UPDATE 19 Jan 13: Thanks to everyone who shared so many wonderful yoga quotes! Each inspired in their own way, but we ultimately loved the following two quotes from our contest winners Gillian and Dave–congratulations to both of them! As some of the quotes in the comments attest, they will undoubtedly find some gems in their signed copies of Hell-Bent.
From Gillian, a quote out of The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice by TKV Desikachar:
“When we are attentive to our actions we are not prisoners to our habits.”
And from Dave, a quote from Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit by Donna Farhi:
“Yoga is a technology for arriving in this present moment. It is a means of waking up from our spiritual amnesia, so that we can remember all that we already know.”
Thanks again and have a great weekend!
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Like many yogis, I read/browse a crap-ton of yoga books every year because it’s just one of those things I love to do. It makes me happy, inspires me, and (I like to think) helps make me a well-rounded yogi. If you follow Daily Cup of Yoga on Twitter you’ll know I recently declared Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Competitive Yoga
Some yoga books are great to read before bed if you have a tough time falling asleep…Hell-Bent falls on the opposite end of the spectrum–you’ll stay up all night indulging in the deep dark secrets of what it’s like to be a Bikram yoga addict. I doubt you’ll be able to put it down either.
I’m excited to say that now’s your chance to win your very own SIGNED COPY of Hell-Bent!
Here’s how to win:
- Grab a favorite yoga-related book you read within the last year, and
- Leave a comment on this post with an inspiring quote from the book.
- That’s it!…but I’d sure be happy if you also “liked” and/or “followed” Daily Cup of Yoga on Facebook/Twitter and/or shared this post so we can all enjoy a humongous banquet of yogic inspiration.
- There’s no scientific process to winning other than I’ll pick my two favorite quotes and those two lucky yogis will be announced the winner next Friday (18 Jan 13).
As always, thanks for reading, good luck, and Namaste!
~Brian
“The block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of the weak becomes a stepping stone in the path of the strong.”-Thomas Carlyle quoted in 40 Days to Personal Revolution -Baron Baptiste
“When you succeed in going within and realizing the peace and joy of your own Self. The moment you understand yourself as the true Self, you find such peace and bliss that the impressions of the petty enjoyments you experienced before become as ordinary specks of light in front of the brilliant sun. You lose all interest in them permanently. That is the highest non-attachment.” ~Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Translation and Commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda
“Yoga practice is a journey with no end. You’ll grow and even transform along the way, but ultimately there is no arriving.”
-Journey into Power by Baron Baptiste
Baron Baptiste was definitely one of my first/favorite yoga (book) teachers. Great quote!
“Any relationship has a better chance of surviving if you’re not in it to get your desires filled, but to simply be loving. True love wants nothing except to love. It’s the grace of true love when you can accept your whole self, your inadequacies, your unconsciousness, and those of your partner.”
Steve Ross, Happy Yoga
I haven’t read Happy Yoga yet. Do I need to read it?
I have read a good portion of it. Not the whole thing, but what I have read so far makes it worth the read.
Thanks Stephanie, I’ll have to check it out!
“Yoga is not a religion. It is a science, science of well-being, science of youthfulness, science of integrating body, mind and soul.”
― Amit Ray, Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style
“Your mind blocks the free flow of life by saying ‘This is how things must and should be.’ Letting go releases you from this insistent grip, and when you let go, new forms of reality can enter.” – Deepak Chopra quote in Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison
My favorite quote is from Hell-Bent by Benjamin Lorr:
“People come to me and think yoga is relax. They think little flower, little ting sound, some chanting, hanging crystal… No! Not for you! Waste of time! Here I chop off your d!ck and play ping-pong with your balls. You know the Ping-Pong? That is yoga!”
Sorry, in my opinion, it’s not yoga to chop off a d!ck and play with balls. Of course yoga is relaxing, too.
From Yoga Poems, Matsyasana:
” Open the heart and the heart opens you”.
“Where there is yoga, there is prosperity, success, freedom, and bliss.” – B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Pranayama
“Knowledge comes alive only through practice”
~ Yoga and the Quest for the True Self ~
By Stephen Cope
“When we are attentive to our actions we are not prisoners to our habits.”
~ The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice, TKV Desikachar
Gillian – Congrats on winning! Are you Facebook or Twitter so I can send you a message? If not, please get in touch via the contact form above so we can get your book to you. Namaste! Brian
“The practice of meditation allows us to experience all the textures of the roadway, which is what the journey is all about.”
-Shambhala: The Sacred Path of a Warrior, Trungpa
“I want to begin this story about my life by simply standing still.”- Finding My Balance, Mariel Hemingway
What a great way to start a story!
“This is the magic of Yoga. One needs no props other than faith enough in the process each step of the way.” – Awake in the World by Michael Stone
From The Yamas & Niyamas by Deborah Adele, “In India, during major festivities, elephants are paraded down the narrow streets, proudly dressed in silks and jewelry, carrying the likeness of a deity on their backs. Along the way, vendors displaying luscious treats and sparkling jewelry are numerous. The elephants, being curious and playful by nature, can’t help but swing their trunks this way and that in an attempt to capture the glitter and treats lining the streets. Destruction and chaos quickly follow. However, the trainers, knowing their elephant’s adventurous nature, have learned to coax them into wrapping their trunks around a bamboo shoot. Now, as the elephants march down the street carrying their bamboo, the parade continues smoothly.
We are much like the elephants. When we don’t know what we want or we don’t have the courage to pursue it, everything that everyone else is doing looks tempting to us. We begin to lust after other’s accomplishments and other’s possessions. We get sidetracked from our own dreams and our own realness. However, when we are focused on our own dreams, we can move forward with dignity, much like those elephants holding onto the bamboo shoot, undisturbed by the glitter and sparkle along the way.”
I read this in my class every month or two. Love it. And the whole book is wonderful.
Molly, I definitely agree The Yamas & Niyamas is a hidden yoga book gem.
That is great. I need to get this and read it! Thanks for sharing!
“My hope is to have overcome the prejudice that Hatha yoga is only physical and it has nothing to do with the spiritual life. . . . My life’s work has been to show how this is a path that can lead the dedicated practitioner to the integration of body, mind, and soul.”
–Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom by B.K.S. Iyengar
“Yoga is a technology for arriving in this present moment. It is a means of waking up from our spiritual amnesia, so that we can remember all that we already know.” Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit.
Dave – are you Facebook or Twitter so I can send you a message? If not, please get in touch via the contact form above so we can get your book to you. Congrats! Brian
Here again faith must be supplemented by works, the life must be led as well as studied, before the full meaning can be understood. The awakening of spiritual consciousness can only be understood in measure as it is entered. It can only be entered where the conditions are present: purity of heart, and strong aspiration, and the resolute conquest of each sin.
Patañjali (2011-03-24). The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: the Book of the Spiritual Man (p. 8). . Kindle Edition.
“Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory”
Yoga Mala, Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois
Consciousness, the sum of all possible observer states, equals the flux of information in a field of emotion. – Candace B. Pert in Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d
This book has been a great finding for me this year, to confirm my belief that emotions travel and manifest in the whole body and not just in the brain, which further explains the effect of yoga asana and pranayama to tap into, relieve and heal past and present emotional trauma.
“We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing. We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing?”
― Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras
Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With yoga we become aware of how and where we are restricted – in body, mind and heart – and how gradually to open and release these blockages. As these blockages are cleared our energy is freed. We start to feel more harmonious, more at one with ourselves. Or we begin to flow more in our lives.
-Simple Yoga, Cybele Tomlinson
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.
-The Upanishads
Between stimulus and response there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
Man’s Search for Meaning, E. Frankl
Congratulations to Gillian and Dave, winners of a signed copy of Hell-Bent! Thank you everyone for being part of the Daily Cup of Yoga community and sharing your inspiration!!
This ain’t your Momma’s Yoga by Diamond Dallas Paige. “Own Your Life”
Congratulations to Gillian and Dave, winners of a signed copy of Hell-Bent!