Quotes about yoga
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B.K.S. Iyengar photo

“The practice of yogasana for the sake of health, to keep fit, or to maintain flexibility is the external practice of yoga. … While this is a legitimate place to begin, it is not the end ... Even in simple asanas, one is experiencing the three levels of quest: the external quest, which brings firmness of the body; the internal quest, which brings steadiness of intelligence; and the innermost quest, which brings benevolence of spirit.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Light on Life: B.K.S. Iyengar's Yoga Insights (2005)

Health, Intelligence
Yehudi Menuhin photo

“As well as campaigning for human rights, Menuhin was a keen yoga practitioner and health food enthusiast, warning against the dangers of white rice, white bread and red meat. He also spoke of the dangers of pollution long before environmentalism became a buzz word.”

Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999) American violinist and conductor

1999: Violinist Yehudi Menuhin dies

Health, Food
B.K.S. Iyengar photo

“Generations will remember him as a fine Guru, scholar and a stalwart who brought Yoga into the lives of many across the world.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Narendra Modi. Prime Minister of India
Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar passes away at 95

World
B.K.S. Iyengar photo

“He, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan, gritted his teeth to master English and exposed yoga to the West, teaching such luminaries like violin maestro Yehudi Menuhin and author Aldous Huxley.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar passes away at 95

B.K.S. Iyengar photo

“He was the first to introduce simple props such as ropes, belts, wooden blocks and bolsters to enable the elderly and less fit to maintain classical postures correctly and safely. The Iyengar form of yoga is now often employed by physiotherapists treating people with spinal injuries and back problems to recover full movement.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

BKS Iyengar – obituary

People, Problem
B.K.S. Iyengar photo

“His first teacher was his brother-in-law, a Brahmin scholar who had set up a school of yoga at the Jaganmohan Palace, and who sometimes denied his student food if his performance was deemed inadequate. He then a teenager, was the youngest member of the Maharaja of Mysore’s entourage, and was asked to demonstrate his ability to stretch and bend his body for visiting dignitaries and guests.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

B. K. S. Iyengar, Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West, Dies at 95

School, Law, Food, Teachers
B.K.S. Iyengar photo

“He was credited with his own brand of yoga, and taught author Aldous Huxley and violinist Yehudi Menuhin, among other celebrities.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

India yoga guru BKS Iyengar dies

B.K.S. Iyengar photo

“His technique was physically challenging, unusual for Americans practicing yoga, but what truly set it apart was his therapeutic approach to the poses. He devised specific prescriptions, or sequences of poses, to help people with ailments such as backache, headaches, high blood pressure, diabetes and many more.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Stacie Stukin in: "10 Yogis gather around the guru"

People, Help
B.K.S. Iyengar photo

“In the west, where supplication to gurus is not the cultural norm, he elicits such a response from a cadre of longtime yoga practitioners. They credit him with changing their lives -- and the face of yoga in the United States.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Stacie Stukin in: "10 Yogis gather around the guru"

Change
Rekha photo

“Rekha, a photogenic girl with seductive eyes, languished in insubstantial roles. The audience was floored when there was a swift change in her screen personality, as well as her style of acting. She paid painstaking attention to her make-up and acting technique. She improved her dress sense and recorded albums to promote physical fitness. What Jane Fonda did for aerobics in America, Rekha did for yoga in India.”

Rekha (1954) Indian film actress

Quoted in Love, anger, the works!, 7 December 2013, Filmfare http://downloads.movies.indiatimes.com/site/june2002/flashback.html,

Making love, Girl, Sense, Change
Rekha photo

“Rekha fashioned herself as an actress with a signature look very different from her early years as a struggling actress. This transformation was often referred to as as that of an ugly duckling. In interviews and film magazines Rekha claimed that she had achieved this by changing her lifestyle, healthy eating practices, and doing yoga. Soon she had inspired a whole fashion trend and had film magazines raving about her affair with Amitab Bachhan. Such publicity added to her image as a symbol of seduction and glamour. She was seen as a woman who could challenge patriarchal norms by remaining single and being famous.”

Rekha (1954) Indian film actress

Editor Manju Jain in [Jain, Manju, Narratives of Indian Cinema, http://books.google.com/books?id=ORE9TDOoU1IC&pg=PA187, 2009, Primus Books, 978-81-908918-4-4, 187–]

Fashion, Change
Russell Brand photo

“Kundalini in my view is more boldly transcendent, more euphoric, than other yoga that I’ve done, so I obviously got totally addicted to it and started doing it all the time. The experience wasn’t entirely free from ego either as I was quite prolific in my physical engagement with female members of the class and eventually nominated myself as leader and took over the entire shebang, like Hitler in a sari.”

Russell Brand book Revolution

Revolution (2014)

Time
Russell Brand photo

“Aren’t we all, in one way or another, trying to find a solution to the problem of reality? If I get this job, this girl, this guy, these shoes. If I pass this exam, eat this pizza, drink this booze, go on this holiday. Learn karate, learn yoga. If West Ham stay up, if my dick stays up, if I get more likes on Facebook, more fancy cookbooks, a better kitchen, cure this itchin’, if she stops bitching. Isn’t there always some kind of condition to contentment? Isn’t it always placed in the future, wrapped up in some object, either physical or ideological? I know for me it is, and as an addict that always leads me to excess and then to trouble. Do you feel like that? Are you looking for something? It’s not just me, is it? Do you sometimes feel afraid, self-conscious, lonely, not good enough? I mean, you’re reading this, so you must want to change something. Don’t leave me out on a limb, all vulnerable and exposed. Are you reading this on a yacht, through your Ray-Bans with, I dunno, a pair of glistening Russian sisters and a gob oozing with lobster juice as the sun shines down on you and the sisters smile up at you? And even if you are, especially if you are, is it working, behind the salty tang and priapic pang, is it real, is it real, is it like God is holding your hand?”

Russell Brand book Revolution

Revolution (2014)

God, Smile, Shoe, Way
Benjamin Creme photo

“To my mind, the Agni Yoga teachings constitute one of the major attempts of Hierarchy to prepare humanity for the new age. They are entirely relevant to the present----and future time. The first book of the series, The Call, was given by Maitreya Himself, and was intended to alert disciples to the fact of His imminent return. The Master Morya, as I have said elsewhere, is one of the first group of Masters to be seen by humanity, and is the stimulus behind the occult groups of all kinds. His immediate task is to regenerate and purify the teaching of these groups... [The Agni Yoga Teachings were given] by mental telepathy through Helena Roerich (a disciple of the Master Morya) in Russian... My information is that The Call is His [Maitreya's] sole personal contribution to the Agni Yoga series.. The Call is also titled: Leaves of Morya’s Garden, I.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

Source: Maitreya's Mission Vol. I (1986), p. 300/1

Books, Age, Time, Future

“It may be concluded that Sankara accepts Yoga as a practical discipline for the realization of Truth and sees no contradiction between Yoga and Vedanta.”

Govind Chandra Pande (1923–2011) Indian historian

Life and Thought of Sankaracharya (1998)

Truth
Kuvempu photo

“The infinite Yoga knows no end,
Endless the quest you apprehend.
You'll grow infinite and ascend,
When you are unhoused, O my soul!”

Kuvempu (1904–1994) Kannada novelist, poet, playwright, critic, and thinker

Aniketana (1964)

Soul
Patañjali photo

“Yoga takes you into the present moment, the only place where life exists.”

Patañjali (-200–-150 BC) ancient Indian scholar(s) of grammar and linguistics, of yoga, of medical treatises

Patanjali, in "Being Consciousness Bliss: A Seeker's Guide", p. 205.

Life
Patañjali photo

“The Yoga of action, leading to union with the soul is fiery aspiration, spiritual reading and devotion to Ishvara.”

Patañjali (-200–-150 BC) ancient Indian scholar(s) of grammar and linguistics, of yoga, of medical treatises

Patanjali, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], p. 24.

Soul, Reading

“I did not see who was assisting me. However, just prior to the assistance, I saw someone sitting yoga-fashion, with robes and headpiece... Of all the helpers from whom I have obtained some repeatable identification, only one have I been able to identify a second time.”

Robert Monroe (1915–1995) American founder of The Monroe Institute

Journeys Out of the Body (1971), Chapter 9. Angels and Archetypes

Fashion, Time
Baba Hari Dass photo

“A person knows what he knows. An animal knows, but doesn't know what he knows. In Yoga, "I" consciousness is called asmita klesha. It is classified as an affliction and a hindrance to attaining higher consciousness.”

Baba Hari Dass (1923–2018) master yogi, author, builder, commentator of Indian spiritual tradition

Source: Fire without Fuel - The Aphorisms of Baba Hari Dass (1986), Ch.III: Mind - Its Functions and Its Fantasies

Affliction, Animals, Personality
Jessamyn Stanley photo

“We often think that yoga is only about the combination of postures, breathing, and meditation, but it results in a lot of internal work, too. That work has led me to understand my own liberation — not just of my physical body, but of my emotional and spiritual bodies. A huge part of that has been recognizing that I am a sexual being, and that's not something that I need to apologize for or be ashamed of.”

Jessamyn Stanley (1987) American yoga teacher and author

Source: Jessamyn Stanley's Road To Sexual Liberation, Michelle Toglia, July 8, 2020, 2020 https://www.bustle.com/wellness/jessamyn-stanley-sexual-liberation,

Understanding, Thinking, Parting
Jessamyn Stanley photo

“It’s so idealized, like, your life must be perfect if you can hold a balance posture on the beach. But the actual practice of yoga isn’t about that at all. The image isn’t important. The practice is.”

Jessamyn Stanley (1987) American yoga teacher and author

Source: Finding a More Inclusive Vision of Fitness in Our Feeds, Jenna Wortham, July 6, 2017, 2017 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/magazine/finding-a-more-inclusive-vision-of-fitness-in-our-feeds.html,

Life, Perfection
Swami Sivananda photo

“Yoga does not consist in sitting cross-legged for six hours or stopping the beatings of the heart or getting oneself buried underneath the ground for a week or a month. These are all physical feats only.”

Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) Indian philosopher

What Is Actual Yoga
Autobiography of Swami Sivananda (1958)

Heart