Yoga Reminder: Lightened Reflections

To define pranayama as “breath control” is like defining meditation as “mind control.” Meditation cannot be forced by repressing the thoughts in the mind. Neither can pranayama be forced by trying to control the breath.

The point underlying the anjali mudra in all contexts is developing the sense of humility and reducing the ego.

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

While persistence is a virtue, blind adherence is risky.

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.

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.

The real art of creating a right practice is not only to include the right postures in the right place, but to leave the wrong ones out.

Being unclear of what we wish to achieve is a recipe for incoherent action, a meandering journey, and an uncertain result.