Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit Quotes

“What distinguishes an asana from a stretch or calisthenic exercise is that in asana practice we focus our mind’s attention completely in the body so that we can move as a unified whole and so we can perceive what the body has to tell us. We don’t do something to the body, we become the body. In the West we rarely do this. We watch TV while we stretch; we read a book while we climb the StairMaster; we think about our problems while we take a walk, all the time living a short distance from the body. So asana practice is a reunion between the usually separated body-mind.”
― Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness

“The word asana is usually translated as “pose” or “posture,” but its more literal meaning is “comfortable seat.” Through their observations of nature, the yogis discovered a vast repertoire of energetic expressions, each of which had not only a strong physical effect on the body but also a concomitant psychological effect. Each movement demands that we hone some aspect of our consciousness and use ourselves in a new way. The vast diversity of asanas is no accident, for through exploring both familiar and unfamiliar postures we are also expanding our consciousness, so that regardless of the situation or form we find ourselves in, we can remain “comfortably seated” in our center.”
― Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness

“Shaucha, or living purely, involves maintaining a cleanliness in body, mind, and environment so that we can experience ourselves at a higher resolution.”
― Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness

“not to make the mistake of thinking that the perfection of the yoga asanas is the goal, or that you’ll be good at yoga only once you’ve mastered the more difficult postures. The asanas are useful maps to explore yourself, but they are not the territory. The goal of asana practice is to live in your body and to learn to perceive clearly through it. If you can master the Four Noble Acts, as I like to call them, of sitting, standing, walking, and lying down with ease, you will have mastered the basics of living an embodied spiritual life.”
― Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness

“What these first central precepts the yamas and niyamas ask us to remember is that the techniques and forms are not goals in themselves but vehicles for getting to the essence of who we are.”
― Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness

“The yamas and niyamas are emphatic descriptions of what we are when we are connected to our source. Rather than a list of dos and don’ts, they tell us that our fundamental nature is compassionate, generous, honest, and peaceful.2”
― Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness

“The great paradox of this “work” is that there is no reward to strive toward, because the practice is the reward. In the very moment you focus your attention by coming back into your body, your breath, and your immediate sensate reality, you will experience a deep sense of vibrant stillness. This feeling is so pleasurable, so joyful and revitalizing that you will be drawn to practice, and, more important, you will begin to be naturally drawn toward lifestyle choices that nourish your well-being. This”
― Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness

“yoga is not about self-improvement or making ourselves better. It is a process of deconstructing all the barriers we may have erected that prevent us from having an authentic connection with ourselves and with the world. This tenet is an extremely important one because the effort to change and improve ourselves is fraught with the risk of subtle self-aggression that only produces more unhappiness. We cannot strive toward something that we already are.”
― Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness

“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. It is a way of remembering our true nature, which is essentially joyful and peaceful.”
― Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness

“You are this vastness. This vista you see, this grandeur, this enduring strength—if you go deeply enough inside yourself, you will find not something small but something immensely spacious. This is the essence of the human spirit.”
― Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness