Yoga Quotes
 | by Leonard Perlmutter
Philosopher, Educator, Author
and Founder of the American Meditation Institute |
"Attention is love."
"When my Master, Swami Rama, was once asked
if he were enlightened, he humbly replied,
'If I said "yes" it would be ego.
If I said "no" it would be a lie.
So I said nothing.'"
"Meditation guides us beyond the matrix that gave birth
to our pain. It leads us to a new matrix of higher wisdom
that can resolve the most pressing issues of our time."
"Prayer is an intimate conversation between
the personality and the Higher Self.
In that quiet conversation, the ego can let go of
old limitations in order to receive unimagined blessings."
"If you meditate every day and
follow the wisdom of your conscience,
doors will open where once there were only walls."
"Meditation not only
heals the body and mind,
it also provides us the intuitive wisdom
to resolve our most pressing
personal and cultural problems."
"Meditation provides a clear perspective on
what is to be done and what is not to be done---
a more practical and trustworthy perspective than a
college education or any computerized gadgetry can give."
"Our unconscious concepts skew our
perceptions, and the choices we make, based on
those distortions, often lead to darkness."
"Life without a daily meditation practice
is like driving an automobile with a steering wheel
that only turns in one direction."
"Remember Abraham Lincoln's words:
'I am not bound to win, I am bound to be true.
I am not bound to succeed,
but I am bound to live up to the Light I have.'"
"By uniting the enormous power of our emotions
with the Source of wisdom within,
we gain the energy, will power and creativity
to flourish in the midst of life's challenges."
"The obstacles to your health, happiness
and security reside in your mind.
When you change the software of the mind,
you change your reality."
"Shreya thoughts are expansive and creative;
preyas are contractive and destructive.
Only when we steward our thoughts
with discrimination, do we experience
the health and happiness we desire."
"Understanding the nature of the gunas
can help us learn to free ourselves from
the habits that brings us uninteded pain."
"You cannot will the mind to be calm,
but when you regulate the breath diaphragmatically,
you automatically calm the mind,
and a calm mind makes healthier choices."
"The New Year is an auspicious
time for you to become Self-reliant."
"This is no exaggeration:
you were born to put death to death"
"Repetition of the mantra can help us make
kinder, more enlightened choices by freeing us from
our self-imposed prison of likes and dislikes."
"Our habitual unhappiness and insecurity are not caused by a lack of anything.
They are caused by our persistent belief that "I lack."
The mind, therefore, is both our problem and the solution to our problem."
"Seeing your Yoga practice as applied quantum mechanics
helps you better understand the subtle effects the
mind and breath have on the health of the body."
"DNA is not destiny.
Sitting atop each gene is a switch called an epigenetic mark
that can be turned on or off by our skillful or unskillful choices.
When our actions are greased with love,
we can even reverse the proclivities of our genetic karma."
"By practicing Yoga Science as mind-body medicine,
you can purify the lenses through which you view the world.
With clarity of vision, you can see the blessing
contained in every moment ."
"When you experience the Higher Knowledge of the ultimate Truth,
your fear, anger, doubt and mistrust will dissolve
and you will begin to joyously fulfill the noble purpose of your life."
"The most effective way to reduce health costs is to reduce demand,
and the easiest way to do that is by Self-Care."
"By expanding the ego
you live free from any form of prejudice."
"Our raga/dveshas make us prisoners to the mental lenses through
which we view the world. No matter what actually appears before us,
our vision is always skewed, and as a result we suffer."
"The perennial wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita can teach us how to transform
our character, conduct and consciousness to meet the challenges of everyday life."
"Yoga Science is not just a scholarly pursuit.
It is a moment-by-moment and thought-by-thought practical guide for living."
"Enormous possibilities for health and creativity are held captive by your likes and dislikes. Inspecting your desires and attachments to food and making choices intuitively--with discrimination--will make your spiritual practice and every other relationship more rewarding."
“The major crisis of our culture is not one of IQ---intelligence quotient.
The problem we face individually and collectively is one of WQ---will quotient.”
“Every thought is only a suggestion of what to give your attention to.
It is not an imperial command.”
“Meditation leads to Self knowledge, and Self knowledge leads to the freedom from fear.”
“Yoga Science teaches us to 'include all and exclude none.' If the outer guru, in the form of a person or experience, reflects the Truth and light of the inner guru, the advice is to be heeded and served in thought, word and deed. If a suggestion from the outer guru is not in harmony with the inner guru as reflected by the purified discrimination of buddhi, the advice is to be honored and lovingly rejected with gratitude---for your teacher has just taught you what not to do.”
When you violate your conscience, that internal conflict leads to war.
When you serve your conscience, you are a peacemaker both within and without."
“More than any other single event in human history, seeing earthrise set into motion a subtle, but deeply significant and irreversible shift in human consciousness that impels us toward peace.”
“Only when the higher jihad is fought with full engagement---and won---will new battles cease to erupt both within and without. “Only through the higher jihad of purifying the mind in every personal relationship can a lower jihad be certain of its Divine inspiration.”
“Meditation is not what you think it is. It’s a method of accessing unerring wisdom from the superconscious mind so you can experience a happy, healthy and creatively rewarding life.”
“The practice of one-pointed attention, dharana, increases energy, willpower,
creativity, emotional stability as well as short and long-term memory.”
“When the nurturing, feminine wisdom of the Divine Mother guides our actions,
we experience a newfound ease of being.”
“When you face a challenging decision, choose the intuitive wisdom of the buddhi
and you will experience freedom.”
“Freedom does not mean being able to say or do anything you want. You experience real freedom and happiness when you are no longer enslaved to those charms, attractions and temptations that conflict with your inner wisdom and bring you pain.”
“According to the U.S. government, 53 percent of all illness is caused by lifestyle choices.
That makes daily meditation and Yoga Science the cheapest and most practical form
of health insurance available.”
“When you serve the shreya and sacrifice the preya, you become One with the metaphoric Father who is perfect in the subtle world called heaven. This is the secret of happiness and immortality.”
“If our actions today conflict with our own inner wisdom, we are assuring ourselves a rendezvous in the future with a challenging experience that will test anew our attachment to ignorance.”
“Stress and pain are shadows of the outstretched hand of the Divine Reality asking you to make a change that will help you fulfill the purpose of your life.”
“When you recognize and serve your wife or husband as a reflection of the Supreme Reality, your marriage will help you attain the highest state of enlightenment.”
“The more you surrender to your inner intuitive wisdom---regardless of your
likes and dislikes---the greater will be your reward.”
“Grace is a wind that is always blowing. If you really want freedom and unbounded happiness in this lifetime, set your sail now! Learn how putting your trust in Yoga’s practical and verifiable science connects you to a wisdom that never disappointments.”
“Without meditation, the senses act like wild horses traveling the roads of selfish desires,
and we suffer. But when the mind is trained to the rein of the higher Self,
we exhibit discipline, discrimination and the will power of sankalpa shakti.
Then the senses obey, and we attain the supreme goal of life.”
"Your body is a temple that houses Eternity and the food you eat is a sacrament--a visible
sign of grace that has manifested from the One invisible, Supreme Reality. When you base
your food choices on your own intuitive wisdom, that food will nourish and strengthen your
body, mind and spirit to help you fulfill the purpose of your life."