A child first learns to crawl, then stand, then walk and then finally run. Similarly, it is only with regular mindful practice, tremendous discipline and time that one betters yoga asanas, says late yoga guru Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar, popularly known as B K S Iyengar, in this inspiring video.
Considered as one of the foremost gurus of yoga, he eloquently spoke about how yoga is all about “bringing your attention along with awareness to each and every cell of your body”.
In his words: “Asanas are meant to connect the physical and factual wisdom of the body with the analytical mind and to coordinate with cooperation among the body and mind. If there is coordination, then the person is on the spiritual level”.
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Iyengar never started an asana with the body, but from the mind or self which opened his “gateway of awareness”. He took to yoga in his teenage years under the guidance of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who followed Patanjali’s sutras. Born in Bellur, Karnataka, the yoga expert settled in Pune when he started teaching in Mumbai through the 1950s and 1960s to a select group of Parsis and Gujaratis.

The founder of ‘Iyengar Yoga’, which is considered to be a multi-pronged interpretation of the yoga sutras, Iyengar believed in the “ability of the body to become aligned” through the asanas.

On the occasion of International Day of Yoga, here are some quotes by the late yoga expert on the power of yoga that you can share with your family and friends.
*”Asanas maintain the strength and health of the body, without which little progress can be made. Asanas keep the body in harmony with nature.”

*“The hardness of a diamond is part of its usefulness, but its true value is in the light that shines through it.”

*”Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life, where you do not feel like you are constantly trying to fit broken pieces together.”

*“Action is movement with intelligence. The world is filled with movement. What the world needs is more conscious movement, more action.”

*“There is no difference in souls, only the ideas about ourselves that we wear.”
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