Iyengar Quotes On Learning, Explained

Iyengar quotes on learning: the short version

When do you finally learn yoga? According to Mr BKS Iyengar, never quite, and that is the good news. His Iyengar quotes on learning, along with Geeta’s and Prashant’s, say that real learning is slow, humble and curious. Here are 22 of them, explained in plain English, with ideas for how to learn this way in class.

Iyengar quotes on learning in short form

• Always a beginner: every new insight puts you back at the start.
• Humility helps: saying I know nothing opens the door.
• It takes years: the teachers say so themselves.
• Do not settle: the moment you think you have got it, you stop looking.
• Test, do not assume: hearsay and opinions are not knowledge.
• 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.

Why does Mr Iyengar say we are always beginners?

The most repeated theme in these quotes: you never finish learning. Eight of them follow.

We are always beginners from the point where we get a new point.

What it means: Every time you learn one new thing in a pose, there is a lot you do not yet know about it. Mr Iyengar says we are beginners again from that point.

This is a kind way to think about it. A student of thirty years can be a beginner at the back of the knee, and a new student can be an expert in noticing their breath.

Read more: yoga class levels explained | Also on: Beginners And Stiffness

The beginning of humility is to say, I know nothing, even about the first pose.

What it means: Humility here is practical. If you assume you know the first pose, you stop looking at it. If you say you know nothing, you look afresh.

Teachers often return to Mountain Pose for exactly this reason. It looks simple and keeps teaching.

Read more: Mountain Pose, the first pose | Also on: Philosophy, The Sutras And The Ego

The moment you say, “I have got it,” you have lost everything you had. As soon as something comes, you have to go one step further.

What it means: Mr Iyengar says the instant you think you have got something, you have lost it. As soon as something comes, you go one step further.

It is not a complaint. It is how the practice stays alive. Getting a pose is a signpost to the next layer.

Read more: keeping practice fresh and managing effort | Also on: Effort And Discipline

You are never fully correct. You are improving.

What it means: Prashant gives us permission to stop chasing perfect. You are never fully correct, you are improving. The word to hold on to is improving.

Students who are hard on themselves often relax at this. Improving can go on happily for a lifetime.

Read more: yoga for beginners in Darwin | Also on: Practice

If you are able to do, don’t get complacent, become curious and study what you are doing.

What it means: If you can already do the pose, there is a risk of stopping there. Prashant suggests curiosity: study what you are doing.

In class that might mean asking what the back foot is doing, or noticing which side is different. Curiosity gives familiar poses new life.

Read more: Warrior 2 and studying the details | Also on: Practice

In semi-retirement I just want to remain in studentship.

What it means: Even when he spoke of slowing down in his later years, Mr Iyengar wanted to stay a student. For him, studentship was not something to finish.

It is an encouraging picture for any of us. Learning does not stop at a certain age or a certain level.

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

No knowledge is gained instantly. In fact, knowledge has a beginning but no end. This is all the more true of Yoga.

What it means: Geeta says knowledge has a beginning but no end, and this is more true of yoga. Nobody picks it up in a weekend.

This takes pressure off. You can stop asking whether you have learnt it yet, and start enjoying what the week’s practice taught you.

Read more: getting started with yoga in Darwin

Learning can be acquired, but wisdom must be earned.

What it means: Learning can be acquired from a book or a class. Wisdom has to be earned, by living with what you learn and testing it.

That is why students are encouraged to practise at home between classes, so that what they heard becomes something they know.

Read more: yoga practice at home | Also on: Life And Happiness

How long does it take to learn yoga?

Learning yoga takes years, not weeks. These seven quotes are kind about that.

In Light On Yoga, I have given 6 years to master all the asanas with intense practice. If you ask me today when I am more mature than when I wrote the book, I would say add one zero to that six.

What it means: In Light on Yoga, Mr Iyengar set out a course to master the poses in six years of intense practice. Years later, asked again, he said to add a zero. That would be sixty years.

It is a funny and humbling answer from the man who wrote the book. He is telling us not to rush.

Read more: when to move up a level | Also on: Practice

Now, as a mature man, I realize I should have divided the course into 900 weeks.

What it means: The famous 300 week course in Light on Yoga was his early estimate. Later, with more experience, he said he should have made it 900 weeks.

Take that as encouragement. If he thought it took three times as long as he first said, there is no need to hurry your own progress.

Read more: a gentle start | Also on: Beginners And Stiffness

Asana was my school and university, pranayama was where I earned my doctorate

What it means: Mr Iyengar describes his own path. Asana (pose) practice was where he went to school and breath practice was where he earned the doctorate. It is a picture of how deep he found each to be.

This is his story, not a rule for anyone else. Breath practice in the Iyengar tradition is taught carefully and with a teacher.

Read more: is pranayama safe? | Also on: The Breath And Pranayama

If you learn a lot of little things, one day you may end up knowing a big thing.

What it means: Big understanding is built from small pieces. Learn the position of one foot, then the turn of one thigh, then the lift of one side of the chest. One day it adds up to a big thing.

It explains why Iyengar classes spend time on small details. The details are the learning.

Read more: why the order of poses matters | Also on: Practice

There is a lot more to learn than there is to do.

What it means: You can spend a lifetime learning about a pose that takes a minute to do. Prashant says there is far more to learn than there is to do.

For a class, it means one pose can fill a whole lesson, because there is so much to look at inside it.

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

As maturity comes, I think practice changes. I didn’t change it but it changed as understanding started coming.

What it means: Geeta says her practice changed as her understanding grew. She did not decide to change it. It shifted by itself.

Many long-time students notice the same. Their practice looks quieter and simpler over the years, yet is richer inside.

Read more: starting yoga stiff in your late 30s or 40s | Also on: Practice

Repeated mistakes become habits.

What it means: If you repeat a wrong action, it becomes your habit, and habits are hard to shift. This is why a teacher’s eye is so useful. A quick correction early saves a lot of undoing later.

It is also a reason to practise slowly and attentively, not rushing through poses on autopilot.

Read more: yoga for posture | Also on: Practice

How does learning change the way you think?

Learning yoga also changes the habits of the mind. These seven quotes are about looking afresh.

A real mirror permits us to see ourselves as if from outside, therefore to notice what we could not otherwise see, food stains on our ties for example.

What it means: A mirror lets us see what we cannot see from inside, such as a stain on a tie. In yoga, the practice and a good teacher work like mirrors.

When a teacher says, “Your left hip is higher,” you learn something you could not see on your own.

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

An opinion is yesterday’s right or wrong knowledge warmed up and re-served for today’s situation.

What it means: An opinion can be old knowledge reheated. It was true or false yesterday and you are serving it again today without checking.

In practice that looks like saying, “I can’t do that pose,” based on how it felt last year. Try again, with fresh attention.

Read more: new to yoga | Also on: The Mind And Meditation

Prejudice means making up your mind before you look.

What it means: Prejudice is deciding before looking. It can apply to people and also to poses or to our own bodies.

One approach in class is to look first. Check what is actually happening in the pose before you decide it is hopeless.

Read more: too stiff for yoga? | Also on: The Mind And Meditation

Hearsay is not knowledge.

What it means: Knowing what you have read or been told is different from knowing what you have tried. Mr Iyengar valued direct experience.

It is a good rule when you read about yoga online. Try it carefully, in class, and see what you find.

Read more: yoga for body, breath and mind

We are like a man who has put his shirt on inside out and back to front. The only way he can rectify his error is to take it off, work out how it should be, and start again.

What it means: When a shirt is on inside out, there is no way to fix it by pulling at it. You take it off, work out how it should be and start again.

Some habits in how we stand or breathe are like that. The remedy is to go back to the basics and begin again with care.

Read more: starting again with Mountain Pose | Also on: Philosophy, The Sutras And The Ego

You go to university to learn but you go to classes to find out.

What it means: You go to a university to learn about things, and to classes to find out for yourself. Reading is one thing and the experience in your own body is another.

It is a good reason to come to a real class, in the studio or LIVE online, where you can test what you have heard.

Read more: yoga class levels explained | Also on: Teaching

Intuition is a tuition that you get from within.

What it means: A neat play on words. Intuition is tuition, a lesson you give yourself from inside. As your practice grows you start to sense what a pose needs.

That sense comes from lots of careful practice. It is not guessing.

Read more: stillness in yoga | Also on: The Mind And Meditation

Related pages

• Yoga For Beginners: notes from Flametree
• Yoga class levels explained
• Yoga for beginners in Darwin
• Starting yoga stiff, in your late 30s or 40s

Frequently asked questions

What did BKS Iyengar say about learning?

He said we are always beginners from the point where we get a new point, and that learning can be acquired but wisdom must be earned. He valued humility and direct experience over hearsay.

How long does it take to learn yoga?

It takes years, according to the Iyengars. In Light on Yoga Mr Iyengar suggested six years of intense practice to master the poses, then later said he would add a zero to that. A better question is how to enjoy learning along the way.

What did Prashant Iyengar say about learning?

He said you are never fully correct, you are improving, and that there is a lot more to learn than there is to do. He also encouraged curiosity once you can do a pose.

Where can I study Iyengar yoga in Darwin?

Flametree teaches Iyengar yoga in Darwin and LIVE online, with classes for beginners and for those who have done some yoga. Your first class is free if you are new to Flametree.

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.