BKS Iyengar Quotes On Yoga
Last Updated on November 9, 2022
Read some of the best yoga quotes by BKS Iyengar, popularly known as the author of Light on Life.
Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar was an Indian yoga teacher who founded the style of yoga known as Iyengar Yoga.
He is still considered one of the eminent yoga gurus in the world. The Indian government awarded Iyengar the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, and the Padma Vibhushan for leading efforts to popularize yoga in the west.
With that said, let’s read some of B.K.S. Iyengar’s quotes on yoga, which will educate you and inspire you to practice yoga for your benefit.
What Is Yoga According to B.k.s. Iyengar?
According to B.K.S. Iyengar, yoga for him is “meditation in action”, as his yoga comprises asanas practise that focuses on correct alignment of the body.
With the help of his yoga teachings, the goal is to transform lives by living in harmony with the world around us.
Through his techniques of yoga, one can become aware of the way we are all interconnected. He taught this technique of yoga to many prominent personalities, like Krishnamurti, Jayaprakash Narayan, and Elisabeth, Queen of Belgium.
B.K.S. Iyengar Quotes & Sayings On Yoga
1. “Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
2. “Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.”
― B.K.S. Iyengar
3. “Yoga is meant for the purification of the body and its exploration as well as for the refinement of the mind.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
4. “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.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
5. “Yoga does not just change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
6. “Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life, where you do not feel like you are constantly trying to fit broken pieces together.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
7. “Yoga allows you to find a new kind of freedom that you may not have known even existed.”
― B.K.S. Iyengar
8. “Yoga is the rule book for playing the game of Life, but in this game no one needs to lose. It is tough, and you need to train hard. It requires the willingness to think for yourself, to observe and correct, and to surmount occasional setbacks. It demands honesty, sustained application, and above all love in your heart.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
9. “As we shave it happens that we cut ourselves with the razor blade; this does not mean that we must not shave in the morning any longer. It is the same thing for yoga.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
10. “Yoga is an interior penetration leading to the integration of being, senses, breath, mind, intelligence, consciousness, and Self. It is definitely an inward journey, evolution through involution, toward the Soul, which in turn desires to emerge and embrace you in its glory.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
11. “Focus on keeping your spine straight. It is the job of the spine to keep the brain alert.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
12. “When an asana is done correctly the body movements are smooth, there is lightness in the body and freedom in the mind.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
13. “It is while practising yoga asanas that you learn the art of adjustment.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
14. “Is it necessary to practice all these asanas, further and further? Is it necessary to develop scientific research further and further? To a yogi, the body is a laboratory, a field of experiments and perpetual research.”
― B.K.S. Iyengar
15. “Yoga uses the body to discipline the mind and to reach the soul.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
16. “Action is movement with intelligence. The world is filled with movement. What the world needs is more conscious movement, more action.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
17. “It is through the alignment of the body that I discovered the alignment of my mind, self, and intelligence.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
18. “By drawing our senses of perception inward, we are able to experience the control, silence, and quietness of the mind.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
19. “Yoga is about the will, working with intelligence and self-reflexive consciousness, can free us from the inevitability of the wavering mind and outwardly directed senses.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
20. “Yoga is for everyone. You need not be an expert or at the peak of physical fitness to practice the asanas described… Yoga helps to integrate the mental and the physical plane, bringing about a sense of inner and outer balance, or what I term alignment. True alignment means that the inner mind reaches every cell and fiber of the body.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
21. “Asana has two facets, pose and repose. Pose is the artistic assumption of a position. ‘Reposing in the pose’ means finding the perfection of a pose and maintaining it, reflecting in it with penetration of the intelligence and with dedication.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
22. “Yoga is the teacher of yoga; yoga is to be understood through yoga. So live in yoga to realize yoga; comprehend yoga through yoga; he who is free from distractions enjoys yoga through yoga.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
23. “So we would say in yoga that the subtle precedes the gross, or spirit precedes matter. But yoga says we must deal with the outer or most manifest first, i.e. legs, arms, spine, eyes, tongue, touch, in order to develop the sensitivity to move inward. This is why asana opens the whole spectrum of yoga’s possibilities. There can be no realization of existential, divine bliss without the support of the soul’s incarnate vehicle, the food-and-water-fed body, from bone to brain. If we can become aware of its limitations and compulsions, we can transcend them.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
24. “You have to create love and affection for your body, for what it can do for you.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
25. “Consciousness is imbued with the three qualities (gunas) of luminosity (sattva), vibrancy (rajas) and inertia (tamas). The gunas also colour our actions: white (sattva), grey (rajas) and black (tamas). Through the discipline of yoga, both actions and intelligence go beyond these qualities and the seer comes to experience his own soul with crystal clarity, free from the relative attributes of nature and actions. This state of purity is samadhi. Yoga is thus both the means and the goal. Yoga is samadhi and samadhi is yoga.”
― B.K.S. Iyengar
Did You Like These B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Quotes
These yoga quotes by Guru Iyengar are so enlightening that they grab our attention in order to understand the truths of yoga.
I hope these quotes inspire you and help you to understand the importance of asanas and spirituality.
Thanks for reading.
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