Yoga, a set of physical and mental practices designed to bring harmony to the mind, body and spirit, is a powerful way to improve our physical and mental health. A discipline that originated in ancient India, yoga is all about balance—for both the body and the mind. In a yoga class, you move through a series of movements and body positions that are intended to bring your mind closer to a state of inner peace.
A yoga practice can help you focus on the present and let go of the things you cannot control. It’s been shown to have a variety of physical and mental health benefits, including improved flexibility and strength, pain relief, relaxation, better sleep, more energy, improved stress management and more.
The benefits to both your body and your mind are clear. Whether you’ve been doing yoga for years or are just getting started, a little inspiration can always help. Explore over 50 yoga quotes to help you find motivation, balance and clarity.
11 Of The Best Inspirational & Motivational Yoga Quotes
The hardest part of any habit is usually sticking with it, but the powerful benefits of yoga can be well worth the effort. Yoga can also help you push through things you thought you couldn’t do. For example, successfully going through a pose like the Chaturanga Dandasana for the first time is an extraordinary feeling. You’re proving to yourself that you can do hard things. Some of the best yoga phrases highlight the power of this ancient discipline. Browse some of these inspirational yoga quotes to motivate you to get up and start a daily practice.
- “I had discovered something; there was a pleasure in becoming something new. You could will yourself into a fresh shape. Now all I had to do was figure out how to do it out there, in my life.” —Claire Dederer
- “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
- “I have never been pretzel-ish or particularly flexible. And my practice is riddled with mistakes and imperfections. Which is precisely what makes it so powerful. Striving to do better while simultaneously remaining satisfied with where I am. It’s much larger than I am. I just tag along for the ride. Pretty cool. So…thanks Yoga. You’re awesome.” —Adam Levine
- “Yoga is the effort to experience one’s divinity personally and then to hold on to that experience forever.” —Elizabeth Gilbert
- “That’s why it’s called a practice. We have to practice a practice if it is to be of value.” —Allan Lokos
- “Left to itself, the mind goes on repeating the same old habitual patterns of personality. By training the mind, however, anyone can learn to step in and change old ways of thinking; that is the central principle of yoga.” —Veda Vyasa
- “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.” —Tara Fraser
- “Sometimes, even with the most precise intuition, you don’t know what life is going to throw at you. Or you could see it coming and still not be able to stave it off. That is life and part of the cycles of experience. It’s not always going to be easy or fun. But with a sacred outlook, you are training yourself to be a true practitioner of human wisdom and dignity in every moment of your life.” —Guru Jagat
- “But remember—yoga isn’t a quick fix; it seeps into your bones, your heart, and your soul over time.”—Kathryn E. Livingston
- “When you step onto your Yoga mat, you are reminded of that wholeness, and the practice clears a pathway through your symptoms to the ground of your being, that which is your natural state.” —Amy Weintraub
Related: Must-Try Two-Person Yoga Poses
Yoga Quotes to Inspire Balance & Harmony
Moving into a yoga pose means finding balance within yourself. It’s not just a physical activity: the body and mind work together to find harmony. Yoga includes breath work, mindfulness and meditation, and is believed to have mental benefits and strengthen parts of the brain. It promotes overall well-being and may help with reducing stress, processing emotions, and increasing resilience. In short, yoga can help us re-center our minds and bodies in healthy ways. These compelling yoga quotes about balance can help inspire and motivate us to tap into our inner strength and find harmony within our body, mind and spirit.
- “Yoga’s a metaphor for life. You have to take it really slowly. You can’t rush through. You can’t skip to the next position. You find yourself in really humiliating situations. You can’t judge yourself. You just have to breathe. You have to let go. And it’s a very slow process. But it is a workout for your mind, your body and your soul.”—Madonna
- “Yoga does not just change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees” —B.K.S. Iyengar
- “As spiritual searchers we need to become freer and freer of the attachment to our own smallness in which we get occupied with me-me-me. Pondering on large ideas or standing in front of things which remind us of a vast scale can free us from acquisitiveness and competitiveness and from our likes and dislikes.” —Ravi Ravindra
- “If you are patient, your mind will be more settled, and what you do will be more perfect.” —Suzanne Morrison
- “What is discipline? Discipline means creating an order within you. As you are, you are a chaos.” —Osho
- “The word ‘yoga’ literally means ‘uniting’, because when you’re doing it you are uniting your mind and your body. You can tell this almost immediately because your mind will be thinking, ‘Ouch, that hurts,’ and your body will say, ‘I know.’ And your mind will think, ‘You have to get out of this position.’ And your body will say, ‘I agree with you, but I can’t right now. I think I’m stuck.’” —Ellen DeGeneres
- “Yoga is, as I can readily believe, the perfect and appropriate method of fusing body and mind together so that they form a unity which is scarcely to be questioned. This unity creates a psychological disposition which makes possible intuitions that transcend consciousness.” —Paramahansa Yogananda
- “The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” —Pema Chödrön
- “Yoga is a way of moving into stillness in order to experience the truth of who you are.” —Erich Schiffmann
- “To the yogi, all experience is seen as one, as a means to help him cultivate devotion. All experiences have equal meaning and value.” —Prem Prakash
Yoga Sayings For Happiness & Gratitude
Through a yoga practice, we can better understand the flow of prana, which is the energy and flow of life. Yoga helps increase self-awareness, calm the body and mind, and be more present in the moment. Being more present in life has been associated with increased happiness and more gratitude. The takeaway? Yoga could potentially make us more content and thankful. Turn to these yoga quotes about happiness and gratitude to stay inspired.
- “Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked.” —Patanjali
- “It is so spiritually incredible as well as physically—I look for workouts that have to be also good for my spirit as much as they are for my body.” —Lea Michele
- “Wherever you go, there you are. Your emptiness goes with you. Maddening. Things that help: writing, reading, water, walks, forgiving myself every other minute, practicing easy yoga, taking deep breaths, and petting my dogs. These things don’t fill me completely, but they remind me that it is not my job to fill myself. It’s just my job to notice my emptiness and find graceful ways to live as a broken, unfilled human…” —Glennon Doyle Melton
- “Compassion is the religion of the heart.” —Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati
- “Even if you can be aware of your awareness for only a moment, in that moment you will touch the primal awareness/bliss at the core of yourself.” —Sally Kempton
- “For there is never anything but the present, and if one cannot live there, one cannot live anywhere.” —Alan W. Watts
- “The logic is simple: if you do the right things, the right things will happen to you even without your intent.” —Sadhguru
- “We are all in charge of our own happiness. Life does not happen to us, it happens for us!” —Rachel Brathen
- “An eye is meant to see things. The soul is here for its own joy.” —Rumi
- “The first thing I do is do yoga stretches. It’s important for someone over the age of 35 to do that, so I started when I was 34. I’m 6’4”, so if I don’t stretch, my alignment goes bonkers.” —RuPaul
Embrace Wellness With These Quotes For Yoga Class
No matter what your health goals are, yoga allows you to connect to your mind and body in a deeper way. When you get into a comfortable Asana position after a long yoga class, you’ll feel the benefits of the practice for your wellness journey. Use these yoga sayings to remind yourself to get to your next class, or share them with your classmates for inspiration. If you’re an instructor, these quotes for yoga class could be the perfect motivation.
- “As I often tell my students, the two most important phrases in therapy, as in yoga, are ‘Notice that’ and ‘What happens next?’ Once you start approaching your body with curiosity rather than with fear, everything shifts.” —Bessel A. van der Kolk
- “Exercises are like prose, whereas yoga is the poetry of movements. Once you understand the grammar of yoga; you can write your poetry of movements.” —Amit Ray
- “Learning to be present with yourself and to abide in that which is steady and comfortable does not allow space for self-judgment. When you live this way, you are practicing yoga: you are living fully.” —Judith Hanson Lasater
- “True discipline is really just self-remembering; no forcing or fighting is necessary.” —Charles Eisenstein
- “I was searching for my identity as a person, and what defines me. And yoga became a space where I can really touch back into myself and my spirituality.” —Jessica Biel
- “Yoga will always be transformational, even when it stops being cool.” —Victoria Moran
- “Yoga is my thing. My mom is a yoga instructor, and I started doing mommy-and-me yoga with her when I was seven. I was very resistant as a kid, but she said, ‘Flower, you will find your practice – just give it time.’” —Meghan Markle
- “Another meaning of the word yoga is ‘to tie the strands of the mind together.’” —T.K.V. Desikachar
- “Once you make that kind of deep connection with yourself, your relationship with everything and everyone around you changes.” ―Alicia Keys
- “It is only when the mind is free from the old that it meets everything anew, and in that there is joy.” —J. Krishnamurti
Short Yoga Quotes to Meditate On
Yoga continues long after the teacher says, “Namaste,” at the end of the class. The mindfulness inspired by yoga gives you the space and patience to meditate and think about the wider world around you. These quotes from famous names in the yoga world can give us a few things to reflect on.
- “When you catch yourself slipping into a pool of negativity, notice how it derives from nothing other than resistance to the current situation.” —Donna Quesada
- “The very reason for nature’s existence is for the education of the soul.” —Swami Vivekananda
- “Genuine goodness isn’t discovered through postponement but must exist now or not at all. It cannot be based on what is not. We must find it in what is and what we truly see.” —H.E. Davey
- “A heart that is open to the world must be willing to be broken at any time. This brokenness produces the kind of grief that expands the heart so that it can love more and more.” —Stephen Cope
- “Like too many of us, I mistook a busy life for a rich one.” —Anne D. LeClaire
- “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life; dream of it; think of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, and this is the way great spiritual giants are produced.” —Swami Vivekananda
- “Don’t wait for a better world. Start now to create a world of harmony and peace. It is up to you, and it always has been. You may even find the solution at the end of your fork.” ―Sharon Gannon
- “Who we are is the result of how we live and act on a daily basis. Our daily actions reflect our prime values and motivations.” —David Frawley
- “You need not worry or make yourself sleepless about the world; it will go on without you.” —Swami Vivekananda
Yoga Quotes Can Inspire Us to Stay Healthy & Balanced
Yoga’s powerful benefits can help you improve your health, stay grounded and be more resilient. When you start a yoga practice, you can learn to create that harmony of the body, mind and spirit and reap the rewards.
Wherever you start your yoga journey, from flexibility to embracing stillness, you can choose to unroll your yoga mat every day and show up for yourself. The poses, breathing and flows of yoga can gently bring you peace and strength. When you need a little inspiration, turn to these yoga motivation quotes.
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