Quotes from Rolf Gates

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.

We spend our days badgered by voices that tell us to judge others, fear others, harm others, or harm ourselves. But we are not obligated to listen to those voices, or even to take responsibility for them. They may be where we come from, but they are not where we are going. There is another voice, a voice that shines. Ahimsa is the practice of listening to that voice of lightness, cultivating that voice, trusting that voice, acting upon that voice.

What a beautiful thing, to walk amidst the endless diversity of life with the ability to perceive the source and the reality of its unity.

Whenever we find ourselves ensnared in negative behavior, he suggests, we should increase the amount of time, thought, and energy we direct toward positive behavior.

You may not be what you think you are, but what you think, you are. Jim Clark

When nonviolence in speech, thought, and action is established, one's aggressive nature is relinquished and others abandon hostility in one's presence. Yoga Sutras

At long last I came to the breakthrough point, the surrender. I realized that her life, and my fury, were truly over. She was gone, and if I really loved her, I owed it to her to ensure that her passing would bear spiritual fruit in my life. For that to happen, I would have to let go. The relief was profound. There was nothing left to do.

We are able to hear only what we're ready to take in. As productivity guru David Alan points out - information is always available, but WE are not always available to the information.

Oftentimes when we need yoga the most, we want it the least.

Self-study represents a profound paradigm shift. It is the moment in our journey when we let go of results and wholeheartedly embrace the process. Once we shift our focus from the results to the process itself, all situations become opportunities. We are present and can welcome all things.

Renunciation on its own has no staying power. You can renounce bananas all you like, but if you continue to live in your banana home on your banana street, if you keep your job at the banana warehouse and hang out with your banana-gobbling friends, you'll be eating bananas before you know it. Practice is doing the work. It is following up your intention with action.

It is easier to act yourself way into a better way of feeling, than to feel yourself into a better way of action.O. H. Mowrer

Love is not a thought, it is an action. And each loving action that we take infuses us with more energy for loving action in the future.