Though the West is obsessed with the physical practice of yoga, the essence of the practice is really about a philosophy of life. The physical practice of yoga was and is one of the tools in the toolbox for us to use in order to attain peace of mind and spirit. There are many voices today that still speak to the ancient teachings of yoga. Read a few yoga quotations I’ve chosen to share with you from ancient to contemporary times.
The Yoga Sutras, by Patanjali
Two of my favorites Yoga Sutras are:
1.6 Perception, error, imagination, sleep, and memory of the five activities of the mind.
1.3. The obstacles that cloud the mind are illness, inertia, doubt, haste, laziness, hedonism, illusions about one’s self, the inability to progress, and regression.
Glenn Black
“Asana can be a wonderful thing but it’s not the only thing.”
“There is no shame in expression.”
Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul
You will eventually get conscious enough so that the minute you see the energy start getting strange, you stop, You stop getting involved in the energy. If it normally causes you to start talking, you stop talking. You just stop mid-sentence, because you know where it will go if you continue. The moment you see the energy getting imbalanced inside, the moment you see the heart strings start to tense and get defensive, you just stop…What exactly does it mean to stop? It’s something you do inside. It’s called letting go.
In fact if you are willing to be objective and watch all your thoughts, you will see the vast majority of them have no relevance. They have no effect on anything or anyone, except you. They are simply making you feel better or worse about what is going on, what has gone on in this past, or what might go on in the future. If you spend your time hoping that it doesn’t rain tomorrow, you are wasting your time. Your thoughts don’t change the rain.
Rumi
Until you’ve found pain, you won’t reach the cure
Until you’ve given up life, you won’t unite with the supreme soul,
Until you’ve found fire inside yourself, like the Friend,
You won’t reach the spring of life.
Rumi ♥
