The power of language can help to elevate us mentally, or emotionally and propel us between the gap of where we are and where weâre looking to go spiritually. There are many powerful quotes that can help build this bridge.
Here, weâve compiled a list of quotes for you to pull from â not just as a source of personal inspiration but also as a potential tool for you to utilize in the classroom as a yoga teacher:
1. A photographer gets people to pose for him. A yoga instructor gets people to pose for themselves. âTerri Guillemets
2. Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame. âB.K.S. Iyengar
3. Meditation is a way for nourishing and blossoming the divinity within you. âAmit Ray
4. Thatâs why itâs called a practice. We have to practice a practice if it is to be of value. âAllan Lokos
5. Silence is not silent. Silence speaks. It speaks most eloquently. Silence is not still. Silence leads. It leads most perfectly. âSri Chinmoy
6. Yoga does not always cure stress. It neutralizes it through increasing awareness and by changing self-perception. âDebasish Mridha
7. It isn’t arrogant or egotistical to feel good inside. You had nothing to do with it. It’s simply the honest response to clearly perceived reality. âErich Schiffman
8. The nature of yoga is to shine the light of awareness into the darkest corners of the body. âJason Crandell
9. Yoga begins right where I am â not where I was yesterday or where I long to be. âLinda Sparrow
10. Yoga is not a work-out, its 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. âRolf Gates
11. What yoga philosophy and all the great Buddhist teachings tells us is that solidity is a creation of the ordinary mind and that there never was anything permanent to begin with that we could hold on to. Life would be much easier and substantially less painful if we lived with the knowledge of impermanence as the only constant. âDonna Farhi
12. The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness. âSakyong Mipham
13. The mind is everything. What you think, you become. âBuddha
14. There will always be people who can do it better than you, but thats a good thing! Start to see competition as inspiration – without envy. âKathryn Budig
15. Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self. âThe Bhagavad Gita
16. Go from a human being doing yoga to a human being yoga. âBaron Baptiste
17. Yoga is not about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the way down. âJigar Gor
18. 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 doesnât 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. âAadil Palkhivala
19. Yoga begins with listening. When we listen, we are giving space to what is. âRichard Freeman
20. Remember, it doesnât matter how deep into a posture you go â what does matter is who you are when you get there. âMax Strom
21. When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be. âPatanjali (Yoga Sutras)
22. Body is not stiff, mind is stiff. âSri K. Jois
23. We have never arrived. We are in a constant state of becoming. âBob Dylan
24. The yoga mat is a good place to turn when talk therapy and antidepressants arenât enough. âAmy Weintraub
25. In truth, yoga doesn’t take time – it gives time. âGanga White
26. You’re only as young as your spine is flexible. âBob Harper
27. Have only love in your heart for others. The more you see the good in them, the more you will establish good in yourself. âT.K.V. Desikachar
28. Exercises are like prose, whereas yoga is the poetry of movements. âAmit Ray
29. By our stumbling, the world is perfected. âSri Aurobindo
30. Yoga is about remembering that we are already one with the divinity and weâve never left it. âSri K. Jois
31. If you have time to breathe, you have time to meditate. You breathe when you walk. You breathe when you stand. You breathe when you lie down. âAjahn Amaro
32. Yoga is the bringing together of that which was never separate. âRichard Miller
33. When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady. But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life. Therefore, one should learn to control the breath. âHatha Yoga Pradipik
34. If it weren’t for my mind, my meditate would be excellent. âAni Pema Chodron
35. Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; for it becomes your destiny. âUpanishads
36. Before you’ve practiced, the theory is useless. After you’ve practiced, the theory is obvious. âDavid Williams
37. Peace comes from within, do not seek it without. âAnonymous
38. Remember that sometimes, not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck. âDalai Lama
39. The most important pieces of equipment you need for doing yoga are your body and your mind. âRodney Yee
40. What Iâm looking for is not out there; it is in me. âHelen Keller
41. 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. âSharon Gannon
42. What we want out of yoga is ourselves, not something better than ourselves. âDouglas Brooks
43. The most important pieces of equipment you need for doing yoga are your body and your mind. âRodney Yee
44. Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured. âB.K.S. Iyengar
45. What yoga philosophy and all the great Buddhist teachings tells us is that solidity is a creation of the ordinary mind and that there never was anything permanent to begin with that we could hold on to. Life would be much easier and substantially less painful if we lived with the knowledge of impermanence as the only constant. âDonna Farhi
46. You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside. âWayne Dyer
47. When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world. âB.K.S. Iyengar
48. If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished? âRumi
49. Yoga is the art work of awareness on the canvas of body, mind, and soul. âAmit Ray
50. Beyond meditation there is the experience of now. âRyan Parenti
Incorporating these quotes into a yoga class
Dharma talks are a great way to begin any yoga class. An easy way to get started is usually by summarizing one of the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali, or by using one of these quotes and expanding on it by tying it back to the yoga practice. We’ve even developed full courses centered around learning more about yoga philosophy and online teacher training courses to get you started with teaching!
