Sometimes all we need is a little inspiration to get up and ready for the day, to encourage your yoga practice, or reconnect you to your core values. We all do. Even our teachers who have made it a big part of their lives to share their experiences and teachings with those that are willing to listen. The fact that they have spent time to learn how to best share what they have learned within their own practices is what can be so inspiring about their words.
Inspirational quotes are helpful for motivation when it is a bit harder to find for ourselves. Hearing the quotes and words of others can help to pull us out of our own chattering mind for a moment and have a fresh set of words and perspective.
Here is a collaboration of words, quotes, and teachings from some of the great yoga teachers, young and old. Each teacher has their own unique experience, and something to offer to the world. As a thank you to our teachers, we can listen and absorb to find what inspires us.
1. If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. — Ronald Dahl
2. Yoga is a light, which once lit will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter your flame. — B.K.S. Iyengar
3. The nature of yoga is to shine the light of awareness into the darkest corners of the body. — Jason Crandell
4. True yoga is not about the shape of your body, but the shape of your life. Yoga is not to be performed; yoga is to be lived. Yoga doesn’t care about what you have been; yoga cares about the person you are becoming. Yoga is designed for a vast and profound purpose, and for it to be truly called yoga, its essence must be embodied. —Aadil Palkhivala, Fire of Love
5. Yoga is not a work-out; it is a work-in. And this is the point of spiritual practice, to make us teachable, to open up our hearts, and focus our awareness so that we can know what we already know and be who we already are. — Rolf Gates
6. Change only happens in the present moment. The past is already done. The future is just energy and intention. — Kino MacGregor
7. I think it’s interesting that the opposite of being active in yoga is not being passive. It’s being receptive. — Cyndi Lee
8. If we practice yoga long enough, the practice changes to suit our needs. It’s important to acknowledge that the practice isn’t meant to be one practice for everybody. The beautiful thing about yoga is that there are so many different approaches. As we go through our life cycles, hopefully we are able to find a practice that suits us. And if you practice yoga long enough, that will change many times. What exactly that looks like is going to be different for each person. — Tiffany Cruikshank, founder of Yoga Medicine
9. My biggest struggles have been my biggest teachers. — Kathryn Budig
10. Yoga does not transform the way we see things; it transforms the person who sees. — B.K.S. Iyengar
11. Yoga is the dance of every cell with the music of every breath that creates inner serenity and harmony. — Debasish Mridha
12. Exercises are like prose, whereas yoga is the poetry of movements. Once you understand the grammar of yoga; you can write your poetry of movements. — Amit Ray
13. Yoga is the cessation of the movements of the mind. Then there is abiding in the Seer’s own form. — Patañjali
14. Yoga does not always cure stress. It neutralizes it through increasing awareness and by changing self-perception. — Debasish Mridha
15. Yoga is the unifying art of transforming dharma into action, be it through inspired thought, properly nurturing our children, a painting, a kindness or an act of peace that forever moves humanity forward. — Micheline Berry
16. Yoga means addition – addition of energy, strength and beauty to body, mind and soul. — Amit Ray
17. When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others. — Peace Pilgrim
18. You either get bitter or get better. It’s that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate, it belongs to you. — Josh Shipp
19. Yoga begins right where I am – not where I was yesterday or where I long to be. — Linda Sparrowe
20. Change is not only inevitable, but always happening. When you truly embrace this concept of change being constant, the only thing left to do is grow, detach, venture inwards, touch the spirit and find your source — the one responsible for keeping you grounded through the ever-changing seasons of life. — Julie Weiland
21. Don’t move the way fear makes you move. Move the way love makes you move. Move the way joy makes you move. — Osho
22. I have been a seeker and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my Soul. — Rumi
23. It is not arrogant or egotistical to feel good inside. You had nothing to do with it. It’s simply the honest response to clearly perceived Reality. — Erich Schiffman
24. Yoga is a light which once lit will never dim, the better your practice the brighter your flame. — B.K.S. Iyengar
25. If you choose to see everything as a miracle, then where you are right now is perfect. There is nowhere to run to; there is nothing else to do except be in this moment and allow what is to be. From that place of radical acceptance, major change can happen. The first step in any transformational experience is acceptance and surrender to the present moment, the way that it is. From that place we have the awareness, humility and power to change what is. — Mastin Kipp
26. Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes. — Thich Nhat Hanh
27. Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions. — Pema Chodron
28. Your soul is your best friend. Treat it with care, nurture it with growth, feed it with love. — Ashourina Yalda
29. Follow your nature. The practice is really about uncovering your own pose; we have great respect for our teachers, but unless we can uncover our own pose in the moment, it’s not practice — it’s mimicry. Rest deeply in Savasana every day. Always enter that pratyahara (withdrawn state) every day. And just enjoy yourself. For many years I mistook discipline as ambition. Now I believe it to be more about consistency. Do get on the mat. Practice and life are not that different. — Judith Hanson Lasater
30. There will always be people who can do it better than you, but that’s a good thing! Start to see competition as inspiration — without envy. — Kathryn Budig
31. Yoga is a dance between control and surrender – between pushing and letting go – and when to push and when to let go becomes part of the creative process, part of the open-ended exploration of your being. — Joel Kramer
32. Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you are. — Jason Crandell
33. The very heart of yoga practice is abhyasa – steady effort in the direction you want to go. — Sally Kempton
34. Go from a human being doing yoga to a human being yoga. — Baron Baptiste
35. Remember, it doesn’t matter how deep into a posture you go. What does matter is who you are when you get there. — Max Storm
36. Yoga does not change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees. — B.K.S Iyengar
37. The ultimate goal of yoga is to always observe things accurately, and therefore never act in a way that will make us regret our actions later. — T.K.V. Desikachar
38. Yoga is possible for anybody who really wants it. Yoga is universal…. But don’t approach yoga with a business mind looking for worldly gain. — Sri Pattabhi Jois
39. You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state. – Sharon Gannon
40. Anyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy. Constant practice alone is the secret of success. — Svatmarama
41. Yoga is really trying to liberate us from… shame about our bodies. To love your body is a very important thing — I think the health of your mind depends on your being able to love your body. — Rodney Yee
42. Yoga is almost like music in a way; there’s no end to it. — Sting
43. I was in yoga the other day. I was in full lotus position. My chakras were all aligned. My mind is cleared of all clatter and I’m looking out of my third eye and everything that I’m supposed to be doing. It’s amazing what comes up, when you sit in that silence. Mama keeps whites bright like the sunlight, Mama’s got the magic of Clorox. — Ellen DeGeneres
44. The attitude of gratitude is the highest yoga. — Yogi Bhajan
45. Basketball is an endurance sport, and you have to learn to control your breath; that’s the essence of yoga, too. So, I consciously began using yoga techniques in my practice and playing. I think yoga helped reduce the number and severity of injuries I suffered. As preventative medicine, it’s unequaled. — Kareem Abdul Jabbar
46. Yoga is invigoration in relaxation. Freedom in routine. Confidence through self-control. Energy within and energy without. — Ymber Delecto
47. True meditation is about being fully present with everything that is–including discomfort and challenges. It is not an escape from life. — Craig Hamilton
48. Anyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy. Constant practice alone is the secret of success. — Hatha Yoga Pradipika
49. Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self. — The Bhagavad Gita
50. 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
Whether it is one or many of these quotes that inspire you, take the words for what they have to offer to you and your own unique experience. Whether it is one quote each day or only in needed moments, a bit of fresh inspiration feeds our minds for our daily life and practice.
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