Live before you die, so that death is also a lively celebration.
B.K.S. IyengarRead
When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the balance between receiving and giving in life, suggesting that our breath connects us to a higher power and our service to others.
B.K.S. Iyengar's quote encapsulates the idea that life is a cycle of receiving and offering. Inhaling symbolizes the strength and support we derive from the divine or the universe, while exhaling represents the contribution we make to the world around us. This balance between nurturing oneself and serving others is fundamental to human existence, highlighting the interdependent nature of life.
Themes
BreathServiceStrengthBalanceLife
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a meditation session to inspire participants about the relationship between self-nourishment and altruism.
More from B.K.S. Iyengar
All quotes βHard work and humility are essential for spiritual sadhana.
B.K.S. IyengarRead
Asana done from the brain makes one heavy and done from the heart makes one light.
B.K.S. IyengarRead
The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in.
B.K.S. IyengarRead
Healthy plants and trees yield abundant flowers and fruits. Similarly, from a healthy person, smiles and happiness shine forth like the rays of the sun.
B.K.S. IyengarRead
Before peace between the nations, we have to find peace inside that small nation which is our own being.
B.K.S. IyengarRead
Similar quotes
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
James MadisonRead
Since science's competence extends to observable and measurable phenomena, not to the inner being of things, and to the means, not to the ends of human life, it would be nonsense to expect that the progress of science will provide men with a new type of metaphysics, ethics, or religion.
Jacques MaritainRead
Tawwakul is not an act of the limbs-it is an act of the heart. And so while the limbs are striving hard, the heart is completely reliant on Allah. This means whatever the outcome of the limbs' striving, the heart will be completely satisfied, knowing that it is the flawless decision of Allah. But in order to reach this level, one must hold on to hope, strive with the limbs, and let go with the heart.
Yasmin MogahedRead
An Adult faith does not follow the waves of fashion and the latest novelties.
Pope Benedict XviRead
Suffering begins when you mentally label a situation as bad. That causes an emotional contraction. When you let it be, without naming it, enormous power is available to you. The contraction cuts you off from that power, the power of life itself.
Eckhart TolleRead
Identity politics is not politics at all, since it precisely negates the political as such by re-construing political positions in ethnic terms, subsuming 'ought' under 'is.'
Mark FisherRead