BKS Iyengar
Indian yoga master who, more than any other figure, shaped the global understanding of yoga as a precise, alignment-based postural practice. A frail child saved from tuberculosis by yoga, he studied with his brother-in-law T. Krishnamacharya and from 1937 taught yoga in Pune, India for over seven decades. His 1966 book Light on Yoga, the foundational reference of modern yoga, has sold over three million copies and been translated into more than nineteen languages. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. His exacting precision, his use of props (now standard equipment in nearly every yoga studio), and his deep philosophical grounding in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali made him both the great democratizer of yoga and one of its most rigorous teachers.
quotes in library
Quotes by BKS Iyengar
105 quotes“The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in.”
“Words cannot convey the value of yoga — it has to be experienced.”
“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”
“The hardness of a diamond is part of its usefulness, but its true value is in the light that shines through it.”
“Penetration of our minds is our goal. Asana is the means.”
“Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit.”
“The goal is at the heart of the practice. Reach for it.”
“The art of teaching is tolerance. Humbleness is the art of learning.”
“Yoga is firstness in everything we do.”
“Be inspired but not arrogant.”
“Be involved in the action; not in the fruits of the action.”
“The body is the bow, asana is the arrow, and the soul is the target.”
“In sickness, the soul shudders. In health, the soul sings.”
“Yoga is for self-realization, not for ego-realization.”
“Tranquility comes when wisdom is the master of life.”
“Performing asanas correctly transforms ordinary effort into intelligent effort.”
“Pranayama is not just deep breathing. It is the science of breath.”
“In the practice of yoga, the body is your laboratory.”
“Yoga is a light, which once lit will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter your flame.”
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