Yoga Reminder: Lightened Reflections

breathing is a voluntary doorway to the involuntary body, a conscious doorway to the subconscious mind.

Without progressive steps in deepening mental focus, there is no vinyasa at the mental level in asana practice. Since yoga is itself about bringing the mind to stillness, vinyasa necessarily implies orderly steps toward a steady mind.

Balance and clarity are a state of mind; they do not arise from the objects we come in contact with. They arise because of our minds’ response to such contact.

it is conventional to separate the message of the Bhagavad Gita into three yoga paths: action, devotion, and wisdom. But all these three paths are there in the Yogasutra. It is just the emphasis on certain practices, depending on the stage of the practitioner, that is different.

For asanas to be a powerful agent of transformation, we must do them not purely from the force of habit but with a stream of awareness.

While persistence is a virtue, blind adherence is risky.

The mind is an experience—the experience of thoughts and emotions.

That synergy of the inner and outer experience leading us toward well-being, not the form of the posture, is the hallmark of the ideal asana.

Discipline and wisdom in practice determine the quality of the disciple and his progress in yoga,