow — or we begin to flow more in our lives. – Cybele Tomlinson

Yoga is almost like music in a way; there’s no end to it. – Sting

Yoga is an art and science of living. – Indra Devi

Yoga is an integral part of my daily routine. That definitely helps me approach all aspects of my life from a place of mindfulness and clarity, through the meditation that usually accompanies this practice. – Christy Turlington

Yoga is essentially a practice for your soul, working through the medium of your body. – Tara Fraser

Yoga is invigoration in relaxation. Freedom in routine. Confidence through self-control. Energy within and energy without. – Ymber Delecto

Yoga is just gymnastics for uncoordinated people. – Claire Dederer

Yoga is not a religion. It is a science, science of well-being, science of youthfulness, science of integrating body, mind and soul. – Amit Ray

Yoga is not a work-out; it is a work-in. And this is the point of spiritual practice, to make us teachable, to open up our hearts, and focus our awareness so that we can know what we already know and be who we already are. – Rolf Gates

Yoga is not about self-improvement. It’s about self-acceptance. – Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa

Yoga is not about tightening your ass. It’s about getting your head out of it. – Eric Paskel

Yoga is not about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the way down. – Jigar Gor

Yoga is not about touching your toes. It is what you learn on the way down. – Jigar Gor

Yoga is not about what you do. It is about how you do it. – Adriene Mishler

Yoga is not for the flexible. It’s for the willing. – Anonymous

Yoga is not just repetition of few postures – it is more about the exploration and discovery of the subtle energies of life. – Amit Ray

Yoga is not just repetition of few postures, it is more about the exploration and discovery of the subtle energies of life. – Anonymous

Yoga is possible for anybody who really wants it. Yoga is universal…. But don’t approach yoga with a business mind looking for worldly gain. – Sri Pattabhi Jois

Yoga is really trying to liberate us from… shame about our bodies. To love your body is a very important thing – I think the health of your mind depends on your being able to love your body. – Rodney Yee

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

Yoga is the cessation of the movements of the mind. Then there is abiding in the Seer’s own form. – Patanjali

Yoga is the dance of every cell with the music of every breath that creates inner serenity and harmony. – Debasish Mridha

Yoga is the fountain of youth. You’re only as young as your spine is flexible. – Bob Harper

Yoga is the golden key that unlocks the door to peace, tranquility, and joy. – B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self. – The Bhagavad Gita

Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you are – Jason Crandell

Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind. – Patanjali

Yoga is the restraining of the operations of mind born of conditioning. – Patanjali Yoga Sutras.

Yoga is the space where flower blossoms. – Amit Ray

Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind. – Patañjali

Yoga is the study of balance, and balance is the aim of all living creatures: it is our home. – Rolf Gates

Yoga is the ultimate practice. It simultaneously stimulates our inner light and quiets our overactive minds. It is both energy and rest. Yin and Yang. We feel the burn and find our bliss. – Elise Joan

Yoga is the unifying art of transforming dharma into action, be it through inspired thought, properly nurturing our children, a painting, a kindness or an act of peace that forever moves humanity forward. – Micheline Berry

Yoga means addition – addition of energy, strength and beauty to body, mind and soul. – Amit Ray

Yoga means to encounter the reality as it is. – Osho

Yoga practice can make us more and more sensitive to subtler and subtler sensations in the body. Paying attention to and staying with finer and finer sensations within the body is one of the surest ways to steady the wandering mind. – Ravi Ravindra

Yoga practice can make us more and more sensitive to subtler… sensations… Paying attention… is one of the surest ways to steady the wandering mind. – Ravi Ravindra

Yoga reveals to you the beauty of mindfulness and takes you into the essence of an endless present moment. – Debasish Mridha

Yoga science is not just a scholarly pursuit. It is a moment by moment and thought by thoughts practical guide for living. – Leonard Perlmutter

Yoga should be practiced with firm determination and perseverance, without any mental reservation or doubts. – Bhagavad Gita

Yoga takes us to the present moment, the only place where life exists. – Ellen Brenneman

Yoga takes you into the present moment, the only place where life exists. – Patanjali

Yoga teaches more than postures; it teaches you how to trust. – Kathryn E. Livingston.

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

Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured. – B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga teaches you how to listen to your body. – Mariel Hemingway

A few minutes of yoga each morning teaches our body to stretch and adapt, so that when life stretches us we don’t break. – Jason Garner

A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms. – Zen Shin

A mind free from all disturbances is yoga. – Patanjali

A photographer gets people to pose for him. A yoga instructor gets people to pose for themselves. – Terri Guillemets.

All kidding aside, if everyone did yoga, we would have world peace. – Rory Freedman

All of the fruits of the yogic powers can be obstacles to samadhi. They will definitely create more karma if used recklessly. – Anonymous

All power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy lunatics, as most of us do nowadays. You can do anything and everything, without even the guidance of anyone. Stand up and express the divinity within you. – Swami Vivekananda

Although yoga has its origins in ancient India, its methods and purposes are universal, relying not on cultural background, faith or deity, but simply on the individual. Yoga has become important in the lives of many contemporary Westerners, sometimes as a way of improving health and fitness of the body, but also as a means of personal and spiritual development. – Tara Fraser

Anybody can breathe. Therefore anybody can practice yoga. – T.K.V. Desikachar

Anyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy. Constant practice alone is the secret of success. – Svātmārāma

Arise, awake, stop not till the goal is reached. – Swami Vivekananda

As you breathe in, cherish yourself. As you breathe out, cherish all beings. – Dalai Lama

At this moment, you are seamlessly flowing with the cosmos. There is no difference between your breathing and the breathing of the rain forest, between your bloodstream and the world’s rivers, between your bones and the chalk cliffs of Dover. – Deepak Chopra

Balancing in yoga and life is a reflection of our inner state. – Shiva Rea

Balancing in yoga and life is a reflection of our inner state. Can we dance with change? Can we fall and try again with playfulness? Do we have the focus, skill, and attunement to find the still point within it all? – Shiva Rea

Basketball is an endurance sport, and you have to learn to control your breath; that’s the essence of yoga, too. So, I consciously began using yoga techniques in my practice and playing. I think yoga helped reduce the number and severity of injuries I suffered. As preventative medicine, it’s unequaled. – Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Be kinder to yourself, and then let your kindness flood the world. – Pema Chodron

Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvellous work. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstitions. It is fear that is the cause of all our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment. Therefore, arise, awake and stop not until the goal is reached – Swami Vivekananda

Be where you are, not where you think you should be. – Anonymous

Before embarking on important undertakings sit quietly, calm your senses and thoughts and meditate deeply. You will then be guided by the great creative power of Spirit. – Paramahansa Yogananda

Beyond meditation there is the experience of now. – Ryan Parenti

Breathing is the greatest pleasure in life. – Giovanni Papini

Calming the mind is yoga. Not just standing on the head. – Swami Satchidananda

Certainly work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as a sacred idleness, the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected. – George MacDonald

Chair pose is a defiance of spirit, showing how high you can reach even when you’re forced down. – Terri Guillemets

Change is not only inevitable, but always happening. When you truly embrace this concept of change being constant, the only thing left to do is grow, detach, venture inwards, touch the spirit and find your source – the one responsible for keeping you grounded through the ever-changing seasons of life. – Julie Weiland

Change is not something that we should fear. Instead, 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. – B.K.S Iyengar

Change only happens in the present moment. The past is already done. The future is just energy and intention. – Kino MacGregor

Concentrating on poses clears the mind, while focusing on the breath helps the body shift out of fight or flight mode. – Melanie Haiken

Corpse pose restores life. Dead parts of your being fall away, the ghosts are released. – Terri Guillemets

Do not feel lonely. The entire universe is inside of you. – Rumi

Doing anything with attention to how you feel is doing yoga. – Jean Couch

Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use. – Earl Nightingale.

Don’t move the way fear makes you move. Move the way love makes you move. Move the way joy makes you move. – Osho

Eat clean, stay fit, and have a burger to stay sane. – Gigi Hadid.

Every morning I offer my body, my mind and any ability that I posses, to be used by Thee, O infinite creator, in whatever way Thou dost choose to express Thyself through me. I know that all work is Thy work, and that no task is too difficult or too menial when offered to Thee in loving service. – Paramahansa Yogananda

Everyday is a great day for yoga! – Anonymous

Everyone can do Ashtanga. Except lazy people. – Sharath Jois

Everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and you put the work and time into it. – Michael Phelps.

Exercises are like prose, whereas yoga is the poetry of movements. Once you understand the grammar of yoga; you can write your poetry of movements. – Amit Ray

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor. – Thich Nhat Hanh

Find happiness within nature and yourself. For a healthy and peaceful life, make yoga a habit! – Unknown.

First month paining, second month tired, third month flying. – Sharath Jois

Follow your nature. The practice is really about uncovering your own pose; we have great respect for our teachers, but unless we can uncover our own pose in the moment, it’s not practice – it’s mimicry. Rest deeply in Savasana every day. Always enter that pratyahara (withdrawn state) every day. And just enjoy yourself. For many years I mistook discipline as ambition. Now I believe it to be more about consistency. Do get on the mat. Practice and life are not that different. – Judith Hanson Lasater

For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth. – Sanskrit Proverb

For many years I mistook discipline as ambition. Now I believe it to be more about consistency. Do get on the mat. Practice and life are not that different. – Judith Hanson Lasater

For me, yoga is not just a workout – it’s about working on yourself. – Mary Glover

For nearly every challenging moment… there’s a yoga pose to help you feel better. – Mandy Ingber.

For those wounded by civilization, yoga is the most healing salve. – T. Guillemets

Go from a human being doing yoga to a human being yoga. – Baron Baptiste

Good morning, my pain, my sorrow, my fear. I see you. I am here. Don’t worry. – Thich Nhat Hanh

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. -Mahatma Gandhi

Hatha yoga is spirituality of the body; it is the most perfect union of corporeal and incorporeal. – Terri Guillemets

Have only love in your heart for others. The more you see the good in them, the more you will establish well in yourself. – Paramhansa Yogananda

He who struggles is better than he who never attempts. – Swami Vivekananda

Here and now is where yoga begins. – The Yoga Sutras

I am never alone wherever I am. The air itself supplies me with a century of love. When I breathe in, I am breathing in the laughter, tears, victories, passions, thoughts, memories, existence, joys, moments, and the hues of the sunlight on many tones of skin; I am breathing in the same air that was exhaled by many before me. The air that bore them life. And so how can I ever say that I am alone? – C. JoyBell C.

I am standing on my own altar. The poses are my prayers – B.K.S. Iyengar

I bend so I don’t break. – Anonymous

I do an hour’s yoga and go running every day. Then I see a picture of myself and I still look like a skinny, pot-bellied idiot – and I thought I had turned into this superhunk! – Chris Martin.

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

I hate every minute of training. But I said, don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion. – Mohammad Ali

I have been a seeker and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my Soul. – Rumi

I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the highest source. I salute that source in you. Let us work together for unity and love. – Gandhi

I think it’s interesting that the opposite of being active in yoga is not being passive. It’s being receptive. – Cyndi Lee

I was in yoga the other day. I was in full lotus position. My chakras were all aligned. My mind is cleared of all clatter and I’m looking out of my third eye and everything that I’m supposed to be doing. It’s amazing what comes up, when you sit in that silence. Mama keeps whites bright like the sunlight, Mama’s got the magic of Clorox. – Ellen DeGeneres

I was looking for someone to inspire me, motivate me, support me, keep me focused… Someone who would love me, cherish me, make me happy, and I realized all along that I was looking for myself. – Unknown

If every eight-year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.”– Dalai Lama.

If we practice yoga long enough, the practice changes to suit our needs. It’s important to acknowledge that the practice isn’t meant to be one practice for everybody. The beautiful thing about yoga is that there are so many different approaches. As we go through our life cycles, hopefully we are able to find a practice that suits us. And if you practice yoga long enough, that will change many times. What exactly that looks like is going to be different for each person. – Tiffany Cruikshank, founder of Yoga Medicine

If you are quiet enough, you will hear the flow of the universe. You will feel its rhythm. Go with this flow. Happiness lies ahead. Meditation is key. – Buddha

If you choose to see everything as a miracle, then where you are right now is perfect. There is nowhere to run to; there is nothing else to do except be in this moment and allow what is to be. From that place of radical acceptance, major change can happen. The first step in any transformational experience is acceptance and surrender to the present moment, the way that it is. From that place we have the awareness, humility and power to change what is. – Mastin Kipp

If you fall over, you fall over. If you have to stop, you stop. But you start again. Just like life itself, you start again. – Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa

If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. – Ronald Dahl

If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things – that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It’s a discipline; you have to practice it. – Walter Isaacson

If you practice Yoga for small, selfish reasons, you will remain the same, bound by your beliefs about what you can and cannot do. Let go and offer your effort to limitless potential. Dedicate yourself to the happiness of all beings. – Sharon Gannon

If you retain the joyous aftereffects of meditation throughout the day, or part of the day, you will see that this joy will correctly guide you in everything. Saints are guided by this joy, in the consciousness of which no erroneous actions are possible. Retain the acquired joy of meditation throughout the day. – Paramhansa Yogananda

If you seek peace, be still. If you seek wisdom, be silent. If you seek love, be yourself. – Becca Lee

If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath. – Amit Ray

If you want to know how to get through the growing pains in life, start by practicing how to become comfortable with discomfort. That’s the way of the Yogi – Jaima Mavity

Ignorance [avidya] is the root element of all of the other afflictions. Whether it is like or dislike and such, or deep sleep, weakness, dissoluteness, or loftiness – no matter what type – all rise out of ignorance.

In asana practice we learn to cherish each breath, to cherish every cell in our bodies. The time we spend on the mat is love in action – Rolf Gates

In karma yoga no effort is ever lost, and there is no harm. Even a little practice of this discipline protects one from great fear of birth and death. – Bhagavad Gita

In our uniquely human capacity of connect movement with breath and spiritual meaning, yoga is born. – Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa

In truth, yoga doesn’t take time, it gives time. – Ganga White

Inhale the future, exhale the past. – Anonymus

Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions. – Kathryn Budig.

Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions. – Pema Chödrön

It doesn’t matter if things aren’t perfect. My practice is my time to feel alive, loved, and free. – Anonymous

It feels good pulling on these muscles, it feels better than worrying about who is watching. – Alain Bremond-Torrent

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles… – Buddha

It is indeed true that by practicing yoga we gradually improve our ability to concentrate and to be independent. We improve our health, our relationships, and everything we do. – T.K.V. Desikachar

It is not arrogant or egotistical to feel good inside. You had nothing to do with it. It’s simply the honest response to clearly perceived Reality. – Erich Schiffman

It is only when the mind is free from the old that it meets everything anew, and in that there is joy. – Jiddu Krishnamurti

Its not about being good at something, Its about being good to yourself. – Unknown

It’s not until you get tired that you see how strong you really are. – Shaun T.

I’m not napping. This is savasana! – Unknown.

Just breathe and relax! Enjoying reading these highly inspirational yoga quotes from great spiritual leaders. – Anonymous

Learning to be present with yourself and to abide in that which is steady and comfortable does not allow space for self-judgment. When you live this way, you are practicing yoga: you are living fully. – Judith Hanson Lasater

Let us accept all the different paths as different rivers running toward the same ocean. – Anonymous

Let your practice be a celebration of life – Seido lee deBarros

Letting go is the hardest asana. – Anonymous

Life’s too fast, Slow down and Do Yoga. – Anonymous

Live each moment completely and the future will take care of itself. Fully enjoy the wonder and beauty of each moment. – Paramahansa Yogananda

Live in a way that encourages deep happiness in yourself and others. You can vow to bring joy to one person in the morning and to help relieve the suffering of one person in the afternoon. Ask yourself, Who can I make smile this morning? This is the art of creating happiness. – Thich Nhat Hanh

Live in the present, forget the past. Give up hopes of future. – Swami Sivananda

Man who doesn’t have strength can practice. Except lazy people; lazy people can’t practice Ashtanga yoga. – Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois.

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom. – Buddha

Meditation can help us embrace our worries, our fear, our anger; and that is very healing. We let our own natural capacity of healing do the work. – Thich Nhat Hanh.

Meditation is a way for nourishing and blossoming the divinity within you. – Amit Ray

Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight – Ajahn Brahm

Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit. – Jeremy Taylor

Mind is a flexible mirror, adjust it, to see a better world. – Amit Ray

Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes. – Thich Nhat Hanh

Morning is an important time of day, because how you spend your morning can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have. – Lemony Snicket

Most people have no idea how good their body is designed to feel. – Kevin Trudeau

Move your joints every day. You have to find your own tricks. Bury your mind deep in your heart, and watch the body move by itself. – Sri Dharma Mittra

My biggest struggles have been my biggest teachers. – Kathryn Budig

My body is my temple and asanas are my prayers. – Sri. B.K.S.Iyengar

Never focus on what you can’t do – only imagine everything you could. – Kathryn Budig

Notice the silence. Notice your heart. Still beating. Still fighting. You made it, after all. You made it, another day. And you can make it one more. You’re doing just fine. – Charlotte Eriksson

Oh gosh, I noticed dramatic changes in my body after I started doing yoga, but I also think you have to shake things up. – Jennifer Aniston.

Once you’re in touch with the life force around us, it’s natural to want to help keep it around. – Adi Carter

One becomes firmly established in practice only after attending to it for a long time, without interruption and with an attitude of devotion.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. – Buddha.

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily. – Zig Ziglar

Practice puts brains in your muscles. – Sam Snead.

Practicing yoga does not eliminate life’s challenges, and neither does it provide us with a convenient trap-door to escape from life’s distractions. Instead, Yoga gives us the skills to meet life head-on with dignity and poise. – Donna Farhi

Practicing yoga during the day is a matter of keeping your eyes on the road and one ear turned toward the infinite. – Erich Schiffmann

Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success. – Swami Sivananda

Relationships are like the world’s most intense yoga! It’s a daily practice. – Tracy McMillan.

Remember, it doesn’t matter how deep into a posture you go- what does matter is who you are when you get there. – Max Strom

Sitting and concentrating the mind on a single object, controlling the thoughts and the activities of the senses, let the yogi practice meditation for self-purification. – Bhagavad Gita.

So build up the body, build up the nerves, and build up the mind until your faith is so strong there is no fear at all and you are the master. – Swami Satchidananda

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths. – Etty Hillesum

Sow love, reap peace… Sow meditation, reap wisdom. – Swami Sivananda

Spiritual awareness must be brought into our daily life if we are to become receptive to the radiance of that Consciousness that is pulsing with divine vibrations. – Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa

Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion. – Rumi

Stretching your body and mind is essential to avoid rigidity. – Haresh Sippy

Surrender to Yoga, for where is the conflict when the truth is known. – Sri T.Krishnamacharya

Take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to live. – Jim Rohn

That’s exactly how it is in yoga. The places where you have the most resistance are actually the places that are going to be the areas of the greatest liberation. – Rodney Yee

That’s why it’s called a practice. We have to practice a practice if it is to be of value. – Peace Pilgrim

The asanas are useful maps to explore yourself, but they are not the territory. – Donna Farhi

The attitude of gratitude is the highest yoga – Yogi Bhajan

The beautiful thing about yoga is that there are so many different approaches. As we go through our life cycles, hopefully we are able to find a practice that suits us. – Tiffany Cruikshank

The beauty is that people often come here for the stretch, and leave with a lot more. – Liza Ciano

The best thing you could do is master the chaos in you. You are not thrown into the fire, you are the fire. – Mama Indigo

The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness. – Sakyong Mipham

The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in. – B.K.S. Iyengar

The chakras are very intelligent. They are like the software of the whole computer body. – Dharma Mittra

The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this lifetime. – Anonymous

The goal of yoga science is to calm the mind, that without distortion it may hear the infallible counsel of the Inner Voice. – Paramahansa Yogananda

The inspiration you seek is already inside you, be silent and listen. – Rumi

The keys to health and weight-loss: stress reduction, sleep, deep breathing, clean water, complete nutrition, sunshine, walking, stretching, meditation, love, community, laughter, dreams, perseverance, purpose, humility, action. – Bryant McGill

The longest journey of any person is the journey inward. – Anonymous

The meaning of our self is not to be found in its separateness from God and others, but in the ceaseless realization of yoga of union. – Rabindranath Tagore

The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms. – Thich Nhat Hanh

The more light you shine into the world, the more you can help others with your very presence. – Max Strom

The more one judges, the less one loves. – Honore de Balzac

The most important pieces of equipment you need for doing yoga are your body and your mind. – Rodney Yee

The nature of yoga is to shine the light of awareness into the darkest corners of the body. – Jason Crandall

The only yoga stretch I’ve perfected is the yawn. – Grant Tucker.

The pleasure one enjoys from [spiritual] practice results in cessation of sorrow. – Bhagavad Gita.

The point of yoga is to develop a level of clarity and self-understanding so that when we’re done doing our yoga practice we make really good decisions, because that will determine whether we’re fulfilled. Not the quality of our poses. But really the yoga is what happens when we’re done practicing yoga. – Rod Stryker

The pose begins when you want to get out of it. – Baron Baptiste

The pose begins when you want to leave it. – Anonymous

The posture becomes perfect when the effort of achieving it vanishes. – Yogabhashya

The practice of Yoga brings us face to face with the extraordinary complexity of our own being. – Sri Aurobindo

The problem with introspection is that it has no end. – Philip K. Dick

The purpose of karma yoga is to transcend the bondage of selfish genes through the service of others. – Amit Ray

The quality of our breath expresses our inner feeling. – T.K.V. Desikachar

The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear. – Rumi

The real payoff of a yoga practice, I came to see, is not a perfect handstand or a deeper forward bend—it is the newly born self that each day steps off the yoga mat and back into life. – Rolf Gates

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

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. – Socrates

The soul is here for its own joy. -Rumi

The study of asana is not about mastering posture. It’s about using posture to understand and transform yourself. – B.K.S Iyengar.

The success of Yoga does not lie in the ability to perform postures but in how it positively changes the way we live our life and our relationships. – T.K.V. Desikachar

The ultimate goal of yoga is to always observe things accurately, and therefore never act in a way that will make us regret our actions later. – T.K.V. Desikachar

The very heart of yoga practice is abhyasa – steady effort in the direction you want to go. – Sally Kempton

The wise man lets go of all results, whether good or bad, and is focused on the actions alone. – The Bhagavad Gita

The yoga mat is a good place to turn when talk therapy and antidepressants aren’t enough. – Amy Weintraub.

The yoga pose is not the goal. Becoming flexible is not the goal. Standing on your hands is not the goal. The goal is serenity. Balance. Truly finding peace in your own skin. – Rachel Brathen

The yoga pose you avoid the most you need the most. – Anonymous

There doesn’t seem to be a recognized yoga of art… I call it Sutra-Yoga. Sutra, like strophe & verse, means the turn, the vortical twist of the mind in the imagined form. – Northrop Frye.

There is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in. – Leonard Cohen

There is always room for change, but you have to be open to that change. – Kathryn Budig

There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one point. – Swami Vivekananda

There will always be people who can do it better than you, but that’s a good thing! Start to see competition as inspiration – without envy. – Kathryn Budig

There’s no reason that we need to be counting things and adding things up. – Rory Freedman.

Things do not grow better; they remain as they are. It is we who grow better, by the changes we make in ourselves. – Swami Vivekananda

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. – Buddha

Three mantras you should never say: (1) I don’t know. (2) I’m not ready. (3) I can’t do it. – Yogi Bhajan

Through sustained focus and meditation on our patterns, habits, and conditioning, we gain knowledge and understanding of our past and how we can change the patterns that aren’t serving us to live more freely and fully. – Patañjali

To love those that love you is easy. To love those that love you not is not so simple. If you want to change anyone, set a better example. Show more kindness, more understanding, more love. That has a sure effect. To those who are not kind, show kindness. To those who are mean, show bigness of heart. – Paramahansa Yogananda

To perform every action artfully is yoga. – Swami Kripalu

To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes. – Pema Chödrön

To understand the immeasurable, the mind must be extraordinarily quiet, still. – Jiddu Krishnamurti

Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light. – Yogi Bhajan.

True meditation is about being fully present with everything that is–including discomfort and challenges. It is not an escape from life. – Craig Hamilton

True success is achieved by stretching oneself, learning to feel comfortable being uncomfortable. – Ken Poirot

True yoga is not about the shape of your body, but the shape of your life. Yoga is not to be performed; yoga is to be lived. Yoga doesn’t care about what you have been; yoga cares about the person you are becoming. Yoga is designed for a vast and profound purpose, and for it to be truly called yoga, its essence must be embodied. – Aadil Palkhivala, Fire of Love

True Yoga is not about… the shape of your life. Yoga is not to be performed; yoga is to be lived. – Aadil Palkhivala.

Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked. – Anonymous

Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked. – Patañjali

Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion. – Thich Nhat Hanh

We all wish for world peace, but world peace will never be achieved unless we first establish peace within our own minds. – Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

We all wish for world peace… first establish peace within our own minds. – Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.

We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in the future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act. – Swami Vivekananda

Wellness is a connection of paths: knowledge and action. – Joshua Welch

What is essential in the practice of yoga is the breath because each pose, each movement, originates from there. – T.K.V. Desikacha

What I’m looking for is not out there, it is in me. – Helen Keller

What you think, you become. – Buddha

When breath control is correct, mind control is possible. – Pattabhi Jois

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. – Lao Tzu

When I’m under stress, I do yoga. – Britney Spears

When life is foggy, path is unclear and mind is dull, remember your breath. It has the power to give you the peace. It has the power to resolve the unsolved equations of life. – Amit Ray

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. – Anonymous

When we push for immediate results and instant healing, we never inhabit the important in-between phase, which is where much of the learning and growth actually happen. – Bo Forbes

When you are self-conscious you are really showing symptoms that you don’t know who you are. Your very self-consciousness indicates that you have not come home yet. – Osho

When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others. – Peace Pilgrim

When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world. – B.K.S. Iyengar

When you listen to yourself, everything comes naturally. It comes from inside, like a kind of will to do something. Try to be sensitive. That is yoga. – Petri Räisänen

When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace. – Unknown

Whether young or old, very old, sick, or feeble, one can attain perfection in all the yogas by practicing. – Anonymous

With non-acceptance of unnecessary things, the knowledge emerges of what I was, what I have become, and what I will be. – Anonymous

Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. – Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Without proper breathing, the yoga postures are nothing more than calisthenics. – Rachel Schaeffer

You are the sky, everything else is just the weather. – Pema Chodron

You cannot always control what goes on outside, but you can always control what goes on inside. – Wayne Dyer

You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. – Sharon Gannon.

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

You either get bitter or get better. It’s that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate, it belongs to you. – Josh Shipp

You have to grow from inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul. – Swami Vivekananda

You may not be able to control the whole world, but you may learn to control your inner world through yoga. – Debasish Mridha

You should sit in meditation for minutes a day, unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour. – Old Zen Saying

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. – Buddha

Your body exists in the past and your mind exists in the future. In yoga, they come together in the present. – Anonymous

Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care. – Buddha

Your life is a precious gift from an imaginative loving source that endlessly breathes life. – Dashama

Your life is a sacred journey. It is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way. – Caroline Adams

Your soul is your best friend. Treat it with care, nurture it with growth, feed it with love. – Ashourina Yalda

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built. – Rumi

Quotes From Wikiquote

• Yoga — that supreme bridge to cosmic attainment — has existed through all ages. Each Teaching comprises its own Yoga, applicable to that step of evolution. The Yogas do not contradict each other. As the branches of one tree they spread their shade and refresh the traveler exhausted from heat. His strength regained, the traveler continues on his way. He took naught that was not his, nor did he divert his striving. He embraced the manifested benevolence of space. He liberated the preordained forces. He mastered his single belonging. Do not reject the forces of Yoga, but like light carry them into the twilight of labor unrealized. For the future, we arise out of sleep. For the future, we renew our garments. For the future, we sustain ourselves. For the future, we strive in our thought. For the future, we gather strength. First we shall apply the counsels of life. Then we shall pronounce the name of the Yoga of the time approaching. We shall hear the advancing footsteps of the element of fire, but we shall already be prepared to master the undulations of the flame. Therefore, we hail the yoga of the past — the Raja Yoga. And we affirm that of the future — the Agni Yoga. Preface
  • Agni Yoga, Agni Yoga (1929)

• Hatha Yoga cannot be regarded as an independent form. The growth of the spirit changes it into Raja Yoga. It is impossible to name anybody who attained through Hatha Yoga alone. Besides, in a world of darkness and prejudice, accomplishments through Hatha Yoga can even bring harm, by its strengthening of the astral body. The fakirs may adapt themselves to this world of darkness and unwittingly weaken the ascent of thought. Even a person sitting quietly and contemplating can attain further, because thought is the Raja of all that exists. Beauty is born through the lightning of thought. Truly, a flaming Bhakti can kindle new worlds with a thought. And the step of a Jnani will be but the smile of a Raja-Bhakti. Therefore Hatha and Jnana are not original and are insufficient. What sage of wisdom would not be the lord of love? 28.
  • Agni Yoga, Agni Yoga (1929)

• One must give attention to the middle brain, for in its development lies the attainment of yoga in life. This development, as experienced in one’s life, proves to what extent the Yoga of everyday life is superior to any artificial ascent achieved in isolation from reality. 155
  • Agni Yoga, Agni Yoga (1929)

• Urusvati knows how multicolored Agni Yoga is. An attentive eye can distinguish many tints in its flame. Surrounding conditions do of course affect the colors of the flame. And at different times different kinds of yoga are needed. One can perceive the magnificence of Raja Yoga, the radiance of Bhakti Yoga, and the tension of Jnana Yoga, but one can also see the ever present need for the luminous Karma Yoga. Labor is a constant during these days of mankind’s confusion. Thus, amidst the varied flowers of Agni Yoga we can find the stem of Karma Yoga, upon whose foundation humanity will find salvation. 558.
  • Agni Yoga, Supermundane (1938)

• Urusvati knows that all yogas demand profound discipline. This should be stressed, because some people think that there are yogas that do not require strictly disciplined conduct. They believe that some yogas are more difficult than others, and dream about following the easiest. But all require the same degree of inner discipline. For the yogi, there must be a great degree of tension of the psychic energy, because it builds an immunity that is so needed during the opening of the centers. The yogi has been compared to a person with flayed skin. This is a crude analogy, but not without truth. If the yogi did not develop immunity, he would not be able to endure the contact with the spatial currents. Urusvati knows that certain currents cause painful scraping and prickly sensations. One can imagine what might happen without the building of immunity!
  Some will be sure to smile when We say that the main factor in the acquiring of immunity is a good thought. But one cannot become a yogi without acknowledging the power of good thoughts. Such thoughts are the best gatekeepers at the entrance to the Subtle World. So many people imagine themselves to be yogis, yet they are filled with malice! People assume that they will experience a sudden enlightenment that will by its own power carry them over all obstacles… 559.
  • Agni Yoga, Supermundane (1938)

• Urusvati knows that the Yoga of today—the link with the Highest—must be accomplished amidst the routine of everyday life. Not hiding from life, but transforming it is required. The fiery essence of the heart is its magnet. Precisely, the heart can open the entrance into Higher Worlds. No special asceticism is needed. Love, labor, and beauty are within the reach of all, under any conditions. Life must be affirmed upon these foundations. Children must be taught that they are the creators of their own happiness. Proper upbringing must precede formal education. Subtle energies are like a wondrous, many-stringed harp. The Thinker said, “Fiery Banner, illumine the Higher Path!” 812.
  • Agni Yoga, Supermundane (1938)

• I mean the whole thing about meditation and yoga is about connecting to the higher part of yourself, and then seeing that every living thing is connected in some way.
  • Gillian Anderson, in Will the Real World Please Stand Up?: A Guide to Everyday Spirituality, p. 54.

• The principle of Yoga is the turning of one or of all powers of our human existence into a means of reaching divine Being.
  • Sri Aurobindo, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], pp.19-20.

• All the various Yogas have had their place in the unfoldment of the human being. In the first purely physical race, which is called the Lemurian, the Yoga at that time imposed upon infant humanity was Hatha Yoga, the Yoga of the physical body, that Yoga which brings into conscious use and manipulation the various organs, muscles and parts of the physical frame… In Atlantean days, the progress of the sons of men was procured through the imposition of two Yogas. First, the Yoga which is called by the name of Laya Yoga, the Yoga of the centres which produced a stabilizing of the etheric body and of the centres in man and the development of the astral and psychic nature. Later on, Bhakti Yoga, growing out of the development of the emotional or astral body, was incorporated with Laya Yoga and the foundation of that mysticism and devotion… Now… the subjugation of the mental body and the control of the mind is brought about through the practice of Raja Yoga, and the fifth initiation, that of adept, is the goal for evolving humanity.
  • Alice Bailey, The Light of the Soul: Its Science and Effect: a paraphrase of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, by Alice A. Bailey, (1927) Introduction

• Thus all the Yogas have had their place and served a useful purpose and it will become apparent that any return to Hatha Yoga practices or those practices which deal specifically with the development of the centres, brought about through various types of meditation practices and breathing exercises, is, from a certain aspect, a retrogression. It will be found that through the practice of Raja Yoga, and through assuming that point of directional control which is to be found by the man who centers his consciousness in the soul, the other forms of Yoga are unnecessary, for the greater Yoga automatically includes all the lesser in its results, though not in its practices.
  • Alice Bailey, The Light of the Soul: Its Science and Effect: a paraphrase of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, by Alice A. Bailey, (1927) Introduction

• Yoga is the unifying art of transforming dharma into action, be it through inspired thought, properly nurtuting our children, a painting, a kindness or an act of peace that forever moves humanity forward.
  • Micheline Berry, in The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom, p. 24.

• 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 Wood Besant, in Introduction to Yoga, Synopsis.

• The Self in you is the same as the Self Universal. Whatever powers are manifested throughout the world, those powers exist in germ, in latency, in you…. If you realize the unity of the Self amid the diversities of the Not-Self, then Yoga Will not seem an impossible thing to you.
  • Annie Wood Besant, in The Nature and Practice of Yoga, p. 12.

• For all the practical purposes of Yoga, the man, the working, conscious man, is so much of him as he cannot separate from the matter enclosing him, or with which he is connected. Only that is body which the man is able to put aside and say: “This is not I, but mine.”
  • Annie Wood Besant, Introduction to Yoga, p. 18.

• That which we know as Yoga is the method by which evolution is quickened in the individual, and all the powers of the Self, up to the threshold of divinity, may by it be brought into manifestation in the man of the present. That is why Yoga training was necessary for the ancient scientist; he must develop in himself the three aspects of God, if he were to understand them as manifested in the universe around him. Now, at our own stage of evolution, it is specially the life of Brahmâ—or the Brahmâ aspect of God—with which the human mind is coming into touch, because the mind in man is the reflection of the universal mind in Kosmos. That life is the life that is the force in the atom, that vivifies every atom, nay, that brings the atom into existence, as we shall see, and remains during the whole of the growth of the universe as the fundamental life that keeps those atoms as active particles building up innumerable forms.
  • Annie Besant, in Evolution of Life and Form, Four lectures delivered at the twenty-third anniversary meeting of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, Madras, (1898)

• Self-healing is the privilege of every person. Self-healing is not a miracle and has nothing to do with doing something, being able to do something. Self-healing is a process that develops from the relationship of the body with the infinite power of the soul. It is an engagement, a unity – that is the science of the Kundalini Yoga.
  • Yogi Bhajan, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], p. 20.

• The attitude of gratitude is the highest yoga.
  • Yoga Bhajan, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 22.

• Yoga (Sk.). (1) One of the six Darshanas or schools of India; a school of philosophy founded by Patanjali, though the real Yoga doctrine, the one that is said to have helped to prepare the world for the preaching of Buddha, is attributed with good reasons to the more ancient sage Yâjnawalkya, the writer of the Shatapatha Brâhmana, of Yajur Veda, the Brihad Âranyaka, and other famous works. (2) The practice of meditation as a means of leading to spiritual liberation. Psycho-spiritual powers are obtained thereby, and induced ecstatic states lead to the clear and correct perception of the eternal truths, in both the visible and invisible universe.
  • H.P. Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary, (1892)

• Through practice [of yoga], I’ve come to see that the deepest source of my misery is not wanting things to be the way they are. Not wanting myself to be the way I am. Not wanting the world to be the way it is. Not wanting others to be the way they are. Whenever I’m suffering, I find this “war with reality” to be at the heart of the problem.
  • Stephen Cope, in Will Yoga & Meditation Really Change My Life?: Personal Stories from 25 of .., p. 291.

• Yoga is defined as a method – the process of nirodha (mental control) – by which union (the goal of yoga) is achieved. Yoga is therefore both the process of nirodha and the unqualified state of niruddha (the perfection of that process). The word yoga (union) implies duality (as in joining of two things or principles); the result of yoga is the nondual state…, or as the union of the lower self and higher Self. The nondual state is characterized by the absence of individuality; it can be described as eternal peace, pure love, Self-realization, or liberation.
  • Baba Hari Dass, 1999, A Study Guide and Commentary for Book I, Samadhi Pada (Sutra 2, p.5); Sri Rama Publishing, Santa Cruz, CA
  • The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I

• The ego rules the mind because it links the “I” with the mind and body. If the “I,” which is another name for the self, were not identified with the mind and body, the ego would have no power. Self-study [svadhyaya], therefore, is the set of practices that investigates the nature of the self to discover its origin. When the origin is found to be separate from the body, the ego loses the battle and peace is attain.
  • Baba Hari Dass, 2008, Book II, Sadhana Pada (Sutra 1, p.5)
  • The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II

• Samyama, which is the application of concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and superconscious trance (samadhi) in lightning succession, is practiced with the intent to gain specific knowledge of the object of concentration. The object is seen from all sides, in all its aspects, with full depth and breadth. As such, this complete absorption of the mind using the process of samyama brings complete and specific knowledge of the object. This power of knowing is vibhuti.
  • Baba Hari Dass, 2013, Book III, Vibhuti Pada (Sutra 4, p.7)
  • The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III

• Symbolically, Ganesha represents the basic unity of the macrocosm and microcosm, the immense being (the elephant) and the individual being (man). This highly implausible identity is however a fundamental reality and the key to all mystic or ritual experience as well as to Yogic possibilities. Without being aware of Ganesha, and without worshipping him, no accomplishment is possible.
  • Alain Daniélou, in Gods of Love and Ecstasy: The Traditions of Shiva and Dionysus (1992), p. 90

• Indian forms of yoga have spread throughout the world due to …their objectives of promoting health and harmony. Japan is but one of many countries that have received these age-old teachings. While Indian yogic discipline]s (Hatha yoga in particular) have become well known, not everyone realizes that certain distinctive Japanese versions of Indian spiritual paths have evolved. Perhaps the first of these unique methodologies is the art of Shin-shin-toitsu-do, which was developed by Nakamura Tempu Sensei (1876–1968). In fact, Nakamura Sensei is often considered to be the father of yoga in Japan.
  • H.E. Davey, in Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation, p. 23.

• The word “yoga” literally means “uniting”, because when you’re doing it you are uniting your mind and your body. You can tell this almost immediately because your mind will be thinking, “Ouch, that hurts,” and your body will say, “I know.” And your mind will think, “You have to get out of this position.” And your body will say, “I agree with you, but I can’t right now. I think I’m stuck.
  • Ellen DeGeneres, in Ann Arbor Rotary Harpoon

• Yoga exists in the world because everything is linked.
  • Desikachar, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 20.

• The worldly man lives in society, marries, establishes a family; Yoga prescribes absolute solitude and chastity. The worldly man is “possessed” by his own life; the yogin refuses to “let himself live”; to continual movement, he opposes his static posture, the immobility of āsana; to agitated, unrhythmical, changing respiration, he opposes prānāyāma, and even dreams of holding his breath indefinitely; to the chaotic flux of psychomental life, he replies by “fixing thought on a single point,” the first step to that final withdrawal from the phenomenal world which he will obtain through pratyāhāra. All of the yogic techniques invite to one and the same gesture—to do exactly the opposite of what human nature forces one to do. From solitude and chastity to samyama, there is no solution of continuity. The orientation always remains the same—to react against the “normal,” “secular,” and finally “human” inclination.
  • Mircea Eliade, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, W. Trask, trans. (Princeton: 1969), pp. 95–96

• Yoga, is a ’science’ of achieving the transformation of finite man into the infinite One, has to be recognized as something intrinsically Indian or, as ’a specific dimension of the Indian mind.’
  • Mircea Eliade, source: Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, Mircea Eliade.Quoted from Gewali, Salil (2013). Great Minds on India. New Delhi: Penguin Random House.

• Yoga does not remove us from the reality of responsibilities of everyday life but rather places our feet firmly and resolutely in the practical ground of experience. We don’t transcend our lives; we return to the life we left behind in the hopes of something better.
  • Donna Farhi, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 22.

• A photographer gets people to pose for him. A yoga instructor gets people to pose for themselves.
  • Jay Fields, in justga

• Yoga involves a lot more than just striking poses. Traditional yoga has eight parts (angas or limbs). There are four practices and four experiences for which one should strive.
  • Regan Gurung, in Health Psychology: A Cultural Approach, p. 366.

• A person is said to have achieved yoga, the union with Self, when the perfectly disciplined mind gets freedom from all desires, and becomes absorbed in the Self alone.
  • Bhagwad Gita 6.16-18, in “Yoga and You”

• The real Meaning of Yoga is a deliverance from contact with pain and sorrow.
  • Bhagawad Gita, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], p. 24.

• Warrior pose battles inner weakness and wins focus. You see that there is no war within you. You are on your own side, and you are your own strength.
  • Terri Guillemets, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 133.

• Chair pose is a defiance of spirit, showing how high you can reach even when you are forced down
  • Terri Guillemets, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 134.

• I am losing balance is a pose, I stretch higher and God reaches down to steady me. It works every time, and not just in yoga.
  • Terri Guillemets, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, pp.135-36.

• Concentrating on poses clears the mind, while focusing on the breath helps the body shift out of fight or flight mode.
  • Melanie Haiken, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 134.

• There are many different schools of yoga and also several different aspects, including postures, breathing exercises and meditation….yoga can practiced by people of all shapes and sizes.
  • Nancy Hine, in “The Depression Trap: Ten Ways to Set Yourself Free”, p. 61.

• …it is one of the few forms of exercise that has been studied separately in relation to depression. Yoga means ‘union’. It is often interpreted as the union of mind, body and soul, and can provide perfect harmony and balance.
  • Nancy Hine, in “The Depression Trap: Ten Ways to Set Yourself Free”, p. 61.

• Yoga, ancient and perfect science, deals with 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.
  • BKS Iyengar, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], p. 22.

• The feeling in the spiritual heart must be, “ I am not separate from asana, asana is not separate from me, I am asana and asana is me.
  • BKS Iyengar, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 136.

• Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.
  • BKS Iyengar, in The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick: What They Know, Why It Works, and …, p. 194.

• 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 [[judgmen]t]] 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.
  • BKS Iyengar in “Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace and Ultimate Freedom, quoted in “Ann Arbor Rotary Harpoon.

• When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world.
  • BKS Iyengar, in “Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freed]om”, p.xxi.

• Yoga is like music. The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind and the harmony of the soul creates the symphony of life.
  • BKS Iyengar, in “Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freed]om”, p.xxi.

• 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. The practice of yogasana for the sake of health, to keep fit, or to maintain flexibility is the external practice of yoga.
  • BKS Iyengar, in Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, p. 24.

• When this body has been so magnificently and artistically created by God, it is only fitting that we should maintain it in good health and harmony by the most excellent and artistic science of Yoga.
  • Geeta Iyengar, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, pp.23-24.

• God, with the help of yoga, through gradual enfoldment and transformations is seen within the human body as Bliss and then again through yogas that Bliss being concentrated takes the form of a person and teaches the seer yogas.
  • sri jibankrishna, in Jibankrishna (Diamond) the Universal man and his Eternal Sayings – Who is real Saint.

• Yoga is possible for anybody who really wants it. Yoga is universal…. But don’t approach yoga with a business mind looking for worldly gain.
  • Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 22.

• Yoga is about awakening. Yoga is about creating a life that brings more beauty and more love into the world.
  • John Friend, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 23.

• No system of thought or body control is more widely known today than Yoga. When a religious method recommends itself as ’scientific’, it can be certain of its public in the West. Yoga fulfills this expectation. Quite apart from the charm of the new and the fascination of the half-understood, there is good cause for Yoga to have many adherents. It offers the possibility of controllable experience and thus satisfies the scientific need for ’facts’; and, besides this, by reason of its breadth and depth, its venerable age, its doctrine and method which include every phase of life, it promises undreamed-of possibilities.
  • Carl Jung. source: Let’s Regain Our Lost Soul, Nani A. Palkhivala.Quoted from Gewali, Salil (2013). Great Minds on India. New Delhi: Penguin Random House.

• Yoga does not ask you to be more than you are. But it does ask you to be all that you are.
  • Bryan Kest, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], p. 23.

• Crying is one of the highest devotional songs. One who knows crying, knows spiritual practice. If you can cry with a pure heart, nothing else compares to such a prayer, Crying includes all the principles of Yoga.
  • Swami Kripalu, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], p. 23.

• Properly speaking, Yoga is an adjunct to religion and has always been treated as such in India, the country of its birth. The word Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj which means to yoke or join. As such, Yoga signifies the union of the individual soul with universal Consciousness or, in the language of the Upanishads, with the uncreated, all-pervading Brahman.
  • Gopi Krishna in Kundalini – The Secret of Yoga (Full text) (1972)

• The word yoga is met for the first time in Vedas in the Katha Upanishad and some description of it is contained in Svetasvatra, the last of the early Upanishads. It is more frequently met with in Puranas, the epics and other later literature, and is sometimes synonymously used for tapa and dhyana (i.e., religious austerity and meditation). Basically Yoga is nothing more or less than systematized concentration. Fixity of attention, whether on a God or a Goddess, on a symbol or a diagram, on the void or any material object, or whether on a mantra or any particular region of the body, is the main exercise of every ancient form of Yoga.
  • Gopi Krishna in Kundalini – The Secret of Yoga (Full text) (1972)

• What is yoga? The essence of yoga is to withdraw the mind from all external activities, draw in inward, and keep it contained within [laya]. The example of sleep is a way to illustrate the benefits of yoga. However, the withdrawal of the mind from external activities during sleep is due to the influence of tamas [the quality of dullness that clouds the mind]. The inward turning or steadiness of the mind in yoga is due to sattva [the quality of clarity and knowing in the mind]. The steadiness of mind brought about sattva is a thousand times more beneficial than that brought about tamas, though it may not be common knowledge to all. This [steadiness of the mind due to sattva] is yoga-nidra. In fact, all of our time is wasted until we attain such steadiness of mind through yoga.
  • Sri Thirumalai Krisnamacharya, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], p. 21.

• Nowadays, the practice of yoga stops with just asanas. Very few even attempt dharana and dhyana [deeper meditation] with seriousness. There is a need to search once more and reestablish the practice and value of yoga in modern times.
  • Sri T. Krishnamacharya, in Wait, is Yoga ‘Meditation’? by Ashley Serrao

• Inhale, and God approaches you. Hold the inhalation, and God remains with you. Exhale, and you approach God. Hold the exhalation, and surrender to God. ~
  • Sri T. Krishnamacharya, in Stress Out: Show Stress Who’s the Boss!, p. 9.

• Sun salutations can energise and warm you, even on the darkest, coldest winter day.
  • Carol Krucoff, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 133.

• The second school of yoga is that of Shri Krishna, particularly expounded in the great poem the Bhagavad-Gita… This teaches above all else the doctrine of love. The disciple Arjuna, to whom the Guru spoke, was a great lover of mankind; according to the scripture this great soldier sank down upon the floor of his chariot before the battle of Kurukshetra began, full of sorrow because he loved his enemies and could not bear to injure them. The teacher Shri Krishna then explained to him, amid much philosophical teaching, that the greatest thing in life is service, that God himself is the greatest server—for he keeps the wheel of life revolving, not because any benefit can possibly accrue to him in consequence, but for the sake of the world—and that men should follow his example and work for the welfare of mankind. Many Great Ones, he said, had reached perfection by following this path of life, by doing their duty without personal desire. To love without ceasing is the way of the second Ray; in the Gita it is shown how this love should be directed to men and other beings in karma yoga (the yoga by action or work) and to God in bhakti yoga (the yoga by devotion).
  • C.W. Leadbeater, The Masters and the Path (1925) p. 134

• The sixth school is that of bhakti or devotion…taught to a large extent in the Bhagavad-Gita; indeed, we find it in every religion among those true devotees who put their trust entirely in the Divine— who do not pray for personal favours, but are quite convinced that God is perfect master of his world, that he knows what he is doing, and that therefore all is well; they are therefore more than content, they are thrilled with ecstasy, if they can but have the opportunity and the privilege to serve and obey him in any way.
  • C.W. Leadbeater, The Masters and the Path (1925) p. 136

• Yoga science is not just a scholarly pursuit. It is a moment by moment and thought by thought practical guide for living.
  • Leonard Perlmutter, in The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom, p. 20.

• Yoga practice can make us more sensitive to subtler sensations in the body. Paying attention to and staying with finer sensations within the body is one of the surest ways to steady the wandering mind.
  • Ravi Ravindra, in “Yoga and You”

• Yoga is not a religion. It is a science, science of well-being, science of youthfulness, science of integrating body, mind and soul.
  • Amit Ray, in Yoga and You

• Yoga is the art work of awareness on the canvas of body, mind, and soul.
  • Amit Ray, Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Lifestyle (2012).

• Yoga means addition – addition of energy, strength and beauty to body, mind and soul.
  • Amit Ray, Meditation:Insights and Inspirations (2010).

• Exercises are like prose, whereas yoga is the poetry of movements. Once you understand the grammar of yoga; you can write your poetry of movements.
  • Amit Ray, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 16.

• Life is a living flute, yoga is the art of creating melody and rhythm in it.
  • Amit Ray in Yoga The Science of Well-Being (2016)
• Yoga is like an ocean of wisdom, but we have to go inside to see the beauty of it. An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of theory.
  • Sharath Rangaswamy, in Quotes to inspire

• Now, the science of Hatha Yoga rests upon the ‘suppression of breath,’ or Pranayama, to which exercise our Masters are unanimously opposed. For what is Pranayama? Literally translated, it means the ‘death of (vital) breath.’ . . . Several impatient Chelas, whom we knew personally in India, went in for the practice of Hatha Yoga, notwithstanding our warnings. Of these, two developed consumption, one of whom died; others became almost idiotic; another committed suicide; and one developed into a regular Tantrika, a Black Magician, but his career, fortunately for himself, was cut short by death.
  • Helena Roerich, Letters I, (8 September 1934)

• I may cheer you up by saying that, although the path of preparatory discipleship is long and there are many obstacles and trials on this path, the mastering of these difficulties bring its own joy, achievement and revelation. Also, you must know that these tests are not artificially created but deal with the inner attitude and presence of mind of the disciple, giving him a chance to show how he will act in cases of sudden difficulty and amid general trying circumstances. In Theosophical literature seven years is usually mentioned as the first period of trial, followed by the next period of seven years. But these periods can be shortened or prolonged indefinitely. All depends upon the karma of the disciple and on his inner development and aspiration. For one must achieve the gradual opening of the higher centers; otherwise it is impossible to become an accepted disciple. But remember that until the age of thirty years is reached, not all the centers can be awakened without terrible harm to the organism. To force their opening is equal to suicide.
  • Helena Roerich, Letters I, (29 August 1934)

• Practising yoga during the day is a matter of keeping your eyes on the road and one ear turned toward the infinite. It’s about listening inwardly as often as you can for your deepest impulses about what to say, think, or do, or be.
  • Erich Schiffmann, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], pp.21-22.

• Yoga practitioners advise the times around sunrise and sunset, well before eating a meal, as the best time for yoga and meditation practice. The science of biometeorology (the study of natural forces on human and animal life) tells us that the sun has a tremendous impact upon the lives of plants, animals, and human beings. Even our blood chemistry changes with the rising and setting of the sun! Therefore, there may be a chemical basis for the thousands of years of belief, in every spiritual tradition, that to meditate and pray at sunrise and sunset is somehow more effective, more auspicious.
  • Vimala Schneider McClure, in A Woman’s Guide to Tantra Yoga, p. 106.

• In Kundalini Yoga, there is a multitude of seated asanas. There are many variations to choose from based on physical condition and skill level.
  • Athansios Karta Singh, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 134.

• Yoga is not gymnastics or a competition. The goal is not to achieve an outwardly perfect form through excessive ambition but rather to experience your own spirituality and the interaction of body and mind in each pose.
  • Athanasios Karta Singh, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], pp.22-23.

• I think the time is right for yoga, We really are living in a very complex time. – a time of great turmoil and change. Yoga is a good antidote to all that…It is almost like music in a way; there’s no end to it.
  • Sting, in Yoga Journal Dec 1995, p. 4.

• But long before there were airline delays and fancy gyms at every corner there was yoga–the pretzel-twisting system of meditative exercise that is designed to enhance overall well-being. The term which comes from a Sanskrit word meaning “to yoke or join together”, refers to the unity of body, mind and spirit achieved in a successful yoga practice.
  • Gene Stone, in “The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick: What They Know, Why It Works, and …”, p. 190.

• Because the technique was handed down orally from teachers to students, yoga’s precise beginnings are unknown, but it is thought to have originated more than five thousand years ago in northern India. The Yoga Sutras, one of the earliest texts on yoga (it dates from the year around 1 AD), attempts to organize its previously diverse practices into one system based on eight doctrines, or “limbs.” The third, fourth, and fifth of these limbs evolved into modern Western yoga asana, or physical exercises, pranayama or breating techniques and prathyahara or meditation (literally recovering).
  • Gene Stone, in “The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick: What They Know, Why It Works, and …”, p. 190.

• Two generations ago, yoga was a mysterious Eastern practice few Americans knew much about….Fifteen million Americans now say they include some form of yoga in their fitness regimen, and about 75% of all American health clubs offer yoga classes.
  • Gene Stone, in “The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick: What They Know, Why It Works, and …”, p. 189-190.

• Today more than a hundred types of yoga are practiced. Braver souls try power yoga, which does not pause between poses, or Bikram Yoga, pioneered by Olympic gold medal weight lifter Bikram Choudhury, which takes place in rooms heated to a minimum of 105 degree F. In the United states the most widely practiced yoga is the slow and gentle hata yoga, in t which the instructor takes students through a series of poses while helping them become aware of and change their breathing and thought patterns.
  • Gene Stone, in “The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick: What They Know, Why It Works, and …”, p. 190.

• NIH (The US national Institute of Health) considers yoga a “form of complementary and alternative medicine”, and physicians sometimes recommend it as an adjunct to conventional treatments for a range of chronic conditions, including asthma, back pain, arthritis. In general, yoga helps the body by; triggering and enhancing the immune system; relieving stress; and massaging the organs.
  • Gene Stone, in “The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick: What They Know, Why It Works, and …”, pp.191-92.

• The connection between yoga and heart disease has been particularly well researched. In 1990, as reported in Dr Green Ornish’s “Program for Reversing Heart Disease”… yoga was found to decrease participants cholesterol and triglycerides. And in 2007, [according to] a study published in the journal “Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice”, yoga could reverse several heart disease risk factors, including obesity, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar. Participants who practiced yoga also developed higher levels of HDL (healthy cholesterol).
  • Gene Stone, in “The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick: What They Know, Why It Works, and …”, p. 192.

• Remember, it does not matter how deep into a posture you go – what does matter is who you are when you get there.
  • Max Strom, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 135.

• Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With yoga, we become aware of how and where we are restricted — in body, mind, and heart — and how gradually to open and release these blockages. As these blockages are cleared, our energy is freed. We start to feel more harmonious, more at one with ourselves. Our lives begin to flow — or we begin to flow more in our lives.
  • Cybele Tomlinson, in About Yoga

• Yoga is so universal in its principles and so holistically beneficial, it is possible for any person, young or old, religious or agnostic, to embrace and enjoy a practice.
  • Christy Turlington, in The Beauty of the Practice Part 2

• Yoga philosophy teaches that real man is not his body, but that the immortal I, of which each human being is conscious to some degree according to his mental evolution, is not the body but merely occupies and uses the body as an instrument.
  • Swami Vishnu Devananda, The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga (1995)

• The fire of Yoga burns the cage of sin that is around a man. Knowledge becomes purified and Nirvana is directly obtained. From Yoga comes knowledge; knowledge again helps the Yogi. He who combines in himself both Yoga and knowledge, with him the Lord is pleased. Those that practise Mahayoga, either once a day, or twice a day, or thrice, or always, know them to be gods. Yoga is divided into two parts. One is called Abhava, and the other, [[w:Mahayoga}Mahayoga]]. Where one’s self is meditated upon as zero, and bereft of quality, that is called Abhava. That in which one sees the self as full of bliss and bereft of all impurities, and one with God, is called Mahayoga. The Yogi, by each one, realises his Self. The other Yogas that we read and hear of, do not deserve to be ranked with the excellent Mahayoga in which the Yogi finds himself and the whole universe as God. This is the highest of all Yogas.
  • Swami Vivekananda’s translation of Kurma-Purana, in Raja -Yoga in Brief

• Vairâgya or renunciation is the turning point in all the various Yogas. The Karmi (worker) renounces the fruits of his work. The Bhakta (devotee) renounces all little loves for the almighty and omnipresent love. The Yogi renounces his experiences, because his philosophy is that the whole Nature, although it is for the experience of the soul, at last brings him to know that he is not in Nature, but eternally separate from Nature. The Jnâni (philosopher) renounces everything, because his philosophy is that Nature never existed, neither in the past, nor present, nor will It in the future.
  • Swami Vivekananda, in One Existence Appearing As Many (Delivered in New York, 1896).

• As every science has its methods, so has every religion. The methods of attaining the end of religion are called Yoga by us, and the different forms of Yoga that we teach are adapted to the different natures and temperaments of men.
  • Swami Vivekananda, in Swami Vivekananda, a Study on Aesthetics, p. 97.

• Yoga has essentially to do with the meditative side of religion, rather than the ethical side, though, of necessity, a little of the latter has to be considered….This is no child’s play, no fad to be tried one day and discarded the next. It is a life’s work; and the end to be attained is well worth all that it can cost us to reach it; being nothing less than the realisation of our absolute oneness with the Divine. Surely, with this end in view, and with the knowledge that we can certainly succeed, no price can be too great to pay.
  • Swami Vivekananda, in The Aim of Raja Yoga]

• “Vogue” and “Self” (magazines) are putting out the message of yoginis as buff and perfect. If you start doing yoga for those reasons, fine. Most people get beyond that and see that it’s much, much more.
  • Patricia Walden, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 24.

• Sun has never deprived anyone of its light and energy irrespective of their caste and religion. Despite this, if it is being linked to communalism then I request such people to stay in their rooms during the day without sunlight.
  • Yogi Adityanath. On religious groups claiming that the Yoga practice Surya Namaskar would cause religious disharmony or be against Islam or Christianity, as quoted in “People opposed to ‘Surya Namaskar’ should lock themselves in ‘dark room’: Yogi Adityanath”, Zee News (9 June 2015).

Anonymous

• The yoga pose that you avoid the most you need the most.
  • In The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom, p. 134.

• The pose begins when you want to leave it.
  • In “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 134.

• Asanas attune the body to meditation, just as guitar is tuned before a performance.
  • In “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 136.

The Light of the Soul… a paraphrase of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, by Alice A. Bailey (1927)

1. AUM. The following instruction concerneth the Science of Union.
2. This Union (or Yoga) is achieved through the subjugation of the psychic nature, and the restraint of the chitta (or mind).
3. When this has been accomplished, the Yogi knows himself as he is in reality.

• Book 1, The Problem of Union

• We must here bear in mind that we are beginning the book which outlines the practical part of the work, which gives the rules which must be followed if the aspirant hopes to achieve, and which indicates those methods which will bring about the realization of spiritual consciousness. The objective has been dealt with in Book I. The aspirant naturally says on concluding Book I, “how desirable and how right, but how shall this be? What must I do? Where shall I begin?” Patanjali starts at the very beginning and in this second book he indicates:

1. The basic personality requirements,
2. The hindrances which can then be noted by the earnest disciple,
3. The eight “means of yoga” or the eight kinds of activity which will bring about the needed results.

• Book II, The Steps to Union (Commentary)

• It might be of value here if we dealt with the various “yogas” so as to give to the student a clear concept as to their distinctions and thus cultivate his discrimination. The principal yogas are three in number, the various other so-called “yogas” finding their place in one of these three groups:

1. Raja Yoga…the yoga of the mind or will,
2. Bhakti Yoga… the yoga of the heart or the devotee,
3. Karma Yoga…. the yoga of action.

• Book II, The Steps to Union (Commentary)

• Raja Yoga stands by itself and is the king science of them all; it is the summation of all the others, it is the climax and that which completes the work of development in the human kingdom. It is the science of the mind and of the purposeful will, and brings the higher of man’s sheaths in the three worlds under the subjection of the Inner Ruler. This science coordinates the entire lower threefold man, forcing him into a position where he is nothing but the vehicle for the soul, or God within. It includes the other yogas and profits by their achievements. It synthesises the work of evolution and crowns man as king.
  • Book II, The Steps to Union (Commentary)

• Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of the heart; it is the bringing into submission of all the feelings, desires and emotions, to the one beloved, seen and known in the heart. It is the sublimation of all the lower loves and the bringing captive of all longings and desire, to the one longing to know the God of love and the love of God. It was the “kingly” or crowning science of the last rootrace, the Atlantean, just as the science of Raja Yoga is the great science of our Aryan civilization. Bhakti Yoga made its exponent an arhat or led him to the fourth initiation. Raja Yoga makes him an adept and leads him to the portal of the fifth initiation. Both lead to liberation, for the arhat is released from the cycle of rebirth but Raja Yoga liberates him to complete service and freedom to work as a White Magician. Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of the heart, of the astral body.
  • Book II, The Steps to Union (Commentary)

• Karma Yoga has a specific relation to physical plane activity, and to the working out into objective manifestation of all the inner impulses. In its ancient and simplest form it was the yoga of the third or Lemurian root race and its two best known expressions are: a. Hatha Yoga, b. Laya Yoga. The former has specifically to do with the physical body, its conscious (not subconscious and automatic) functioning and all the various practices which give man control over the different organs and the entire mechanical apparatus of the physical body. The latter has to do with the etheric body, with the force centers or chakras found in that body…
  • Book II, The Steps to Union (Commentary)

• …if we divide the human torso into three departments it might be stated that:

1. Karma Yoga resulted in the awakening of the four centres below the diaphragm,
2. Bhakti Yoga resulted in their transmutation and transference into the two centres above the diaphragm, yet in the torso, the heart and the throat.
3. Raja Yoga synthesizes all the forces of the body in the head and from there distributes and controls them.

• Book II, The Steps to Union (Commentary)