Quotes About Yoga

Meditation is yoga for the mind, just as there is yoga of the body.

Lord Shiva, you my sunshine, my soul, Sivoham.

The two seem, at first glance, to be opposed, but when you have advanced a little in both, you find that concentration learned in Yoga is of immense use in attaining the mental powers necessary in Magick; on the other hand, the discipline of Magick is of the greatest service in Yoga.

The mystic's idea of deliberately stupefying and stultifying himself is an abomination unto the Lord. This, by the way, does not conflict with the rules of Yoga. That kind of suppression is comparable to the restrictions in athletic training, or diet in sickness.

the ultimate Yoga which gives emancipation, which destroys the sense of separateness which is the root of Desire, is to be made by the concentration of every element of one's being, and annihilating it by intimate combustion with the universe itself.

it was once necessary to proclaim the entire doctrine of Yoga in the fewest possible words.... I did so. "Sit still. Stop thinking. Shut up. Get out!" The first two of these instructions comprise the whole of the technique of Yoga. The last two are of a sublimity which it would be improper to expound in this present elementary stage.

To train the mind to move with the maximum speed and energy, with the utmost possible accuracy in the chosen direction, and with the minimum of disturbance or friction. That is Magick. To stop the mind altogether. That is Yoga.

But, even in the earliest months of Yoga, this is exactly what happens, and therefore it is best to be prepared by arranging, before you start at all, that your whole life should be permanently free from all the grosser causes of trouble. The practical problem of _yama_ is therefore, to a great extent, 'How shall I settle down to do the work?' Then, having complied with the theoretically best conditions, you have to tackle each fresh problem as it arises in the best way you can.

For the practice of yoga to be nourishing and creative, there must be a dialogue between the active, or intentional, mind and the reflective, or receptive, mind. If you are ruled by the active mind, your practice becomes forced and mechanical because you never listen to your body: you treat it like a machine. If you are ruled by the reflective mind, your practice becomes formless and inert, and loses its sense of purpose.

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

If we profess to be teaching Yoga, which is a science and art of living, we must practice that way of living ourselves. If we wish only to teach poses or postures, it would be better to call what we do by a name other than Yoga.

Yoga postures, were traditionally practiced very slowly, with each movement synchronized to the breath, in order to balance the nervous system and open a perceptual gateway to the parasympathetic nervous system. This makes us available to our feeling function.

What these first central precepts the yamas and niyamas ask us to remember is that the techniques and forms are not goals in themselves but vehicles for getting to the essence of who we are.

the purpose of Yoga, which is to realize a unitive state, concentrated asana practice, the third limb of Ashtanga Yoga, will naturally involve each of the other seven limbs of practice, especially the ten ethical precepts of the yamas and niyamas (the first two limbs).

We can assess our practice by asking only whether Yoga practice is building our integrity as a human being and helping us live as an expression of our most noble virtues. Whether our practice strengthens our ability to be present with all that we experience is the only criteria we need for what we do or don't do on the mat.

Yoga is thus not something we can make happen but something that happens to us. But it does not happen by accident.

Yoga is a technology for arriving in this present moment. It is a means of waking up from our spiritual amnesia, so that we can remember all that we already know. It is a way of remembering our true nature, which is essentially joyful and peaceful.

yoga is not about self-improvement or making ourselves better. It is a process of deconstructing all the barriers we may have erected that prevent us from having an authentic connection with ourselves and with the world. This tenet is an extremely important one because the effort to change and improve ourselves is fraught with the risk of subtle self-aggression that only produces more unhappiness. We cannot strive toward something that we already are.

yoga: the Hindu practice of bowing to pagan deities through poses called 'asanas', a practice made popular in the West by New Agers. Even if a Christian were to use Scripture or hymns, each of these postures is still designed to worship pagan deities. Many yoga studios are filled with pagan statues and the use of blasphemous Sanskrit chanting.

Yoga cultivates the ways of maintaining a balanced attitude in day-to-day life and endows skill in the performance of one's actions.

Clear perception is the cornerstone and an absolute necessity for living your best life - and that's exactly what the focus of a yoga practice should be all about.

Yoga is a practical method for making one's life purposeful, useful and noble.

If you practice yoga every day with perseverance, you will be able to face the turmoil of life with steadiness and maturity.

Teaching is really a natural extension of one's practice--one wants to share something that's so influential and beautiful in one's life.