Today we’re sharing with you a collection of inspiring yoga quotes that will motivate and enrich your practice and your personal life.
Yoga is not a religion—it is a life philosophy that can have a profound influence on your personal worldview.
With regular practice, yoga helps you overcome the stresses encountered in daily life and offers peace and relaxation that point the way to mindfulness.
We hope the following quotes create for you a deeper connection with yourself as you embody the yogic philosophy.
May you find balance, discipline, wisdom, love, freedom, and positivity in performing your daily practice.
Here is our collection of yoga quotes.
- “Yoga begins right where I am – not where I was yesterday or where I long to be.” – Linda Sparrowe
- “We all want happiness, and yoga is the way for that much needed happiness factor in life.” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
- “Yoga does not just change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees.” – Sri B. K. S. Iyengar
- “Yoga practice can make us more and more sensitive to subtler and subtler sensations in the body. Paying attention to and staying with finer and finer sensations within the body is one of the surest ways to steady the wandering mind.” – Ravi Ravindra
- “The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness.” – Sakyong Mipham
The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness.” – Sakyong Mipham
- “There is always room for change, but you have to be open to that change.” – Kathryn Budig
- “There will always be people who can do it better than you, but that’s a good thing! Start to see competition as inspiration — without envy.” – Kathryn Budig
- “Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you are.” – Jason Crandell
- “Yoga is not about self-improvement, it’s about self-acceptance.” – Gurmuk Kaur Khalsa
- “Yoga is not about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the way down.” – Jigar Gor
- “Yoga is the ultimate practice. It simultaneously stimulates our inner light and quiets our overactive minds. It is both energy and rest. Yin and Yang. We feel the burn and find our bliss.” – Elise Joan
- “Anyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy. Constant practice alone is the secret of success.” – Svatmarama
- “Yoga is possible for anybody who really wants it. Yoga is universal…. But don’t approach yoga with a business mind looking for worldly gain.” – Sri Pattabhi Jois
- “Yoga is a method to come to a nondreaming mind. Yoga is the science to be in the here and now.” – Osho
- “Yoga means addition – addition of energy, strength and beauty to body, mind and soul.” – Amit Ray
- “Yoga is the space where flower blossoms.” – Amit Ray
- “Move your joints every day. You have to find your own tricks. Bury your mind deep in your heart, and watch the body move by itself.” – Sri Dharma Mittra
- “Yoga exists in the world because everything is linked.” – Desikashar
- “When breath control is correct, mind control is possible.” – Pattabhi Jois
- “Go from a human being doing yoga to a human being yoga.” – Baron Baptiste
- “The ultimate goal of yoga is to always observe things accurately, and therefore never act in a way that will make us regret our actions later.” – T. K. V. Desikachar
- “Calming the mind is yoga. Not just standing on the head.” – Swami Satchidananda
- “Yoga is not a work-out, it is a work-in. And this is the point of spiritual practice; to make us teachable; to open up our hearts and focus our awareness so that we can know what we already know and be who we already are.” – Rolf Gates
- “The attitude of gratitude is the highest yoga.” – Yogi Bhajan
- “True yoga is not about the shape of your body, but the shape of your life. Yoga is not to be performed; it is to be lived. Yoga doesn’t care about what you have been; it cares about the person you are becoming. Yoga is designed for a vast and profound purpose, and for it to be truly called yoga, its essence must be embodied.” – Aadil Palkhivala
- “A photographer gets people to pose for him. A yoga instructor gets people to pose for themselves.” – T. Guillemets
- “I think it’s interesting that the opposite of being active in yoga is not being passive. It’s being receptive.” – Cyndi Lee
- “Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.” – Sri B. K. S. Iyengar
- “The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life.” – Sri B. K. S. Iyengar
The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life.” – Sri B. K. S. Iyengar
- “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. Our lives begin to flow — or we begin to flow more in our lives.” – Cybele Tomlinson
- “Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light.” – Yogi Bhajan
- “That’s exactly how it is in yoga. The places where you have the most resistance are actually the places that are going to be the areas of the greatest liberation.” – Rodney Yee
- “Yoga begins with listening. When we listen, we are giving space to what is.” – Richard Freeman
- “Yoga is a dance between control and surrender – between pushing and letting go – and when to push and when to let go becomes part of the creative process, part of the open-ended exploration of your being.” – Joel Kramer
- “Yoga is when every cell of the body sings the song of the soul.” – Sri B. K. S. Iyengar
- “Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory.” – Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois
- “Learning to be present with yourself and to abide in that which is steady and comfortable does not allow space for self-judgment. When you live this way, you are practicing yoga: you are living fully.” – Judith Hanson Lasater
- “The harmonizing of opposing forces is a key aspect of yoga — hot energy is united with cool energy, strong with soft, and masculine with feminine.” – Tara Fraser
- “Yoga is the fountain of youth. You’re only as young as your spine is flexible.” – Bob Harper
- “You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state.” – Sharon Gannon
- “Yoga is a light, which once lit will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter your flame.” – Sri B. K. S. Iyengar
- “My biggest struggles have been my biggest teachers.” – Kathryn Budig
- “Exercises are like prose, whereas yoga is the poetry of movements. Once you understand the grammar of yoga; you can write your poetry of movements.” – Amit Ray
- “If we practice yoga long enough, the practice changes to suit our needs. It’s important to acknowledge that the practice isn’t meant to be one practice for everybody. The beautiful thing about yoga is that there are so many different approaches. As we go through our life cycles, hopefully we are able to find a practice that suits us. And if you practice yoga long enough, that will change many times. What exactly that looks like is going to be different for each person.” – Tiffany Cruikshank
- “The peace of God is with them whose mind and soul are in harmony, who are free from desire and wrath, who know their own soul.” – Hagavad Gita
- “Balancing in yoga and life is a reflection of our inner state.” – Shiva Rea
- “Remember, it doesn’t matter how deep into a posture you go — what does matter is who you are when you go there.” – Max Strom
Remember, it doesn’t matter how deep into a posture you go — what does matter is who you are when you go there.” – Max Strom
- “If I’m losing balance in a pose, I stretch higher and God reaches down to steady me. It works every time, and not just in yoga.” – Terri Guillemets
- “The very heart of yoga practice is ‘abyhasa’ – steady effort in the direction you want to go.” – Sally Kempton
- “Yoga must not be practiced to control the body: it is the opposite, it must bring freedom to the body, all the freedom it needs.” – Vanda Scaravelli
- “Crying is one of the highest devotional songs. One who knows crying, knows spiritual practice. If you can cry with a pure heart, nothing else compares to such a prayer. Crying includes all the principles of Yoga.” – Kripalvanandji
- “Yoga is invigoration in relaxation. Freedom in routine. Confidence through self-control. Energy within and energy without.” – Ymber Delecto
- “Yoga, as a way of life and a philosophy, can be practiced by anyone with inclination to undertake it, for yoga belongs to humanity as a whole. It is not the property of any one group or any one individual, but can be followed by any and all, in any corner of the globe, regardless of class, creed or religion.” – Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois
- “Yoga is not for the flexible. It’s for the willing.” – Anonymous
- “Yoga is almost like music in a way; there’s no end to it.” – Sting
- “…just enjoy yourself. For many years I mistook discipline as ambition. Now I believe it to be more about consistency. Do get on the mat. Practice and life are not that different.” – Judith Hanson Lasater
- “One of the fundamental principles of yoga: a small action done repeatedly can make an enormous difference.” – Dr. Timothy McCall
- “The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this lifetime.” – Sogyal Rinpoche
- “I had discovered something; there was a pleasure in becoming something new. You could will yourself into a fresh shape. Now all I had to do was figure out how to do it out there, in my life.” – Claire Dederer
- “Yoga is the journey of the self through the self to the self.” – The Bhagavad Gita
- “My body is my temple and asanas are my prayers.” – Sri B. K. S. Iyengar
Final Thoughts on Yoga Quotes
There you have it—a collection of yoga quotes to motivate and inspire your own practice.
We hope you enjoyed this collection and that you’ve found a favorite or two among the quotes featured today.
May you find wisdom, peace, freedom, and love on this path.
If you’ve chosen yoga as part of your fitness routine, you might want to visit this post for our review of the best yoga mats for hot yoga currently available on the market.
Or, if you’re still undecided if yoga is right for you, you might want to check out this review of the best yoga books for beginners to help you decide.
And if you want more inspirational quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 67 Mindfulness Quotes About Love, Work, Meditation and Mindful Eating
- 57 Wellness Quotes to Build a Healthy Mindset (and Body)
- 122 Inspiring Quotes About Time and Living Life to the Fullest
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then watch this free video that details the 7-minute habit for planning your day to focus on what's truly important to you..
Namaste!
