Quotes About Mind

The head is the seat of intelligence. The heart is the seat of emotion.

Asana is perfect firmness of body, steadiness of intelligence, and benevolence of spirit.

Patañjali is saying that yoga is a preventive healing art, science and philosophy, by which we build up robust health in body and mind and construct a defensive strength with which to deflect or counteract afflictions that are as yet unperceived afflictions.

Our Parusa or Universal Soul is an abiding reality. It is logical, but remains conceptual to our minds under we experience it;s realization within ourselves.

The mind (manas) and the breath (prana) are intimately connected and the activity or the cessation of activity of one affects the other.

Without certain stress, the true asana is not experienced, and the mind will remain in its limitations and will not move beyond its existing frontiers. This limited state of mind can be described as the petty, small mind.

So often what prevents us from living an admirable life is the catering of our minds, which pester us with long outdated doubts and despair. Our minds are truly one of the greatest creations in God's world, but they are so easily disoriented and set spinning.

When most people stretch, they simply stretch to the point that they are trying to reach, but they forget to extend and expand from where they are. When you extend and expand, you are not only stretching to, you are also stretching from.

The mind does not balance when you force.

Although I final asana can be judged objectively only from the exterior, it is sustained from within.

Focus on relaxing as you hold the stretch, not clenching, but relaxing and opening. This relaxes the brain as well as the body. You must relax the neck and head as well. If you keep the back skin of the neck passive and the tongue soft, there is no tension in the brain. This is silence in action, relaxation in action. As soon as you learn how to relax the tongue and throat, you know how to relax the brain, because there is also a connection between the tongue and the throat and the brain.

Relaxation begins from the outer layer of the body and penetrates the deep layers of our existence.

Slouching acts like a narcotic to the body. When our parents tell us not to slouch, it is because they instinctively understand that collapsing our chest caves in the very Self. It is because you mind shrinks that your soul shrinks. It is the spine's job to keep the mind alert. It is the spine's job to keep the mind alert. To do this, the spine has to keep the brain in position.

The answer lies in the three qualities of nature, which are the guna. These three qualities must be balance in your asana practice and in your body, mind, and soul. Roughly they are translated as solidity, dynamism, and luminosity.

With regard to asana practice, this means that initially we need to exert ourselves more as resistance is greater. Of the two aspects of asana, exertion of our body and penetration of our mind, the latter is eventually more important. Penetration of our mind is our goal, but in the beginning to set things in motion, there is no substitute for sweat.

While we do not actively seek out pain, we do not run from the inevitable pain that is part of all growth and change. The asanas help us to develop greater tolerance in body and mind so that we can bear the stress and strain more easily. In other words, the effort and its unavoidable pains are an essential part of what the asanas can teach us.

Prana is special because it carries awareness. it is the vehicle of consciousness.

There is no progress toward ultimate freedom without transformation, and this is the key issue in all people's lives, whether they practice yoga or not. If we can understand how our mind and heart works, we have a chance to answer the question, "Why do I keep making the same old mistakes?

It is here that yogasana and pranayama practice allow us to understand our mind and reach our soul. To a yogi, the body is a laboratory for life, a field of experimentation and perpetual research.

If you say you are your body, you are wrong. If you say you are not your body, you are also wrong. The truth is that although body is born, lives, and dies, you cannot catch a glimpse of the divine except through the body.

We continually expand the frame of the mind by using the canvas of the body. It is as if you were to stretch a canvas more and create a larger surface for a paining. But we must respect the present form of our body. If we pull too fast or too much at once, we will rip the canvas. If the practice of today damages the practice of tomorrow, it is not correct practice.

Your brain may say, "We can do it." But the knee may say, "Who are you to dictate to me? It is for me to say whether I can do it or not." So you have to listen to what the body says. Sometimes the body cooperates with you, and sometimes it thinks things over.

The yogi's life is not measure by the number of his days but by the number of his breaths. Therefore, he follows the proper rhythmic patterns of slow deep breathing. These rhythmic patterns strengthen the respiratory system, soothe the nervous system and reduce craving. As desires and cravings diminish, the mind is set free and becomes a fit vehicle for concentration.

Awareness brings life.