Best 1455 quotes in «yoga quotes» category

Spirituality is not a religion or a trend—it is a lifestyle. It is a lifestyle of awareness that combines the understanding of faith, body, mind, and soul, allowing us to live modern-day enlightened lives in small and big ways.

Spiritual practice lives at the corner of self-respect and self-discipline.

Standing at the end of a diving board looking at the water never made the water warmer, but it will make taking the plunge unnecessarily hard.

S.T.O.P. = Start To Open Possibilities

The ancient sages of Kashmir Shaivism did not look for the truth only in logic and intellectual speculation. They relied much more on their experiences during deep yogic states to guide them in understanding and clarifying age-old philosophical dilemmas. They discovered the Absolute within themselves and found that they were one with it. They studied the Self that lay beyond the mind and the ego, and found that It was divine, creative energy. God was not some distant ruler or some inert entity. These sages realized and recognized that He was within everything, was the vitality of life itself, and was always the one transcendent Reality as well. In this way Kashmir Shaivites taught the principle of theistic absolutism. For centuries Indian philosophers have been debating whether this world is real or an illusion. In the process of watching the unfolding of their own creative energy during meditation, the sages of Kashmir found the source of all creation, and witnessed how everything in this universe evolves from this one absolute Reality into manifestation which is also real. Because all creation exists within the Absolute, they established the principle of spiritual realism. — B. N. Pandit, Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism (3rd ed., 2008), p. x

Take a moment in between breaths to let yourself see what's left to be seen, all the places you've been. Your old haunts. I pass by them every day, and after all these years I'll find myself wondering if they're just facades, like the saloon fronts and gun shops of an old ghost town set. As if I can poke my head inside the doors in the light of day and see nothing but framed out rooms and sandy floors, existing for no other reason than to give structure to who I used to be.

Take Care of Yourself First- It’s Easier to Serve Others That Way.

The aspirant would do well to avoid those ‘spiritual teachers’ who delight in pointing out the evils of the world. These are immature egos attempting to discard their own negativities by projecting them onto others. The true yogi is one who is like a lion with himself, always striving to eradicate that which shadows his inner light, and like a lamb with others, always striving to see their inner light, no matter how dense may be the clouds that hide it. He is the king of the jungle of his world. He hides from no one and seeks escape from nothing. (88)

The beautiful thing about meditation is that it allows you to access that cool guy or girl inside of you that's waiting to come out. You'll be able to access the part of you that people like to be around. The part of you that feels upbeat about things. That feels like you're moving toward your goals without frustration and anxiety. That feels ecstatic to be alive! The more I meditate, the more I have these moments.

The ego mind is like a plant growing in a very small pot. While the pot may be attractive and ornate, its size doesn’t allow the plant to express its full potential.

The future has never worried itself about a human being.

The disciplined soul hardly needs "Yoga" to control the body it temporarily resides in.

The asana practice is extremely powerful and unique in design. In addition to improved flexibility, circulation, muscular strength and increased energy, and detoxification of the organs, each pose unblocks life force energy (prana) pathways in your body, reprograms your cellular DNA and connects us to our spiritual origin.

The good news is that attachment is not an industrial strength glue that binds the mind to condition-based happiness. You can free your mind at any moment by simply letting go—simply relax the mind the way you would unclench your fist.

The heart of a yogi should always bear good-will and thoughts that benefit others.

The law of karma is like the wind—blowing on all. Whether you are good or evil, bright or dim, kind or unkind, there is no escaping the effects of your thoughts and the actions that arise from those thoughts. In fact, the only difference between the wise and the ignorant is that an illuminated mind erects windmills while the ignorant mind builds weather vanes.

The great paradox of life is that to fully live, we must let a piece of ourselves die.

The less I'm in a hurry, the quicker the results seem to happen. With patience, the quality of my experience has a depth that can't be measured bon the clock, but by the timelessness of my experience.

The mind and the breath are the king and queen of human consciousness".

The miracle of yoga is not that we get to reshape the external world—to bend the laws of time and space. The miracle of yoga is that we get to reshape our perception of the external world. Where we once only perceived injuries, illness, and pain, we now see an opportunity for growth. Where we once perceived acrimony and discord in relationships, we are now able to experience deep empathy. Where we once perceived darkness, evil, injustice, and vexing social issues, we now perceive the opportunity to serve. Yoga is like a purifying fire that burns away false perceptions of the world and of ourselves to enable us to see clearly.

The great spiritual tension between the contemplative life of the monk and spiritual activism in the world dissolves entirely with one word—namaste: the light in me bows to the light in you. When meditation reveals the light in ourselves, we naturally want to bow to the light in all beings—to act on their behalf in reverence and devotion. When we truly see the light in another being, our own light shines forth, dissolving the seemingly eternal ache in our hearts and the near constant struggle of the ego mind. To see the light in one being—your own light or that of another—is to win the cosmic game of hide and seek and ease the suffering of the world.

The mantra of the victim is, “If not for the events and circumstances of the world, I would be happy.” The world is often unfair and unjust, but that alone is not enough to create a victim. Victims believe they lack the power to choose. While you may not always be able to choose the circumstances of your life, you can choose how you respond. Through spiritual practice, we can choose inner harmony even when the world around us is filled with pain, suffering, and chaos.

The mind & body are not separate entities. The gross form of the mind is the body & the subtle form of the body is the mind. The practice of asana integrates & harmonizes the two. Both the body & the mind harbor tensions or knots. Every mental knot has a corresponding physical, muscular knot & vice versa. The aim of asana is to release these knots. Asana release mental tensions by dealing with them on the physical level, acting somato-psychically, through the body to the mind.

The mind is the only level at which any lasting change can occur—it is the soil in which we plant our hopes and fears, habits, and patterns. What we plant in the mind will grow and bear fruit. Just as it would be pointless to complain about a carrot seed failing to produce a tomato, it is equally pointless to look at the garden of your life and complain about what you see growing there. We have to be willing to plant different seeds.

The more you treat your body and the cells as intelligent being the more you will be sharp, quick, competent, and fulfilled.

The more you listen to your breath, the more you can hear the voice of your soul.

THE MOMENT YOU WANT SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE IS THE MOMENT YOU SPIRITUALLY KILL YOURSELF

The mountain ahead of you is no greater than the thousands of mountains you’ve already climbed. Stay the course. You can get through anything one breath at a time.

The only place healing can occur, wisdom can be realized, compassion can be extended, and peace can be experienced, is the present moment.

The only way to spread peace is to have peace inside you Yogi vini

The past does not exist unless you carry the remains of it with you.

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 number of seconds the average person spends in the present moment in a year does not amount to even a single day.

The path towards peace is not for the righteous, the ethical, the active and the compassionate to shit on the malicious, the complacent, the violent and the ignorant. The path towards peace is to be peaceful.

The path to wholeness starts by loving yourself. It always starts there. If you love yourself, you will do whatever it takes to restore your health and happiness.

The path is paved with consistent, conscious mental and spiritual alertness and the gradual growth of goodness in our heart and clarity in our mind. We are awake. If we keep trying to understand, we will understand. If we keep telling ourselves that we are loved by Life and if we keep looking for evidence of that love, we will find it.

The point of tantric sex was supposedly to harness sexual energy to awaken higher consciousness. It was just like yoga, but way more fun.

The physical concerns and misalignment we experience in the spinal vertebrae of our body are often directly correlated with the spiritual energetic ability to flow freely as well.

The process of awakening your mind is meditation and the process of awakening your body is yoga

There is a need somewhere in this world that only your dharma, fully expressed, can fulfill. The reason there is such overwhelming need in this world is because an overwhelming number of people have yet to find and express their dharma.

There is no god out there but Oneness of All That Is.

There is only one thing that is more natural than thinking: breathing. 
And it is in breathing that we find the door to happiness.

The physical vanity of the diet-and-exercise obsessive is recast as the pursuit of a kind of ritual purity, hedged about with taboos and guilt trips and mysticized by yoga.

The practice of meditation helps us to organize our thoughts and structure our ideas. Through the practice of meditation, we can open to the creative flow that is waiting to pour through us, infusing inspiration with passion. Meditation puts the mind in order and brings it under control, opening the door to receive this free flow of perfect energy. The unfocused mind is like a sledgehammer. The focused mind is like a sharp axe. Both tools can be used to take down a tree, but the axe is going to be much more efficient. Moreover, using the axe will allow you to work more swiftly, thereby saving much energy to get more done.

The problem is not the unhappiness and disappointment you feel at harvest time; the problem is the seeds you planted last spring.

The real difference between yoga and religion is this: Religion says believe, do not doubt, often citing the word of God and promises of an eternal afterlife, reciting dogma (unsubstantiated pre-modern myths), while yoga only points the way and urges its students to practice and experience for themselves. In this way yoga is very scientific in its approach to self-knowledge, transcendence and enlightenment. Its message is: Try the practice for yourself and only then can you truly believe.

The time is changing and not only the policy makers of India, but the whole world is realizing the importance of Ayurveda. Who could have thought some years back that people with up-bringing in cosmopolitan culture would prefer bottle gourd juice or gooseberry juice over carbonated soft-drinks in the near future.

There's no such thing as positive thinking. There is, however, positive acting and positive doing, and positive being. Positive thinking is the reflection of such activities. You can't force yourself to think positively, but merely suppress negativity and get insane while pushing yourself along a river that flows on the opposite direction. Every life challenge is there to show you that you don't want to hit the rocks. It's really that simple when you look at things as they show themselves to you. You flow with the stream and you avoid the rocks along the way. That's positive thinking, even when you are angry about life, even when you're complaining, and even when you feel antagonistic with the world and the ones around you. That's the truth, simply because it will bring you back results. And that, you won't ever get by sitting on the floor and imagining emotions. You have the right to hate the rocks that come your away, as long as you keep paddling and enjoying the journey. There's no point in closing your eyes and pretending the rocks aren't there or trying to make them vanish with wishful thinking, or expecting a big magical bird to save you and take you in his wings for a pleasant flight in the skies.

The Stone of Guilt in the River of the Mind, the block in the flow of intelligence. ~ Paramahamsa Nithyananda

The truth about yourself is so near, so close, that it is very difficult to perceive. Just as it is difficult to style your hair, apply makeup, or shave without a mirror, we require a mirror of sorts to spiritually groom ourselves. For most, that mirror is relationships with others. People who wear masks of untrustworthiness, dishonesty, selfishness, and greed see those qualities reflected back from everyone they meet—even the most noble souls who cross their paths. But people who have put their masks aside are able to experience compassion, love, and wholeness in others, even in their adversaries—even in those who are still mired in a tangled web of fear, insecurity, and abrasiveness.