Books in the bookcase leading me to read. Apt quote around my Yoga group this evening.
” The mind is part of a team, along with the body, the breath and the senses. Everything that we do is a product of that team, but the mind is generally the boss……..We know that the state of the mind affects the breath and, luckily for us, the opposite is also true”
What are we Seeking – TKV Desikachar
“The target of Yoga is ‘svatantra’
which means to discover our own technique.
‘Sva’ means self and ‘Tantra’ means technique.
The techniques are in oneself and we must discover them;
if not we will depend on others.
This is ‘svatantra’.”
– TKV Desikachar
“While it is theoretically possible for the body, the breath, and the mind to work independently, it is the purpose of Yoga to unify their movement. In our very first practice classes, we will experience this unification. What appears as Yoga to an outsider is mainly the physical aspects of our practice. They will not be aware of how we breathe, how we feel the breath, and how we coordinate breathing with physical movement.”
TKV Desikachar – Religiousness in Yoga, ch2, p13
“Begin your practice from where you are,
finish your practice where you are going.”
– TKV Desikachar 1978
Shared from Paul Harvey’s Yoga Journal
”Progress must be seen as the distance from the starting point,
rather than the more usual reference of the distance from the finishing point.”
– Notes from Paul Harvey’s first seminar with TKV Desikachar in Cambridge in 1976
Shared from Paul’s Yoga Studies Blog
“Duḥkha is a disturbance of the mind. While sometimes the words sorrow, misery, and disease are used to define duḥkha, it is best identified as a feeling of restriction.
Somehow something deeply disturbs us and we feel restricted.
This restriction is duḥkha…….
We all aim to remove duḥkha……..
That is what Yoga is trying to do.”
TKV Desikachar, Religiousness in Yoga
“The person who taught me how to vary postures, to bend the legs, to turn the neck, all the simple and complicated variations, as necessary, is Krishnamacharya. It is important to vary each posture according to the individuals requirements.
Further, he also introduced the use of other aids or supports, so that the person gets the benefit of a posture through other means when he is not able to do the posture itself. This can involve sitting on a chair, using a roll, using supports, etc., the use of other means to help a person achieve certain results.”
– TKV Desikachar from lectures on ‘The Yoga of T Krishnamacharya’, given at Zinal, Switzerland 1981.
“If you don’t know yourself how can you think of something which is more than you or higher than you?”
– TKV Desikachar on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 29
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“It is not enough to realise that there is somewhere to go,
you must also be really interested in taking the step.”
– TKV Desikachar on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 20
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Yoga “to reach a point we have not reached before”
TKV Desikachar
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“The spirit of viniyoga is starting from where one finds oneself.
As everybody is different and changes from time to time,
there can be no common starting point,
and ready-made answers are useless.
The present situation must be examined and
the habitually established status must be re-examined.”
– TKV Desikachar
‘If we do not think of the positive in the most difficult situations, we panic. And once we panic we are lost.’
Read full article by TKV Desikachar
“Śraddhā is essential for progress, whether in Yoga or any other endeavour. It is a feeling that cannot be expressed or intellectually discussed. It, however, is a feeling that is not always uncovered in every person.
When absent or weak, it is evident through the lack of stability and focus in a person. Where present and strong, it is evident through the commitment, perseverance and enthusiasm the person exhibits.
For such a person, life is meaningful.”
– TKV Desikachar
“We must treat first the condition that bothers the mind.”
TKV Desikachar
Paul Harvey (yogastudies.org)
“Meditation must elevate the mind.
That is its basic purpose, to be where I was not.
This involves an ascent of the individual’s mind.”
– TKV Desikachar Madras December 19th 1988 in seminar on
‘Models for Meditation According to Indian Tradition’.
Paul Harvey (yogastudies.org)
“To give the right thing to the right person at the right time is Satviniyoga.
Don’t look at the file, look at the student!”
– TKV Desikachar France 1983 – Paul Harvey
Posted by Michele Harney, Yoga Rathgar & Dundrum – Dublin
“Yoga serves the individual, and does so through inviting transformation rather than by giving information”
– TKV Desikachar
Posted by Michele Harney, Yoga Rathgar & Dundrum – Dublin
“For Yoga Teachers it is important to understand the movement of the mind as well as the body.”
– TKV Desikachar December 1st 1979
Courtesy – Paul Harvey’s Daily Quotes – Centre for Yoga Studies
Posted by Michele Harney, Yoga Rathgar & Dundrum – Dublin
“Yoga teaches us that with every action there is both a positive and a negative effect. Anything we do in life will have both a positive and a negative effect. We must recognize what effects are positive and what effects are negative. Then we must stress the positive while we neutralize the negative. In all details of āsana, we must follow this principle.”
-TKV Desikachar – Religiousness in Yoga
Posted by Michele Harney, Yoga Rathgar & Dundrum – Dublin
“For Yoga Teachers it is important to understand the movement of the mind as well as the body.”
– TKV Desikachar December 1st 1979
Courtesy – Paul Harvey’s Daily Quotes – Centre for Yoga Studies
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