Iyengar Quotes On Health, Illness And Injury, Explained

Iyengar quotes on health: the short version

What does it mean to be healthy? Is it only the absence of illness, or something more? Mr BKS Iyengar and Geeta Iyengar thought about health for a lifetime, and their answers are surprisingly down to earth. These Iyengar quotes on health cover wellbeing, pain and injury. There are 22 below, each explained plainly, with no medical promises.

Iyengar quotes on health, pain and injury in short form

• Health is active: the Iyengars describe it as something earned, moving and alive.
• Awareness matters: noticing your body is part of being well.
• Stretch is not pain: Mr Iyengar taught students to tell the two apart.
• Care in the doing: in his view it is how you practise that matters.
• Poses describe, they do not prescribe: yoga is not a list of treatments.
• Practise at Flametree: start with a free first class if you are new.

Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. It is sometimes called modern classical yoga, and it’s the style we teach at Flametree. His daughter Geeta and his son Prashant carried the teaching on, and you’ll meet all three on this page.

What is health, according to the Iyengars?

Before pain and injury, a few lines on what the Iyengars meant by health itself.

Health is firmness in body, stability in mind and clarity in thinking.

What it means: This is a three-part definition. A body that is firm, a mind that is steady and thinking that is clear. Notice it covers the whole person, not only the body.

In an Iyengar class you can feel all three. The body works on firm, accurate poses, the mind learns to stay with them, and the thinking gets clearer because the chatter slows.

Read more: yoga for body, breath and mind | Also on: The Mind And Meditation

Health is a living force. Health is not static. You need not work at all if health is static. Health is motion.

What it means: Mr Iyengar says health is never fixed. It is like a river, always moving. You do not reach it and stop. You keep tending it.

That is why regular practice matters more than a single big effort. A little each week keeps things moving.

Read more: a daily yoga habit that lasts | Also on: Life And Happiness

Health is that state in which one can forget about the body.

What it means: When you are well you forget you have a body, because nothing is nagging at you. Mr Iyengar describes that quiet as a sign of health.

Some students find the end of a class feels a bit like this: the body is quiet, and attention is free to be elsewhere.

Read more: Savasana and relaxing properly at the end of class | Also on: The Body And Alignment

In health we forget our bodies; in sickness we cannot. How much simpler life would be if this were the other way round.

What it means: A wry thought. In good health we forget our bodies and in sickness we cannot. Mr Iyengar wishes it were the other way round.

It is a gentle invitation to appreciate the body on ordinary days, while it is working quietly for you.

Read more: Mountain Pose and noticing how you stand | Also on: The Body And Alignment

If a mirror is clean, it reflects objects clearly. Health is the mirror of man.

What it means: A clean mirror shows things clearly. Mr Iyengar says health works as a mirror of the person, reflecting how we live.

It is a poetic way of saying that habits show up in the body, and that paying attention to the body tells you something about how you are living.

Read more: yoga, food and habits: notes from Flametree

In short, health means awareness and awareness means health.

What it means: He ties the two together. Health means awareness, and awareness means health. Noticing what your body is doing is part of looking after it.

This is what an Iyengar teacher is asking when they say, “What can you feel in your back leg?” They are helping you build awareness.

Read more: yoga for posture | Also on: Attention And Awareness

Most people ask only from their body that it does not trouble them.

What it means: Most of us ask very little of the body, just that it does not bother us. Mr Iyengar suggests we could ask more, such as that it be strong, alert and well used.

A class is a chance to use the body more fully than a day at a desk does.

Read more: yoga for strength | Also on: The Body And Alignment

No amount of wealth can equal health. Between the two, the choice is always with health, since wealth cannot be enjoyed without health, whereas wealth can be commanded if one has health.

What it means: Geeta puts it in terms of money. You cannot enjoy wealth without health, but if you have health you can build wealth. Between the two, she chooses health.

It is a reminder to put time into practice before it is urgent.

Read more: what a good class works on after 50 | Also on: Life And Happiness

Good health can neither be bought nor bartered. It cannot be robbed or acquired by force.

What it means: Health cannot be bought, bartered, robbed or forced. It comes through your own steady work.

That sits well with the Iyengar approach: no shortcuts, just regular and careful practice.

Read more: yoga practice at home | Also on: Effort And Discipline

Health has to be earned, not bought.

What it means: The same idea in four words, from Mr Iyengar. Health has to be earned.

An Iyengar class asks for real work. You hold, you adjust and you repeat. The pay-off is that you built your wellbeing yourself.

Read more: starting yoga in Darwin | Also on: Effort And Discipline

We have hospitals to make the sick well again, but do we have anything except yoga to keep the healthy people healthy?

What it means: Mr Iyengar admires hospitals for what they do and asks a fair question: what do we have to keep healthy people healthy? His answer was yoga.

In the Iyengar tradition, regular practice is looked on as ongoing care for the well. It sits alongside medical care and does not replace it.

Read more: how yoga calms the nervous system | Also on: Life And Happiness

How do you tell a good stretch from pain?

The Iyengar tradition takes a practical view of discomfort. These seven quotes are about listening to the body and practising with care.

Pain is unbearable; a stretch is bearable. We must know if we experience a bad pain or one that gives us a nice feeling.

What it means: Mr Iyengar teaches you to listen. A stretch is a feeling you can breathe through and even enjoy. Pain is a feeling that makes you flinch or hold your breath. Learn to tell them apart.

A simple check in class is the breath. If it stays smooth, you are likely in a stretch. If it catches, back off and talk to your teacher.

Read more: yoga for lower back pain | Also on: The Body And Alignment

While we must recognize the existence and importance of pain, we must not glorify it. Where pain exists, there must be a reason for it.

What it means: Pain is a message and it has a reason behind it. Mr Iyengar says to recognise it and not to treat it as a badge of honour.

If something hurts in a pose, a good teacher will ask what you feel and change the set-up with a prop or a different position.

Read more: yoga and chronic pain: what the research suggests | Also on: Effort And Discipline

Stretch is required whenever your body is lazy. With problems, go down, stretch, but don’t strain.

What it means: Geeta separates two situations. When the body is lazy, stretch. When there is a problem, go down, stretch gently and do not strain.

Going down means making the pose easier, with support. Her message is to stay active without forcing.

Read more: yoga for back pain | Also on: Practice

If the practice of today damages the practice of tomorrow, it is not correct practice.

What it means: This is a lovely test for any session. If what you did today stops you from practising tomorrow, you went too far.

It is a reason for patience. A long life of practice beats a short, fierce one.

Read more: how long to hold yoga poses | Also on: Practice

It is not yoga that injures, but it is the way one does yoga that leads to injury.

What it means: In Mr Iyengar’s view, injury comes from how a pose is done, not from yoga itself. That is why Iyengar teaching spends so long on alignment, props and building up slowly.

We teach with that care. If something feels wrong, stop and tell the teacher.

Read more: using props in yoga | Also on: Practice

Too much tension is aggression. Injuries come by aggression, by doing aggressive movements, not by doing yoga. But too little tension is weakness.

What it means: He names two errors. Too much tension is aggression, and in his experience injuries come from aggressive movement. Too little tension is weakness. Good practice sits in between.

A teacher may say, “Firm the legs, soften the face,” which is the middle path: working without forcing.

Read more: yoga for strength | Also on: Effort And Discipline

As we shave, it happens that we cut ourselves with the razor blade; this does not mean that we must not shave in the morning any longer. It is the same thing for yoga.

What it means: Mr Iyengar uses an everyday example. If you cut yourself shaving you do not give up shaving, you take more care. The same goes for yoga.

If a pose has been uncomfortable, the sensible response is to learn how to do it better, with help.

Read more: yoga for hip pain | Also on: Practice

What about illness and injury in a yoga life?

Illness and injury come to everyone. Here is what these teachers said about living and practising through them.

These injuries made me a humble disciple of yoga, a better teacher and an encouraging performer.

What it means: Mr Iyengar had accidents of his own, and he says they made him humbler, a better teacher and more encouraging. He understood from experience what a hurt body feels like.

That is part of why Iyengar teachers pay so much attention to students who are recovering or limited.

Read more: who was Mr BKS Iyengar? | Also on: Teaching

I have not conquered pain, it is there in my body, but I have accepted it as a natural process in my evolution.

What it means: Even a great teacher lived with pain in later life. He did not claim to have beaten it. He accepted it as part of life and carried on.

It is an honest picture of yoga. It helps you live well with a body that has its own history.

Read more: yoga for arthritis, what a good class works on after 50 | Also on: Ageing Well

Asanas are not prescriptions; they are descriptions.

What it means: A prescription tells you what to take for a problem. A description tells you what something is like. Mr Iyengar says poses are descriptions of shapes and actions, not prescriptions.

For us that means we teach yoga, not treatment. Talk to your yoga teacher, and your doctor if you wish, about what suits you.

Read more: getting started | Also on: Teaching

When you are all right you don’t pay attention to the particular things that have to be done, but only when the problem comes.

What it means: When all is well, we forget about our body’s needs until a problem shows up. Geeta is nudging us toward attending to the body before the problem, with regular care.

The habit of weekly practice is partly that: a regular check-in on how your body is, while nothing is wrong.

Read more: a regular yoga routine

Related pages

• Yoga For Back Care: notes from Flametree
• Yoga For Relaxation, Stress And Sleep
• Yoga For Balance, Bones And Strength
• Who Was Mr BKS Iyengar?

Frequently asked questions

What did BKS Iyengar say about health?

He described health as firmness in the body, stability in the mind and clarity in thinking, and called it a living force that is always moving. He also said health has to be earned, not bought.

What did Mr Iyengar say about pain in yoga?

He said a stretch is bearable and pain is unbearable, and that we should learn to tell the two apart. He also said not to glorify pain, because where pain exists there is a reason for it.

Does Iyengar yoga cause injuries?

Mr Iyengar said it is not yoga that injures, but the way one does yoga. Iyengar teaching spends time on alignment, props and gradual build-up for that reason. If something hurts, tell your teacher and change the pose.

Can I do Iyengar yoga in Darwin if I have an injury or a health condition?

Yes. Students with injuries and health conditions are welcome at Flametree, and props help make poses suit the person. Talk to your yoga teacher, and your doctor if you wish. If you have red flags such as numbness, bladder or bowel changes, or worsening weakness, see a doctor straight away.

Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga in Darwin and LIVE online. This page is general information about yoga, not medical advice. The quotes are short credited extracts from the books, articles and talks named beside each one.