“While doing the postures, your mind should be in half-consciousn ess, which does not mean sleep. It means silence, emptiness, space, which can then be filled with an acute awareness of the sensations given by the posture. You watch yourself from inside. It is a full silence.”

Do to your capacity. Always strive to extend your capacity. Ten minutes today, after a few days, twelve minutes. Master that, then again extend.

The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in.

Look after the root of the tree, and the fragrant flower and luscious fruits will grow by themselves. Look after the health of the body, and the fragrance of the mind and richness of the spirit will follow.

It took me whole decades to appreciate the depth and true value of yoga. Sacred texts supported my discoveries, but it was not they that signposted the way. What I learned through yoga, I found out through yoga.

You exist without the feeling of existence.

When the asana is correct, there is lightness, a freedom. Freedom comes when every part of the body is active. Let us be free in whatever posture we are doing. Let us be full in whatever we do.

Hatha Yoga teaches us to use the body as the bow, asana as the arrow, and the soul the target.

As a well cut diamond has many facets, each reflecting a different color of light, so does the word yoga, each facet reflecting a different shade of meaning and revealing different aspects of the entire range of human endeavor to win inner peace and happiness.

The yogi learns to forget the past and takes no thought for the morrow. He lives in the eternal present.

The body is the prop for the soul. So why not let the body be propped by a wall or a block?

Asanas maintain the strength and health of the body, without which little progress can be made. Asanas keep the body in harmony with nature

The practice of asanas purges the body of its impurities, bringing strength, firmness, calm, and clarity of mind.

We often fool ourselves that we are concentrating because we fix our attention on wavering objects.

Confidence, clarity and compassion are essential qualities of a teacher.

The decision to relax rather than to grip, even in the face of impatience or fear, is a conscious and brave choice.

Action is movement with intelligence. The world is filled with movement. What the world needs is more conscious movement, more action.

It would seem that something which means poverty, disorder and violence every single day should be avoided entirely, but the desire to beget children is a natural urge.

The important thing is this Just because I’m doing well doesn’t mean that they’re going to do well if they get HIV. A lot of people have died since I have announced. This disease is not going anywhere.

A lot of people can, you know, start the date with flowers and candy, but if you don’t finish the date – you know what I mean?

Once you fully apprehend the vacuity of a life without struggle, you are equipped with the basic means of salvation.

To care of another individual means to know and to experience the other as fully as possible.

Perhaps our national ambition to standardize ourselves has behind it the notion that democracy means standardization. But standardization is the surest way to destroy the initiative.

Women know more about words than men ever will. And they know how little they can ever possibly mean.

I mean, the greatest athletes in the world are African-American.