Yoga Quotes: They move, motivate us and remind us that we are all connected and intrinsically share the same emotions. They echo what we know in our hearts and souls to be true. Eckhart Tolle often talks about how he can’t teach you anything you don’t already know — that when something rings true with you it is because it is already within you.
We like to end all of the yoga classes we teach with a motivational saying for students to leave the class with. Here is a list of our favourite yoga quotes and things to say in class.
Sayings About Acceptance
- The true miracle lies in our eagerness to allow, appreciate, and honour the uniqueness, and freedom of each sentient being to sing the song of their heart.― Amit Ray
- Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. — Dr. Seuss
Phrases On Achievement and Success
- First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end. — Aristotle
- Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill
- The only way to do great work is to love what you do. — Steve Jobs
- The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now. — Chinese Proverb
Words To Encourage Change and Transformation
As teachers our cues, sayings and phrases have such profound meaning to our students. Try using the following pearls of wisdom in your next class:
- Be the change you wish to see in the world. — Gandhi
- When you are looking in the mirror, you are looking at the problem. But, remember, you are also looking at the solution. — Anonymous
- There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self. — Aldous Huxley
- Every moment is a fresh beginning. — T.S. Eliot
- Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living? — Bob Marley
- The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed. ― C.G. Jung
- No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. – Heraclitus
Quotes About Commitment and Effort
- A phrase often used in yoga class: “A calm sea does not make a skilled sailor.” — Nathan Gilkarov
Quotes About Confidence
Confidence (and lack of) is a big topic in yoga, especially with those beginner students. We all know it feels to be in a group full of people who are more experienced at something than us–it’s scary! Help calm those nerves with these reassuring words and quotes:
- Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. — Henry David Thoreau
- If you hear a voice within you say, “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. — Vincent Van Gogh
- You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. — Wayne Gretzky
- Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. — Arthur Ashe
Quotes About Courage and Faith
- How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world… – Anne Frank
- The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. — Jimmy Johnson
- No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. — Buddha
- The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. – Lao Tzu
- Teach thy tongue to say, “I do not know,” and thou shalt progress. — Maimonides
- Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. You’re playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. — Marianne Williamson
Quotes About Creativity
Yoga students thrive on phrases about creativity! I find that using creativity related quotes in class inspire and motivate students…isn’t that what we’re ultimately trying to do for our classes and the world!?
- The power of imagination makes us infinite. — John Muir
Quotes About Destiny
- The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
- When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. — Lao Tzu
- It’s never too late to be who you were always meant to be… – Unknown
Quotes About Dreaming
- You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. — C.S. Lewis
Quotes About Energy
- In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. — Camus
- Everything is energy and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics. – Albert Einstein
Quotes About Failure
- Today is your opportunity to make your tomorrow better. If you think of it from the point that your today is the result of your yesterdays, it’s clear that what you are doing today is either moving your forward or moving you backward. That’s why you want to grab today by the horns and make the most of it as you can. Do that enough times and you’ll start to see signs that your todays are getting better, which only sets you up better and better for tomorrow. You can find yourself in negative or positive spiral based on how well you are spending your days. Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck. – Dalai Lama
- Fall seven times and stand up eight. — Japanese Proverb
Yoga Quotes About Faith
- May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us. – Sainte Therese de Lisieux
Words To Use On Fear…More Like Overcoming Fear!
- Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear… – George Addair
Quotes About Freedom
- A human being is part of a whole, called by us the ‘Universe’ — a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings, as something separated from the rest— a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. – Albert Einstein
Quotes About Happiness
Don’t we all need a bit more happiness? These yoga quotes will light up those student faces!
- When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. – Helen Keller
- When I was five years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. – John Lennon
- Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. – Buddha
Quotes About Growth
- Make each day your masterpiece. – John Wooden
- Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. — Maya Angelou
- A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men. – Willy Wonka
- Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. – Pablo Picasso
What to Say About Light, Healing and Grounding
- There is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in. – Leonard Cohen
- Light tomorrow with today. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. – Plato
- Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. – Buddha
Quotes About Love
- Love is the Answer. What was the Question? – John Lennon
Quotes About Motivation
- People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily. – Zig Ziglar
Quotes About Planning
- Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. – Gloria Steinem
What to Say in Savasana
Savasana is where your work is almost at a close. A few yogic quotes at this stage–which can be a state of heightened awareness and openness–can help to reinforce cues you’ve been offering throughout class.
- Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise. – Victor Hugo
- Yoga is not a work-out, it is a work-in. And this is the point of spiritual practice; to make us teachable; to open up our hearts and focus our awareness so that we can know what we already know and be who we already are. – Rolf Gates
Quotes About Understanding and Knowledge
- I close my eyes in order to see. – Paul Gauguin
This is hardly an exhaustible list of quotes — just some of our favourites here at YogaLondon.
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