Iyengar Quotes On Yoga Practice, Explained
Iyengar quotes on yoga practice: the short version
How do you keep practising when you feel stiff, tired or a bit bored? Mr BKS Iyengar, Geeta Iyengar and Prashant Iyengar spent their lives on this question. These Iyengar quotes on yoga practice are about starting again each day, small improvements, and paying real attention. None of them ask you to be perfect.
This page in short form
- Start again today: even the teacher called himself a beginner.
- Small steps count: the little perfection of every day.
- Something beats nothing: a short practice still counts.
- Action inside the pose: motions get you in, actions refine it.
- Care, not show: practise as if nobody is watching.
- Try it: your first class is free if you are new to Flametree.
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 trained with him and became senior teachers in their own right, and you will meet their words on this page too.
Quotes appear here in the words of Mr Iyengar, Geeta Iyengar and Prashant Iyengar, each with where it comes from. Our notes underneath say what it means and where you may meet it in a class. All the quotes are short, credited extracts. Pages for the other topics are listed at the bottom, and the main quotes page has them all.
How did Mr Iyengar practise?
He gave full effort, stayed humble and counted small wins.
I am a fanatic when I am practising. But when I finish my practice, I am just like an ordinary being.
What it means: Mr Iyengar gave his practice everything while it lasted, then put it down. That is a useful balance. When you practise, really practise: pay attention, work properly. When you finish, go back to being an ordinary person with a cup of tea. Practice does not have to take over your whole day to count.
Read more: Building a daily yoga habit.
I too am a beginner from where I left my practice yesterday. I don’t bring yesterday’s poses to today’s practice.
What it means: A man who practised for decades still called himself a beginner each morning. He started from where he left off, not from yesterday’s best pose. That is a freeing idea. You do not need to repeat what you managed last week. You just start again from where you are today, with the body you have today.
Read more: Yoga practice at home | Quotes for beginners.
I am always happy with the smallest improvement. I do not try to reach Perfection but only the little perfection of every day.
What it means: Perfection is a far-off mountain. A small improvement is a step you can take today. Mr Iyengar said he was happy with the smallest improvement, such as a straighter leg, a longer exhale, a more even weight on both feet. Counting those little steps is what keeps people practising for years.
Read more: Quotes on life and happiness.
The maximum of what you did yesterday becomes the minimum of today.
What it means: This is a neat rule of thumb. What took your best effort yesterday should feel like an ordinary start today. Then you can look gently for the next bit. It is steady building, not frantic pushing. In the studio you may notice it when a pose that felt out of reach last month has become your warm-up.
Read more: Managing effort in your yoga practice | Quotes on effort and discipline.
I do not feel the tiredness or monotony at all in my yogic practice. It is nothing but my love for my practice and nothing more.
What it means: Mr Iyengar said he never felt tired of his practice or bored by it. He put it down to one thing: love for the practice. That does not mean every session feels wonderful. It means a long habit can be held up by interest rather than duty. If you are bored, try looking at one new detail in a pose you know well.
Read more: Quotes on life and happiness.
When I practise, I am a philosopher. When I teach, I am a scientist. When I demonstrate, I am an artist.
What it means: Three hats for three jobs. When he practised, he thought deeply about himself and what he found. When he taught, he looked closely at cause and effect in other people. When he demonstrated, he made the pose beautiful to look at. It is a handy way to see that yoga uses the whole person: the thinker, the observer and the artist.
Read more: Who was BKS Iyengar? | Quotes on teaching.
How much practice is enough, and who is it for?
Short answers: some, and everyone.
Something is better than nothing.
What it means: Five words, and they may be the most useful advice in this page. A short practice beats no practice. Five minutes of standing tall, one pose, one slow breath: all of it counts. People often give up because they cannot do an hour. Mr Iyengar’s reply is do what you can today.
Read more: Building a daily yoga habit | Yoga when you are tired or travelling.
The amount of time you practice is irrelevant but if you have more time, you penetrate more.
What it means: Geeta did not say long practice is useless. She said the amount of time is not the point; what matters is how deeply you go. If you have more time, you can go further in. A short practice done with full attention can be worth more than a long one done half asleep.
Read more: How long to hold yoga poses.
Success will come to the person who practices.
What it means: There is no trick behind this. Success goes to the person who practises. It does not go to the person who reads the most, owns the best mat or has the most talent. Everything in yoga builds on showing up again. If you are stiff, nervous or new, you are in the right place to begin.
Read more: Starting yoga at 40, stiff: Chris Lalor tells her story.
As long as you take food, you need yoga.
What it means: This is Mr Iyengar’s cheerful way of saying yoga is for every day, like eating. He did not make it grand. If you eat, you can practise. Treating yoga as a daily habit rather than a special event is what helps it stick.
Read more: Building a daily yoga habit.
The general notion is that Yoga is not intended for women. It is fallacious and it underrates the moral, intellectual, and spiritual legacies to which women are entitled as much as men.
What it means: In his foreword to Geeta’s book, Mr Iyengar wrote that the idea that yoga is not for women is wrong. He said it ignores what women can learn and become, just as men can. It is worth remembering when you see old pictures of yoga that show only men. Geeta’s own teaching and writing are the best answer to that old idea.
Read more: Who was BKS Iyengar?.
I don’t accept the opinion that asanas are mild so they are good for women and men need something stronger.
What it means: Geeta rejected the idea that poses are gentle for women and men need something tougher. In her view the same practice is for everyone. What counts is how well and how thoughtfully you do it, not who you are. In class, men and women often work on exactly the same poses with exactly the same care.
Read more: Female yoga classes in Darwin.
What is the difference between doing a pose and practising it?
The Iyengar family often separated moving into a pose from working inside it.
Motions get you into a pose, actions refine it.
What it means: A motion is moving into a pose. An action is what you do inside it: lifting the kneecaps, spreading the chest, pressing the heel. Mr Iyengar said motions get you in and actions refine it. A beginner may spend months on the motion. Later, the interesting work begins inside the pose.
Read more: Why the order of yoga poses matters | Quotes on the body and alignment.
Chris Lalor in a half forward bend with hands on a chair, legs straight, on rocks in the Top End.
When there is softness in the body and lightness in mind, the asana is correct. Hardness and heaviness mean the asana is wrong.
What it means: Here is a simple test for a pose. Is the body soft and the mind light? Then the pose is probably going well. If it feels hard and heavy, something is off. This does not mean no effort. It means effort without clenching. If your jaw, hands or breath have gone tight, it is a sign to ease back.
Read more: Managing effort in your yoga practice.
You are ready for the motion but you are not ready for the action. Be ready for the action.
What it means: Many of us are ready to move into the pose. Fewer of us are ready to act inside it. Geeta was telling the class to be ready for the second kind of work: the careful, awake kind. A good way to try this is to pick one thing, such as the back leg, and keep it working the whole time.
Read more: Warrior 2: how to stand strong.
Little things make a difference.
What it means: Geeta said this during a props demonstration, and it fits all of practice. A fold in a blanket, a small turn of the foot, or a breath held a moment longer can change the whole pose. Look for the small things. They are cheap, they are close, and they are where most of the learning happens.
Read more: Iyengar yoga props: our Yoga Notes.
Doing does not change you. The treatment that you give to your Yogasan will change you.
What it means: Prashant is asking how you treat the pose, not how many poses you do. The care you bring to each one is what shapes you. Running through ten poses in a hurry teaches less than holding one pose with full attention. It is a good question to take into class: how am I treating this?
Read more: Quotes on learning.
Mere action is not yoga. Doing more and more is a craze. Asan is not a motion, it is not a movement and it is a state.
What it means: Prashant is pointing out that busyness is not the same as yoga. He says an asan (pose) is not a movement but a state. Think of holding Warrior 3 steadily on one leg. You are not going anywhere, yet a lot is happening. “Doing more and more” can be a craze. Staying with what you are doing is the practice.
Read more: Quotes on philosophy | Stillness in yoga.
Chris Lalor in Warrior 3, Virabhadrasana III, on a Darwin beach at sunset.
What attitude helps in practice?
Prashant and Geeta describe an attention that is caring, private and unhurried.
The involvement in an asan should be like a mother’s involvement with her child not like a doctor’s with his patient.
What it means: A mother watches her child with interest and warmth. A doctor looks at a patient to check what is wrong. Prashant says your attention in a pose should be caring and involved, not clinical. Rather than scanning for faults, you stay close and kind to what you find.
Read more: Quotes on attention and awareness.
Where we think that the asana ends, perhaps is the right condition to start!
What it means: When you think the pose is finished, it may just be starting. Prashant’s line is about Trikonasana (Triangle Pose), a pose most people think they know. Once the legs are straight and the arms are out, there is more to look into: the spread of the chest, the turn of the ribs, the quiet of the face. It is a nice reminder not to leave a pose too early.
Read more: Triangle pose: why it feels hard, and how props help.
Chris Lalor in Triangle Pose, both legs straight, on a deck above a lotus lagoon.
When you are doing asanas you should do like you are alone. There is nothing to look at and there is nothing looking at you.
What it means: Imagine nobody is watching, and you are not watching anybody either. No audience, no mirror, no comparing. Prashant says that is how to do poses. Without the show, you can listen to your own body. It is a relief for many students, especially if they feel shy in a group class.
Read more: Yoga for beginners: our Yoga Notes.
As a musician tunes his instrument with utmost care and reverence, a yoga practitioner should tune his body with the same care and reverence.
What it means: A musician tunes an instrument slowly, listening to each string. Prashant says a yoga student should tune the body with the same care and respect. A body is not a machine to be forced into shape. It is more like a violin: tighten a little, listen, adjust.
Read more: Quotes on the body and alignment.
In the sense of “performance” my yoga is a failure. But still I am practicing and I continue with it because it is taking me somewhere inside.
What it means: Geeta called her own yoga a failure in terms of performance, and yet she carried on because it was taking her somewhere inside. This is a freeing thing to hear from a senior teacher. Practice is not for showing off or scoring marks. It is for what you discover while you do it.
Read more: Quotes on attention and awareness.
Related Flametree pages
- Yoga Practice At Home
- Daily Yoga Habit
- Managing Effort In Your Yoga Practice
- Iyengar Yoga Poses: Pose And Practice Notes From Flametree
- Yoga Class Levels Explained
More Iyengar quotes, by topic
- Beginners And Stiffness
- Effort And Discipline
- Learning
- Attention And Awareness
- The Body And Alignment
Frequently asked questions
What did BKS Iyengar say about yoga practice?
He said he was always a beginner from where he left off yesterday, that he was happy with the smallest improvement, and that something is better than nothing. He also said the maximum of what you did yesterday becomes the minimum of today. He called it the little perfection of every day.
How long should I practise yoga each day?
Geeta Iyengar said the amount of time is irrelevant, but if you have more time you penetrate more. Mr Iyengar said something is better than nothing. In the Iyengar tradition, a short practice done with attention is worth keeping up. Flametree’s page on building a daily habit has simple starting points.
What did Prashant Iyengar say about practice?
He said doing does not change you, but the way you treat each pose does, and that mere action is not yoga. He asked students to bring the care of a mother to each pose, and to tune the body the way a musician tunes an instrument.
Where can I do Iyengar-style practice in Darwin?
Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga in Darwin and LIVE online, with props and careful instruction. Your first class is free if you are new to Flametree, and you can just come along. The timetable is linked in the box below.
Practise this at Flametree
Your first class is free if you’re new to Flametree. New students, and anyone who has been away three months or more, can also get a half price 10 class pass, in the studio or LIVE online.
- Beginners: see the half price 10 class pass for new and lapsed students
- Already done some yoga: see the half price 10 class pass for new and lapsed students
- See the timetable, including online classes
Can’t make a class? Practise at home with our video courses.
Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga in Darwin and LIVE online. This page is general information about yoga practice, not medical advice. Every quote is a short, credited extract, and the notes under each one are Flametree’s own words.
