ABCs of Yoga

Awareness
"If you don't take the lamp of awareness with you, you are going to create a hell around you. Light your lamp wherever you go, whatsoever you do, always do it in the inner light, with awareness."
- Osho
Be at peace
"Yoga asks you to make peace with the deepest, most terrifying parts of yourself and then make that same peace with the external world."
- Kino MacGregor, Yoga Teacher
Confidence
"Be your own confidence. Hold on to the truth within yourself as to the only truth."
- Buddha
De-stress
Stress comes from resistance to change. Accept that change is inevitable.
"We are a little piece of continual change looking at an infinite quantity of continual change." - Iyengar
Energy
"Life energy cannot flow when you grip too tightly and when you relax you allow life to flow through you."
- Kino McGregor, Ashtanga teacher
Flexibility
"Water is fluid, soft and yielding. Water can wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. Whatever is fluid, soft and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. What is soft is strong."  - Lao Tzu

Gratitude
"I thank You God for most this amazing/ day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees/ and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything/ which is natural which is infinite which is yes."
- E E Cummings
Happiness
"Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."   ― Dalai Lama
Love
"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built."
- Rumi
Mindfulness
"Mindfulness helps you go home to the present."
- Thich Nhat Hanh

Quiet mind
"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."
― Patañjali
Now Here
If you are not NOW HERE then you are NOWHERE!
One with the Universe
"Yoga means union. It is the union between mind and body, the body and the spirit, the spirit in our own hearts and the spirit of God outside of us. This union, or oneness, leads to a feeling of integration and wholeness. This connection nurtures inner peace and ultimately, freedom. Freedom is a state in which one is not reactive, but serene."
- Iyengar
Practice
"Practice, and all is coming."
- Pattabhi Jois

Intuition  
Journey inwards
"Breath is the vehicle of consciousness, so by its slow, measured observation and distribution, we learn to turn our attention away from external desires to awareness, so our minds are still and our energies (free to unhook from our senses) bend inwards.  Yoga is about the inward quest or Involution." - Iyengar
Knowledge
Chant the Gayatri mantra to open yourself up to receiving cosmic wisdom.  
"Om bur buvasvah. Tat savitur varenyum. Bhargo devasiya dimahi. Diyo yona prachodayat."
Reflection
What you see outside is a reflection of what exists inside.
Song
"Yoga is like a song. The body is the rhythm, the mind is the melody, and the soul is the harmony." - Iyengar
Transform
Your thoughts define your life.  Change your thoughts and you can change your life.
"Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are. It solely relies on what you think." - Buddha
Union with the Divine
"As animals, we walk the earth.  As bearers of divine essence, we are among the stars.  As human beings, we are caught in the middle, seeking to reconcile the paradox" - Iyengar
Vision and clarity
"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."
- Carl Jung
Well-being
 "All is well in my world.  I relax and enjoy my life." - Louis Hay
Expand  
"Success is the expansion of happiness. It's forward progression in your life through the unfolding of your own vision."  - Deepak Chopra
Yin Yang balance
Balance lies between letting go and holding on.
Zen attitude
"Breathe in a smile; breathe out a chuckle."
- Cheri Huber, Zen Teacher

Photo: Shahrear Kabir Heemel
Location: studio 107
Shazia Omar is a yoga instructor. To join her class, please email her: shaziaomar@gmail.com.