“You must ask for what you really want. Don’t go back to sleep.”
— Rumi
The Sanskrit word yoga means union — between the body, mind and spirit. Yoga promises to tone muscles and improve alignment; build strength, flexibility and confidence; reduce stress and foster a sense of peacefulness and well being. However, a laundry list of benefits doesn’t capture the essence of yoga as well as the following insightful reflections.
“If we simplify our lives, the laws of the universe will appear less complex.”
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?”
— Scout, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
“Yoga was my destiny, and for the past 70 years it has been my life, a life infused with the practice, philosophy and teaching of the art of yoga. Like all destinies, like all great adventures, I have gone to places I never imagined before I set out.”
— BKS Iyengar, Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace and Ultimate Freedom
“Yoga has its roots in Indian thought, but its content is universal because it is about the means by which we can make the changes we desire in our lives.”
— TKV Desikachar, The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice
“To practice yoga in the deepest sense is to commit to developing awareness by observing our lives: our thoughts, words, and actions. There are many yoga techniques that can support us along the way, such as poses, breathing and meditation. But these are not ends in themselves, but means to the Self.”
— Judith Lasater, Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life
“We will always have much to learn and more to develop in the way of skill and technique, but the essence of yoga is deeper…it grows from refining our attunement to the flow of life, and life force.”
— Ganga White, Yoga Beyond Belief: Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice
“Asanas (yoga postures) are a part of a sacred science…they are the main yogic tool for balancing the physical body. Their purpose is to create a free flow of energy to help direct our attention within.”
— David Frawley, Yoga and Ayurveda: Self-Healing and Self-Realization
“Asanas have their own energetics … like a house they have their own architecture. The effect of the asana is a combination of the structure of the asana and the practitioner’s own bodily structure, which will vary not only by individual but also changes through the course of time.”
— David Frawley & Sandra Summerfield Kozak, Yoga for Your Type: An Ayrvedic Approach to Your Asana Pratice
“Yoga is all about balance…while it wasn’t originally invented to improve health, there is a growing body of scientific evidence suggesting that yoga has serious therapeutic value.”
— Timothy McCall, MD, Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing