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Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self. It underscores the central role that yoga plays in our life’s journeys towards self-discovery. But just what is yoga?
Yoga needs no introduction. This age-old tradition has been with us from time immemorial and has continued to inspire our mental, physical, and spiritual wellness.
Yoga traces its origin in ancient India and is considered one of the six fundamental schools of Hindu philosophical traditions. Besides Hinduism, yoga is also a common practice in other Asian religions like Buddhism and Jainism.
Initially, yoga was almost exclusively associated with spiritualism. Even though yogists (yoga practitioners) gained significant physical and mental benefits out of doing yoga, their main drive was the desire to connect with their higher power.
The case appears to be a little different in the Western world, where the practice is undertaken mostly for its therapeutic purposes. The kind of yoga practiced in the West mainly consists of exercise-based routines, where participants assume a series of body postures, also known as asanas.
How Is Yoga Today
For thousands of years, yoga was almost exclusively localized in India. It was not until the late 19th century that Indian gurus introduced the practice to the West. And today, most references to yoga are made with respect to the West.
But despite its origin and popularity across the globe, the fundamental goal of yoga is to promote mental awareness. As you might already know, the practice usually takes place in a quiet setting. The quiet environment fosters a sense of self-awareness, which subsequently triggers self-reflection. In those still moments, you can whisper positive affirmations and train your mind to focus on the things that make you happy.
Yoga is also a form of physical exercise, where its main objective is to promote blood circulation. As a form of exercise, yoga is mostly recommended for people who cannot perform or do not prefer high-energy workouts. Examples include the sick and the old.
Evidently, there are more than enough reasons to incorporate yoga into your life. And there are equally numerous yoga quotes that can inspire you to integrate this fundamental practice into your routine.
Why Practice Yoga
It’s Motivational and Uplifting
Yoga is intended to help you achieve a complete state of mental awareness as you enjoy experiences that are beyond the physical realm. Uplifting yoga quotes will help you to nurture the culture of yoga by giving you the drive and willpower to practice even when you’re fatigued and demotivated.
For instance, whenever you feel exhausted just minutes into practicing yoga, remind yourself that the pose begins when you want to leave it.
Happiness and Contentment
Yoga puts you on a journey of self-discovery and in the process, you’ll discover lots of things to be grateful about. Essentially, yoga helps you to nurture the habit of gratitude and when you’re contented with your lot, you feel happy.
In your happiness, you can gracefully let go of the past and embrace the prospects for a better tomorrow. Indeed, yoga teaches you to literally inhale the future, exhale the past.
Beneficial to all Aspects of Life
Yoga remains one of the most beneficial practices humankind has ever invented. And integrating it into your life is one of the best health decisions you’ll ever make.
It’s also reassuring to note that there are plenty of yoga quotes that can supercharge your drive to embark on the practice even when your willpower is low.
Inspirational Yoga Quotes
- “You are the sky, everything else is just the weather.” – Pema Chodron
- “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
- “Don’t move the way fear makes you move. Move the way love makes you move. Move the way joy makes you move.” – Osho
- “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
- “Yoga begins right where I am – not where I was yesterday or where I long to be.” – Linda Sparrowe
- “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
- “When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.” – Peace Pilgrim
- “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
- “If you seek peace, be still. If you seek wisdom, be silent. If you seek love, be yourself.” – Becca Lee
- “Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.” – Etty Hittlesum
- “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
- “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
- “I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.” – Gandhi
- “Yoga is a light which once lit will never dim, the better your practice the brighter your flame.” – K.S. Iyengar
- “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
- “Wisdom is knowing we are all One. Love is what it feels like and Compassion is what it acts like.” – Ethan Walker III
- “Have only love in your heart for others. The more you see the good in them, the more you will establish good in yourself.” – Paramahansa Yogananda
- “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
- “In meditation and in our daily lives there are three qualities that we can nurture, cultivate, and bring out. We already possess these, but they can be ripened: precision, gentleness, and the ability to let go.” – Pema Chodron
- “Your soul is your best friend. Treat it with care, nurture it with growth, feed it with love.” – Ashourina Yalda
- “The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness.” – Sakyong Mipham
- “Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.” – Pema Chodron
- “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
- “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu
- “Be a lamp to yourself. Be your own confidence. Hold on to the truth within yourself as to the only truth.” – Buddha
- “For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.” – Ivan Panin
- “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
- “What you think, you become.” – Buddha
- “Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the Now. You can’t argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do, you suffer.” – Eckhart Tolle
- “Once you’re in touch with the life force around us, it’s natural to want to help keep it around.” – Adi Carter
- “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
- “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” – The Bhagavad Gita
- “Each of us is a lake of love, yet strangely enough, we are all thirsty.” – Swami Kripalu
- “Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you are.” – Jason Crandell
- “Your life is a sacred journey. It is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way.” – Caroline Adams
- “The soul is here for its own joy.” – Rumi
- “The best thing you could do is master the chaos in you. You are not thrown into the fire, you are the fire.” – Mama Indigo
- “The very heart of yoga practice is abhyasa – steady effort in the direction you want to go.” – Sally Kempton
- “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” – Mother Teresa
- “You are on the path… exactly where you are meant to be right now… And from here, you can only go forward, shaping your life story into a magnificent tale of triumph, of healing, of courage, of beauty, of wisdom, of power, of dignity, and of love.” – Caroline Adams
- “Go from a human being doing yoga to a human being yoga.” – Baron Baptiste
- “Close your eyes and imagine the best version of you possible. That’s who you really are. Let go of any part of you that doesn’t believe it.” – Assaad
- “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
- “Yoga is not about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the way down.” – Jigar Gor
- “Live life as if everything is rigged in your favour.” – Rumi
- “Yoga does not change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees.” – K.S Iyengar
- “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar
- “Meditation is a way for nourishing and blossoming the divinity within you.” – Amit Ray
- “When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” – Helen Keller
- “First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.” – Aristotle
- “The true miracle lies in our eagerness to allow, appreciate, and honor the uniqueness, and freedom of each sentient being to sing the song of their heart.” – Amit Ray
- “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.” – K.V. Desikachar
- “May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.” – Saint Terese of Liseaux
- “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha
- “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” – G. Jung
- “The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in.” – Geeta Iyengar
- “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
- “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built.” – Rumi
- “Yoga is not a work-out, it is a work-in.” – Rolf Gates
- “May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.” – Saint Terese of Liseaux
- “My sole literary ambition is to write one good novel, then retire to my hut in the desert, assume the lotus position, compose my mind and senses, and sink into meditation, contemplating my novel.” – Edward Abbey
- “Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With yoga, we become aware of how and where we are restricted — in body, mind, and heart — and how gradually to open and release these blockages.” – Cybele Tomlinson
- “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” – Marianne Williamson
- “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Maya Angelou
- “When you are looking in the mirror, you are looking at the problem. But, remember, you are also looking at the solution.” – Anonymous
- “There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” – Aldous Huxley
- “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” – Camus
- “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.” – Marianne Williamson
- “Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” – Albert Einstein
- “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
- “Every moment is a fresh beginning.” – T.S. Eliot
- “A photographer gets people to pose for him. A yoga instructor gets people to pose for themselves.” – Terri Guillemets
- “Anyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy. Constant practice alone is the secret of success.” – Svatmarama
- “Before you’ve practiced, the theory is useless. After you’ve practiced, the theory is obvious.” – David Williams
- “Exercises are like prose, whereas yoga is the poetry of movements.” – Amit Ray
- “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
- “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” – Lao Tzu
- “Yoga is almost like music in a way; there’s no end to it.” – Sting