Quotes from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga

417 pages

Rating: (2.1K votes)


“The real payoff of a yoga practice, I came to see, is not a perfect handstand or a deeper forward bend—it is the newly born self that each day steps off the yoga mat and back into life.”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga


“Yoga is asking us to pay attention to the nature of all of our relationships and to apply the yamas and the niyamas to them. Whether it is our relationship to our breath, the bottoms of our feet, the ant crawling across the kitchen floor, our families, or to God, we are being asked to pay attention. The aim of yogic practice is to free us from the endless distractions of the kleshas—fear, pride, desire, and ignorance—and to teach us to bring a focused mind to bear on the nature of our relationships. Our time spent on the mat is dedicated to that end.”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga


“Whenever we find ourselves ensnared in negative behavior, he suggests, we should increase the amount of time, thought, and energy we direct toward positive behavior.”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga


“You may not be what you think you are, but what you think, you are. Jim Clark”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga


“There is a river flowing now, very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and suffer greatly. Know that the river has its destination. The elders say we must push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open and our heads above the water. See who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves, for the moment we do that, our spiritual growth comes to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves; banish the word ‘struggle’ from your attitude and vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred way and in celebration. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga



“We spend our days badgered by voices that tell us to judge others, fear others, harm others, or harm ourselves. But we are not obligated to listen to those voices, or even to take responsibility for them. They may be where we come from, but they are not where we are going. There is another voice, a voice that shines. Ahimsa is the practice of listening to that voice of lightness, cultivating that voice, trusting that voice, acting upon that voice.”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga


“When nonviolence in speech, thought, and action is established, one’s aggressive nature is relinquished and others abandon hostility in one’s presence. Yoga Sutras”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga


“What a beautiful thing, to walk amidst the endless diversity of life with the ability to perceive the source and the reality of its unity.”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga


“At long last I came to the breakthrough point, the surrender. I realized that her life, and my fury, were truly over. She was gone, and if I really loved her, I owed it to her to ensure that her passing would bear spiritual fruit in my life. For that to happen, I would have to let go. The relief was profound. There was nothing left to do.”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga


“Well, darkness has a hunger that’s insatiable, and lightness has a call that’s hard to hear. Indigo Girls”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga



“Love is not a thought, it is an action. And each loving action that we take infuses us with more energy for loving action in the future.”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga


Popular quotes

“I believe I can read a little in the souls of those around me; maybe it is not so. Oh, when I have a good day I feel as if I can peer deep into other people’s souls, although I don’t have a particularly good head on my shoulders. We sit in a room, some men and women and I, and I seem to see what is going on in the hearts of these people and what they think of me. I put something into every flashing glance of their eyes; occasionally the blood rushes to their cheeks so they turn red, at other times they pretend to be looking another way while still watching me out of the corner of their eyes. There I sit observing all this, and nobody suspects that I see through every soul. For several years I have thought I could read the souls of everybody. Maybe it is not so. . . .”
― Knut Hamsun, quote from Pan


“I don’t think my memory of that night is ever coming back.”
“Do you want me to hit you on the head with a coconut? It works on Gilligan’s Island.”
― Jennifer Echols, quote from Forget You


“I wont take no for an answer. I will use this to bind you to my bed until you change your mind if you dont answer the way I want you to. Will you marry me?"

She grinned. "I dont know." Her attention fixed on the tie for a few seconds before she met his gaze again. "I might be tempted to say no just to get you to tie me to your bed.”
― Laurann Dohner, quote from Justice


“I have no conscience at all -- least of all an artistic conscience. All I have is nerves.”
― Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, quote from Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories


“I asked a page or two back, what is a gentleman? I'll answer the question now: A Royal Naval officer is, in a general sort of way, though of course there may be a black sheep among them here and there. I fancy it is just the wide seas and the breath of God's winds that wash their hearts and blow the bitterness out of their minds and make them what men ought to be.”
― H. Rider Haggard, quote from King Solomon's Mines


Interesting books

Still Life with Woodpecker
(63.5K)
Still Life with Wood...
by Tom Robbins
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
(167.1K)
On Writing: A Memoir...
by Stephen King
On the Beach
(29.3K)
On the Beach
by Nevil Shute
Tiger's Curse
(51.8K)
Tiger's Curse
by Colleen Houck
Orlando
(42.7K)
Orlando
by Virginia Woolf
Shakespeare's Sonnets
(68.6K)
Shakespeare's Sonnet...
by William Shakespeare

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.