The study of asana is not about mastering posture. It's about using posture to understand and transform yourself.
Hatha Yoga teaches us to use the body as the bow, asana as the arrow, and the soul the target.
You must do the asana with your soul. How can you do an asana with your soul? We can only do it with the organ of the body that is closest to the soul - the heart. So a virtuous asana is done from the heart and not from the head. Then you are not just doing it, but you are in it. Many people try to think their way into an asana, but you must instead feel your way into it through love and devotion
Asanas bring perfection in body, beauty in form, grace, strength, compactness, and the hardness and brilliance of a diamond.
The conjunction of effort, concentration and balance in asana forces us to live intensely in the present moment, a rare experience in modern life.
The success of Yoga does not lie in the ability to perform postures but in how it positively changes the way we live our life and our relationships.
Each asana is like a piece of music that has a certain characteristic, a certain power.
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.
You must fill every inch of your body with the asana from your chest and arms and legs to the tips of your fingers and toes so that the asana radiates from the core of your body and fills the entire diameter and circumference of your limbs. You must feel your intelligence, your awareness, and your consciousness in every inch of your body.
The body is my temple, asanas are my prayers.
The brain is the hardest part of the body to adjust in asanas.
When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world.
Yoga ia a way of moving into stillness in order to experience the truth of who you are.
Perfection in asana is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless and the infinite being within is reached.
Asana done from the brain makes one heavy and done from the heart makes one light.
It is while practicing yoga asanas that you learn the art of adjustment.
The practice of yogasana for the sake of health, to keep fit, or to maintain flexibility is the external practice of yoga. While this is a legitimate place to begin, it is not the end. Even in simple asanas, one is experiencing the three levels of quest: the external quest, which brings firmness of the body; the internal quest, which brings steadiness of intelligence; and the innermost quest, which brings benevolence of spirit.
In an asana, the mind has to reach inside the body to find a quiet space until a point comes where perfect balance is felt.
When an asana is done correctly the body movements are smooth, there is lightness in the body and freedom in the mind.
The asanas are useful maps to explore yourself, but they are not the territory.
Inhale, and God approaches you. Hold the inhalation, and God remains with you. Exhale, and you approach God. Hold the exhalation, and surrender to God.
The flexibility we gain in asana is the living symbol of the suppleness we gain in relation to life’s problems and challenges.
Do not allow past experiences to be imprinted on your mind. Perform asanas each time with a fresh mind and with a fresh approach. If you are repeating what you did before, you are living in the memory, so you are living in the past. That means you don't want to proceed beyond the experience of the past. Retaining that memory is saying, 'Yesterday I did it like that.' When I ask, 'Is there anything new from what I did yesterday?' then there is progress. Am I going forward or am I going backward? Then you understand how to create dynamism in a static asana.
We are missing the gold if we do asanas as a physical practice only.
Approach each asana with freshness every day.
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