104 Yoga Quotes for Inspiration & Motivation (with images) (2024)

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Regardless of how beneficial and effective you know yoga is in helping you achieve your goals, sometimes it’s just so hard to get yourself on that mat. These 100 yoga quotes will inspire and motivate you to develop your practice and encourage you to stay focused on why you started yoga in the first place!

When you find a yoga quote that you connect with, meditate on that quote during your next yoga session. Write out your thoughts in a journal and really begin to explore what the quote means to you when you find one (or many) that you connect with (I really connect with yoga quote #50!)

1. “Yoga does not transform the way we see things; it transforms the person who sees.” –B.K.S. Iyengar

2. “I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the highest source. I salute that source in you. Let us work together for unity and love” -Gandhi

3. “Yoga is a dance between control and surrender – between pushing and letting go – and when to push and when to let go becomes part of the creative process, part of the open-ended exploration of your being.” -Joel Kramer

4. “Yoga is not about what you do. It is about how you do it.” –Adriene Mishler

5.“I was looking for someone to inspire me, motivate me, support me, keep me focused… Someone who would love me, cherish me, make me happy, and I realized all along that I was looking for myself.” -Unknown

6. “In karma yoga no effort is ever lost, and there is no harm. Even a little practice of this discipline protects one from great fear of birth and death.” -Bhagavad Gita

7. “The attitude of gratitude is the highest yoga.” –Yogi Bhajan

8. “Without proper breathing, the yoga postures are nothing more than calisthenics.” –Rachel Schaeffer

9. “In our uniquely human capacity of connect movement with breath and spiritual meaning, yoga is born.” –Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa

10. “The quality of our breath expresses our inner feeling.” –T.K.V. Desikachar

11.“Do not feel lonely. The entire universe is inside of you.” -Rumi

12. “Although yoga has its origins in ancient India, its methods and purposes are universal, relying not on cultural background, faith or deity, but simply on the individual. Yoga has become important in the lives of many contemporary Westerners, sometimes as a way of improving health and fitness of the body, but also as a means of personal and spiritual development.” -Tara Fraser

13. “I am standing on my own altar; The poses are my prayers” -B.K.S. Iyengar

14. “True meditation is about being fully present with everything that is including discomfort and challenges. It is not an escape from life.” -Craig Hamilton

15. “The nature of yoga is to shine the light of awareness into the darkest corners of the body.”–Jason Crandell

16. “For me, yoga is not just a workout – it’s about working on yourself.” -Mary Glover

17. “Yoga is the study of balance, and balance is the aim of all living creatures: it is our home.” –Rolf Gates

18. “Yoga has sly, clever ways of short circuiting the mental patterns that cause anxiety.” -Baxter Bell

19. “The chakras are very intelligent. They are like the software of the whole computer body.” -Dharma Mittra

20. “The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life.” -B.K.S. Iyengar

21. “Yoga is essentially a practice for your soul, working through the medium of your body.” -Tara Fraser

22. “Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight” -Ajahn Brahm

23. “Practicing yoga during the day is a matter of keeping your eyes on the road and one ear turned toward the infinite.” – Erich Schiffmann

24. “You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour.” -Old Zen Saying

25. “Chair pose is a defiance of spirit, showing how high you can reach even when you’re forced down.” -Terri Guillemets

26. “Yoga is the fountain of youth. You’re only as young as your spine is flexible.” – Bob Harper

27. “The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in.” -B.K.S. Iyengar

28. “Everyone can do Ashtanga. Except lazy people.” –Sharath Jois

29. “As you breathe in, cherish yourself. As you breathe out, cherish all beings.” -Dalai Lama

30. “You either get bitter or get better. It’s that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate, it belongs to you.”–Josh Shipp

31. “Yoga begins right where I am – not where I was yesterday or where I long to be.” –Linda Sparrowe

32. “First month paining, second month tired, third month flying.” -Sharath Jois

33. “When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world.” –B.K.S. Iyengar

34. “Calming the mind is yoga. Not just standing on the head.” -Swami Satchidananda

35 “Yoga is 99% practice and 1 % theory.” -Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois

36. “Concentrating on poses clears the mind, while focusing on the breath helps the body shift out of fight or flight mode.” -Melanie Haiken

37. “A photographer gets people to pose for him. A yoga instructor gets people to pose for themselves.” -T. Guillemets

38. “Yoga is not about tightening your ass. It’s about getting your head out of it.” -Eric Paskel

39. “Yoga is almost like music in a way; there’s no end to it.” -Sting

40. “Yoga should be practiced with firm determination and perseverance, without any mental reservation or doubts.” –Bhagavad Gita

41. “Change is not something that we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom, and no one in this world would ever move forwards to become the person they’re meant to be.” –B.K.S. Iyengar

42. “Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind.” -Patanjali

43. “To perform every action artfully is yoga.” -Swami Kripalu

44. “Yoga is the cessation of the movements of the mind. Then there is abiding in the Seer’s own form.” -Patanjali

45. “Be kinder to yourself, and then let your kindness flood the world.” -Pema Chodron

46. “Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you are.” -Jason Crandell

47. “The most important pieces of equipment you need for doing yoga are your body and your mind.” –Rodney Yee

48. “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” -The Bhagvad Gita

49. “Yoga exists in the world because everything is linked.” -Desikashar

50. “Yoga is invigoration in relaxation. Freedom in routine. Confidence through self control. Energy within and energy without.” -Ymber Delecto

51. “The practice of Yoga brings us face to face with the extraordinary complexity of our own being.” -Sri Aurobindo

52. “Yoga is just gymnastics for uncoordinated people.” -Claire Dederer

53. “There is always room for change, but you have to be open to that change.” -Kathryn Budig

54. “Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you are.” -Jason Crandell

55. “You are the sky, everything else is just the weather.”–Pema Chodron

56. “When you listen to yourself, everything comes naturally. It comes from inside, like a kind of will to do something. Try to be sensitive. That is yoga.” -Petri Raisanen

57. “Yoga means addition – addition of energy, strength and beauty to body, mind and soul.” –Amit Ray

58. “Yoga takes us to the present moment, the only place where life exists.” -Ellen Brenneman

59. “Your soul is your best friend. Treat it with care, nurture it with growth, feed it with love.”–Ashourina Yalda

60. “Yoga science is not just a scholarly pursuit. It is a moment by moment and thought by thoughts practical guide for living.” -Leonard Perlmutter

61. “Anybody can breathe. Therefore anybody can practice yoga.” -T.K.V. Desikachar

62. “Yoga teaches more than postures; it teaches you how to trust.” -Kathryn E.

63. “Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.” -B.K.S. Iyengar

64. “Breathing is the greatest pleasure in life.” -Giovanni Papini

65. “The yoga pose you avoid the most you need the most.” –Anonymous

66. “For those wounded by civilization, yoga is the most healing salve.” -T. Guillemets

67. “All kidding aside, if everyone did yoga, we would have world peace.” -Rory Freedman

68. “The meaning of our self is not to be found in its separateness from God and others, but in the ceaseless realization of yoga of union.” -Rabindranath Tagore

69. “Yoga is not about self improvement, it’s about self acceptance.” -Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa

70. “What I’m looking for is not out there, it is in me.” -Helen Keller

71. “The best thing you could do is master the chaos in you. You are not thrown into the fire, you are the fire.” –Mama Indigo

72. “Beyond meditation there is the experience of now.” -Ryan Parenti

73. “Most people have no idea how good their body is designed to feel.” -Kevin Trudeau

74. “Anyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy. Constant practice alone is the secret of success.” -Hatha Yoga Pradipika

75. “Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.” -B.K.S. Iyengar

76. “Yoga is not a religion. It is a science, science of well-being, science of youthfulness, science of integrating body, mind and soul.” -Amit Ray

77. “Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit.” -Jeremy Taylor

78. “Yoga accepts. Yoga gives.” -April Vallei

79. “Yoga is not about touching your toes. It is what you learn on the way down.” -Jigar Gor

80. “Wellness is a connection of paths: knowledge and action.” -Joshua Welch

81. “Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.” –Buddha

82. “The asanas are useful maps to explore yourself, but they are not the territory.” -Donna Farhi

83. “That’s why it’s called a practice. We have to practice a practice if it is to be of value.” -Peace Pilgrim

84. “Hatha yoga is spirituality of the body; it is the most perfect union of corporeal and incorporeal.” -Terri Guillemets

85. “Yoga is not just repetition of few postures – it is more about the exploration and discovery of the subtle energies of life.” -Amit Ray

86. “The beauty is that people often come here for the stretch, and leave with a lot more.” -Liza Ciano

87. “Yoga teaches us that we can have whatever we may want in life if we are willing to provide it for others first.” –Sharon Gannon

88. “Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible.” -Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

89. “Corpse pose restores life. Dead parts of your being fall away, the ghosts are released.” -Terri Guillemets

90. “Live in the present, forget the past. Give up hopes of future.” -Swami Sivananda

91. “The pose begins when you want to get out of it.” -Baron Baptiste

92. “Meditation is a way for nourishing and blossoming the divinity within you.” -Amit Ray

93. “Yoga begins with listening. When we listen, we are giving space to what is.” –Richard Freeman

94.“You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state.” -Sharon Gannon

95. “Change only happens in the present moment. The past is already done. The future is just energy and intention.” –Kino Macgregor

96. “Your life is a precious gift from an imaginative loving source that endlessly breathes life.” -Dashama

97. “Yoga is not for the flexible. It’s for the willing.” -Anonymous

98. “For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth.” -Sanskrit Proverb

99. “Here and now is where yoga begins.” -The Yoga Sutras

100.“You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.” -Mr. Yoga

101. “Remember, it doesn’t matter how deep into a posture you go- what does matter is who you are when you get there.” -Max Strom

102. “If you choose to see everything as a miracle, then where you are right now is perfect. There is nowhere to run to; there is nothing else to do except be in this moment and allow what is to be. From that place of radical acceptance, major change can happen. The first step in any transformational experience is acceptance and surrender to the present moment, the way that it is. From that place we have the awareness, humility and power to change what is.” –Mastin Kipp

103. “A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms.” -Zen Shin

104.“Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.” -Buddha

I hope these yoga quotes have inspired you to keep pushing and growing. Remember, the hardest part about yoga is getting on your mat. I know you can do it!