If you’re overwhelmed, this list of the best yoga quotes about being present will help ground you and allow you to appreciate the little things in life.
Take it slow, breathe in, slow down, and listen. Being present is one of the best benefits you can achieve through a daily yoga routine.
Yoga teaches us how to avoid getting caught up in thinking about uncertainty but rather to live in the moment to unveil what’s missing and what matters the most. These yoga quotes about being present below encourage you how to be present simply by breathing, being in stillness, and slowing down to listen. You might also enjoy our list of yoga quotes about balance and yoga quotes about creating space.
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Yoga Quotes About Being Present With Stillness
- “Yoga takes you into the present moment, the only place where life exists.” ― Patañjali
- “Being still does not mean don’t move. It means move in peace.” ― E’yen A. Gardner
- “The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness; only when there is stillness in movement does the universal rhythm manifest.” ― Bruce Lee
- “Yoga means stillness of mind and freedom from oscillations and various mental processes.” ― Patanjali
- “The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness.” ― Sakyong Mipham
- “The yoga pose is not the goal. Becoming flexible is not the goal. Standing on your hands is not the goal. The goal is serenity. Balance. Truly finding peace in your own skin.” ― Rachel Brathen
- “Calming the mind is yoga, not just standing on the head.” ― Swami Satchidananda
- “The nature of yoga is to shine the light of awareness into the darkest corners of the body.” — Jason Crandell
- “Your body exists in the past, and your mind exists in the future. In yoga, they come together in the present.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar
- “Yoga is a way of moving into stillness in order to experience the truth of who you are.” ― Erich Schiffmann
Yoga Quotes About Being Present By Listening
- “Yoga begins with listening. When we listen, we are giving space to what is.” — Richard Freeman
- “When you listen to yourself, everything comes naturally. It comes from inside, like a kind of will to do something. Try to be sensitive. That is yoga.” — Petri Räisänen
- “The great scriptures of yoga ― The Bhagavad Gita, The Yoga Sutras, and The Upanishads ― clearly describe how the subtle causes of external war emanate from the internal world. The real causes of war lie rooted in the individual’s unwillingness to listen to the voice of the heart, the inner conscience.” — Rajmani Tigunait
- “Yoga teaches you how to listen to your body.” ― Mariel Hemingway
- “Yoga is like music: the rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul created the symphony of life.” — B.K.S. lyengar
Yoga Quotes About Being Present By Breathing
- “When the breath wanders the mind is unsteady, but when the breath is calmed, the mind too will be still.” ― Hatha Yoga Pradipika
- “When I write I feel like I can breathe. It’s like yoga for the brain.” — Elise Stokes
- “Tonight in yoga, I realized for the first time that breathing is not the process of being filled and emptied: breathing is the act of actually making love to the whole world” — Sierra DeMulder
- “Yoga teachings state that if the mind is moving, so are the heart and respiration. When we are angry, our breath quickens; when we sleep, our breath slows down. By consciously slowing down the breath and making it rhythmic so that consciousness is not disturbed by it, we can achieve corresponding tranquility.” ― Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama
- “Hatha yoga is a powerful tool for self-transformation. It asks us to bring our attention to our breath, which helps us to still the fluctuations of the mind and be more present in the unfolding of each moment” ― Cyndi Lee
- “Yoga does not start or end on your mat, but is present in every breath you take.” ― Evita Ochel
- “Yoga is the dance of every cell with the music of every breath that creates inner serenity and harmony.” ― Debasish Mridha
- “If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” ― Amit Ray
- “A meditation can be as simple as taking a series of easy breaths, and slowly, gently counting to ten in your mind.” ― Vera Nazarian
- “In asana practice, we learn to cherish each breath, to cherish every cell in our bodies. The time we spend on the mat is love in action.” — Rolf Gates
Yoga Quotes About Being Present By Slowing Down
- “Balance comes from slowing down, from taking deep breaths, from understanding your body and what it needs. It comes from accepting who you are and loving yourself every step of the way.” ― Rachel Brathen
- “When we are aware about our body’s sensations, we can release physical pain, tensions or stress through slow movements.” ― Amit Ray, Yoga The Science of Well-Being
- “Yoga talks about cat-pose, dog-pose, camel-pose, monkey-pose, bird-pose, etc. Why there are so many animal poses? Animals release their emotions and tensions by movements based on their body sensations. But our amygdala in the brain is carrying the ‘fight or flight response;’ it has forgotten the art of releasing the tensions. As human beings, when we are aware about the sensations, we can release that by aware, slow movements. If you do not give movements to the body parts, energy will be stuck and blood circulation will be disturbed. Gradually, that creates chronic physical and mental health problems.” ― Amit Ray
- “Restorative yoga is just one way to slow down the DMN. Once you start searching, there are plenty of good mindfulness exercises that can ‘ground’ you—get you out of your damn head and into the world.” ― Stephanie Foo
- “The very heart of yoga practice is ‘abyhasa’ – steady effort in the direction you want to go.” ― Sally Kempton
