110+ B.K.S. Iyengar Quotes (Inspiring, Innovative And Transformative)

Teacher B.K.S. Iyengar was a world-renowned yoga master who developed the practice of Iyengar Yoga. He was the first to introduce the practice of yoga to the West, and his teachings and books have been widely influential in the yoga world. He is remembered for his dedication to teaching and his attention to detail and precision in postures.

Top 10 B.K.S. Iyengar Quotes

1. The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in.
2. Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.
3. Hatha Yoga teaches us to use the body as the bow, asana as the arrow, and the soul the target.
4. Life without tapas, is like a heart without love.
5. Backbends are to be felt more than expressed. The other postures can be expressed and then felt. Like in meditation each person has to feel backbends.
6. Yoga is like music: the rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life.
7. Yoga is the golden key that unlocks the door to peace, tranquility and joy.
8. Before peace between the nations, we have to find peace inside that small nation which is our own being.
9. Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit.
10. Healthy plants and trees yield abundant flowers and fruits. Similarly, from a healthy person, smiles and happiness shine forth like the rays of the sun.

B.K.S. Iyengar Image Quotes

Life without tapas, is like a heart without love. — B.K.S. Iyengar

B.K.S. Iyengar Short Quotes

• Do not aim low, you will miss the mark. Aim high and you will be on a threshold of bliss.
• Regular practise of yoga can help you face the turmoil of life with steadiness and stability
• Life itself seeks fulfillment as plants seek sunlight.
• It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity.
• Approach each asana with freshness every day.
• The best way to overcome fear is to face with equanimity the situation of which one is afraid.
• The brain is the hardest part of the body to adjust in asanas.
• This practice of yoga is to remove the weeds from the body so that the garden can grow.
• The art of teaching is tolerance. Humbleness is the art of learning.
• If you have the right mind, your body can do anything.

B.K.S. Iyengar Famous Quotes And Sayings

Look after the root of the tree, and the fragrant flower and luscious fruits will grow by themselves. Look after the health of the body, and the fragrance of the mind and richness of the spirit will follow. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Life without tapas, is like a heart without love. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Yes, flexibility of body and physical perfection for Yogasana is important. However more important is the state of your mind, Meditative mind. Your flexibility might be excellent but if your mind is not attentive, you are merely doing some physical exercise, not Yoga. — B.K.S. Iyengar

I also say with backbends, you have to be cautiously bold. Not carelessly bold. You have to descend to the dictation of the spine. You cannot command from the brain to do the poses. As you play with a child, guarding the child from injuries, similarly you have to play in backbends, guarding your spine. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Change is not something that we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom, and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they're meant to be. — B.K.S. Iyengar

You must fill every inch of your body with the asana from your chest and arms and legs to the tips of your fingers and toes so that the asana radiates from the core of your body and fills the entire diameter and circumference of your limbs. You must feel your intelligence, your awareness, and your consciousness in every inch of your body. — B.K.S. Iyengar

When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world. — B.K.S. Iyengar

When the asana is correct, there is lightness, a freedom. Freedom comes when every part of the body is active. Let us be free in whatever posture we are doing. Let us be full in whatever we do. — B.K.S. Iyengar

It is through the alignment of the body that I discovered the alignment of my mind, self, and intelligence. — B.K.S. Iyengar

There is no progress toward ultimate freedom without transformation, and this is the key issue in all lives. — B.K.S. Iyengar

As a fire blazes brightly when the covering of ash over it is scattered by the wind, the divine fire within the body shines in all its majesty when the ashes of desire are scattered by the practice of pranayama. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Don't practice for cosmetic beauty, practice for cosmic beauty. Practice for inner beauty and inner light. — B.K.S. Iyengar

In whatever position one is in, or in whatever condition in life one is placed, one must find balance. Balance is the state of the present - the here and now. If you balance in the present, you are living in Eternity. — B.K.S. Iyengar

We are creatures that are designed for continual challenge. We must grow or we begin to die....So just standing still isn't really an option. We have to move on. If not, disturbances will come. — B.K.S. Iyengar

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

Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit. When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga allows you to find an inner peace that is not ruffled and riled by the endless stresses and struggles of life. — B.K.S. Iyengar

You do not need to seek freedom in some distant land, for it exists within your own body, heart, mind, and soul. — B.K.S. Iyengar

The light that Yoga sheds on life is something special. It is transformative. It does not just change the way we see things; it transforms the person who sees. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Abhyasa (practice) is a dedicated, unswerving, constant, and vigilant search into a chosen subject pursued against all odds in the face of repeated failures, for indefinitely long periods of time. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Health begins with firmness in the body, deepens to emotional stability, then leads to intellectual clarity, wisdom and finally the unveiling of the soul. — B.K.S. Iyengar

People say that steadiness of mind is an end; no, it is a beginning. I am there; I can explain everything up to that point. Then I struggle to discover what comes after, so this steadiness is not an end, it is the beginning and the instrument. — B.K.S. Iyengar

It is through the body that everything comes to the mind. It is through and with your body that you have to reach realization of being a spark of divinity. How can we neglect the temple of the spirit? — B.K.S. Iyengar

Keep your attention internal, not external, not worrying about what others see, but what the Self sees. — B.K.S. Iyengar

The lotus grows in muddy waters but this flower does not show any trace of it: So we have to live in the world. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Everybody should live quietly whether his experiences are happy or sad, whether they are successes or failures. That is contentment. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Focus on keeping your spine straight. It is the job of the spine to keep the brain alert. — B.K.S. Iyengar

As leaves move in the wind, your mind moves with your breath. — B.K.S. Iyengar

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

Balance in the body is the foundation for balance in life. — B.K.S. Iyengar

I can remain thoughtfully thoughtless, It is not an empty mind. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Health is not a commodity to be bargained for. It has to be earned through sweat. — B.K.S. Iyengar

As each individual is electrically alive and dynamic, so yoga is a living, dynamic force in life. In order to savor its essence, one needs a religiously attentive dynamic practice done with awareness and absorption. — B.K.S. Iyengar

If you can adapt to and balance in a world that is always moving and unstable, you learn how to become tolerant to the permanence of change and difference. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured. — B.K.S. Iyengar

A stable mind is like the hub of a wheel. The world may spin around you, but the mind is steady. — B.K.S. Iyengar

The highest point of yesterday should be the lowest point of today — B.K.S. Iyengar

When you see a mistake in somebody else, try to find if you are making the same mistake. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Asana is perfect firmness of body, steadiness of intelligence, and benevolence of spirit. — B.K.S. Iyengar

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

The hardness of a diamond is part of its usefulness, but its true value is in the light that shines through it. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Know your capacities and continually improve upon them. — B.K.S. Iyengar

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

Do not stop trying just because perfection eludes you. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Spirituality is not some external goal that one must seek, but a part of the divine core of each of us, which we must reveal. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Any action done with beauty and purity, and in complete harmony of body, mind and soul, is Art. — B.K.S. Iyengar

There is no difference in souls, only the ideas about ourselves that we wear. — B.K.S. Iyengar

We can rise above our limitations, only once we recognize them. — B.K.S. Iyengar

As animals, we walk the earth. As bearers of divine essence, we are among the stars. As human beings, we are caught in the middle, seeking to reconcile the paradox of how to make our way upon earth while striving for something more permanent and more profound. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Firmness in the body leads to firmness in the nervous system. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga is more than physical. It is cellular, mental, intellectual and spiritual-it involves man in his entire being — B.K.S. Iyengar

The Yogi conquers the body by the practice of asanas, making the body a fit vehicle for the spirit. The Yogi knows that it is a necessary vehicle for the spirit, for a soul without a body is like a bird deprived of its power to fly. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Illuminated emancipation, freedom, unalloyed and untainted bliss await you, but you have to choose to embark on the Inward Journey to discover it — B.K.S. Iyengar

If everyone practiced yoga, pharmacies would have to close. — B.K.S. Iyengar

The practice of asanas purges the body of its impurities, bringing strength, firmness, calm, and clarity of mind. — B.K.S. Iyengar

We need sound bodies so we can develop sound minds. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga is an interior penetration leading to 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

Without the accurate spine movement, one can't exist dynamically. — B.K.S. Iyengar

The ultimate goal of yoga is to realize the brilliance of your soul. — B.K.S. Iyengar

When the restlessness of the mind, intellect and self is stilled through the practice of Yoga, the yogi by the grace of the Spirit within himself finds fulfillment. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Do not allow past experiences to be imprinted on your mind. Perform asana each time with a fresh mind and with a fresh approach. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Is it necessary to practice all these asanas, further and further? Is it necessary to develop scientific researches further and further? To a yogi, the body is a laboratory, a field of experiments and perpetual researches. — B.K.S. Iyengar

A yogi never forgets that health must begin with the body. . . .Physical health is not a commodity to be bargained for. Nor can it be swallowed in the form of drugs and pills. . . . It is something that we must build up. You have to create within yourself the experience of beauty, liberation, and infinity. This is health. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga, an ancient but perfect science, deals with the evolution of humanity. This evolution includes all aspects of one's being, from bodily health to self-realization. — B.K.S. Iyengar

As long as the body is not in perfect health, you think about it, and that prevents you from thinking of the mind. The sound mind is a sound body. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Willpower is nothing but willingness to do. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Your body is the child of the soul. you must nourish and train that child. — B.K.S. Iyengar

The breath must be enticed or cajoled, like catching a horse in a field, not by chasing after it, but by standing still with an apple in one’s hand. — B.K.S. Iyengar

The flexibility we gain in asana is the living symbol of the suppleness we gain in relation to life’s problems and challenges. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Fear and fatigue block the mind. Face both, then courage and confidence flows into you. — B.K.S. Iyengar

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

The yogi cannot be afraid to die, because he has brought life to every cell of his body. We are afraid to die, because we are afraid we have not lived. The yogi has lived. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Willpower is concrete, not ethereal. When you do something, you demonstrate your willpower, and it becomes all the easier to have the same power of will the next time. — B.K.S. Iyengar

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

Why think of liberation at some future time? Liberation is in the little things, here and now. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Awareness must be like the rays of the sun: extending everywhere, illuminating all. — B.K.S. Iyengar

While doing the postures, your mind should be in half-consciousn ess, which does not mean sleep. It means silence, emptiness, space, which can then be filled with an acute awareness of the sensations given by the posture. You watch yourself from inside. It is a full silence. — B.K.S. Iyengar

By drawing our senses of perception inward, we are able to experience the control, silence, and quietness of the mind. — B.K.S. Iyengar

My Maman told me that only the crazy ones and the passionate ones accomplish anything in life. — B.K.S. Iyengar

The pose begins when you want to leave it. — B.K.S. Iyengar

As a breeze ruffles the surface of a lake and distorts the images reflected therein, so also the chitta vrtti (fluctuations of mind) disturb the peace of the mind. The still waters of a lake reflect the beauty around it. When the mind is still, the beauty of the Self is seen reflected in it. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Extension brings space, space brings freedom, freedom brings precision. Precision is truth. — B.K.S. Iyengar

The union of nature and soul removes the veil of ignorance that covers our intelligence. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Penetration of our mind is our goal, but in the beginning to set things in motion, there is no substitute for sweat. — B.K.S. Iyengar

To do is hard, but to teach is still harder. Do not teach only to teach. Teach to improve the pupil. To be a teacher requires tremendous, vigorous discipline on oneself. We are teachers because somebody demands it from us. But the teacher should first rub his own self, and teach afterwards — B.K.S. Iyengar

In forward bends, one uses the outer mind while in backbends the outer mind is silenced and the inner mind is made to work. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Lack of knowledge is the source of all pains and sorrows whether dormant, attenuated, interrupted or fully active. — B.K.S. Iyengar

We must create a marriage between the awareness of the body and that of the mind. When two parties do not cooperate, there is unhappiness on both sides. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga is the method by which the restless mind is calmed And the energy directed into constructive channels. — B.K.S. Iyengar

As a well cut diamond has many facets, each reflecting a different color of light, so does the word yoga, each facet reflecting a different shade of meaning and revealing different aspects of the entire range of human endeavor to win inner peace and happiness. — B.K.S. Iyengar

Life Lessons by B.K.S. Iyengar

1. B.K.S. Iyengar taught that yoga is a practice of self-discipline and self-awareness, and that it can be used to cultivate a sense of inner peace and balance.
2. He also emphasized the importance of paying attention to the body and its needs, and of finding joy in the small moments of life.
3. Through his teachings, Iyengar showed us that we can use yoga to develop a deeper connection to ourselves and to the world around us.