“Words cannot convey the value of yoga – it has to be experienced.”

Balance in the body is the foundation for balance in life.

There is no progress toward ultimate freedom without transformation, and this is the key issue in all lives.

We can wash the skin of our bodies with a bath, but through asana practice we not only purify our blood and cells, we are cleansing the inner body as we practice.

Is it necessary to practice all these asanas, further and further? Is it necessary to develop scientific researches further and further? To a yogi, the body is a laboratory, a field of experiments and perpetual researches.

If you can adapt to and balance in a world that is always moving and unstable, you learn how to become tolerant to the permanence of change and difference.

Health is not a commodity to be bargained for. It has to be earned through sweat.

Don’t practice for cosmetic beauty, practice for cosmic beauty. Practice for inner beauty and inner light.

When you see a mistake in somebody else, try to find if you are making the same mistake.

Before peace between the nations, we have to find peace inside that small nation which is our own being.

There is no difference in souls, only the ideas about ourselves that we wear.

The yogi cannot be afraid to die, because he has brought life to every cell of his body. We are afraid to die, because we are afraid we have not lived. The yogi has lived.

When you are practicing, do not just do that for the sake of doing. Learn to reflect while you are practising. Make your mind and brain observe and relearn what you are doing. Doing is mechanical; learning is dynamic.

It is through the body that everything comes to the mind. It is through and with your body that you have to reach realization of being a spark of divinity. How can we neglect the temple of the spirit?

If you open the armpits, the brain becomes light. You cannot brood or become depressed.

Savasana is being without was, being without will be. It is being without anyone who is.

Do not aim low, you will miss the mark. Aim high and you will be on a threshold of bliss.

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul.

Your body exists in the past and your mind exists in the future. In yoga, they come together in the present.

Know your capacities and continually improve upon them.

It’s precisely the people who are considered the least ‘likely’ leaders who end up inspiring others the most.

This one question-‘What do I know for certain?’-is tremendously powerful. When you look deeply into this question, it actually destroys your world. It destroys your whole sense of self, and it’s meant to.

It is so inspiring when you come across a woman who is very strong and dedicated and is amazing at what they do. That’s how I feel about Meryl Streep.

I’d done a few short films before and thought acting was really creative, but when I worked with those guys, I was just like: “Wow!” They had such fun and freedom. They were trying things and stretching themselves. It was so inspiring that I was like: “I definitely want to do this!”

It is impossible to withhold education from the receptive mind, as it is impossible to force it upon the unreasoning.