Yoga Mats With Inspirational Quotes

Yoga isn’t just about showing up on the mat. It’s about showing up in your life, in your day; it’s about opening your heart while standing firm and strong and believing in yourself.

...it's most important to accept that your yoga poses may not look like everyone else's. That's okay. Just adapt the poses to your current state of being.

Yoga does not start or end on your mat, but is present in every breath you take.

Sometimes we take leaps of faith, and sometimes we take tiny steps. Even the tiniest step can require a lot of courage. Like climbing out of denial and admitting my real need for help. Like trusting someone who said I wouldn’t die from eating a bowl of pasta, and taking another bite. Like reaching for a pen or a yoga mat when what I really wanted to do was reach for a cookie. Like searching for a smile in my heart when my mind was busy screaming about how sad and serious I should be.

The way I touch earth and heaven at once, stretching from soil to sky. The way the mat holds my feet and my feet hold me. The way it seems so simple, something to be brushed off as ‘too easy,’ and the way it is actually foundational. The way I know that when I am in it, I am it— unshakeable no matter what winds blow or rains pour down. It is as if I remain, eternal, undaunted, majestic. —mountain pose

I began yoga to move my body but I didn’t know that was only the hook. On the mat, I have used my body not only to discover new shapes and poses, but I have found that in the poses I have discovered me. It is my eyes that now see new shapes— perspective clear and shifted. And my soul that has risen up and called to me. The truth of who I am is unfolding. I have stepped through the back door of my heart, to the place that meets my soul. I rest in my true nature. —yoga changes everything

Life on the Mat “I roll it out and step inside a world of self-discovery, mine. Here is where I challenge myself, to learn just how to be myself… to grow and reach and stretch and sweat, I push my boundaries, no regrets. For this is where I seem to be, a stronger, better newer me. And when my body’s fully spent, my spirit takes a forward step, I contemplate the wisdom’s known, relinquished now, in Child’s pose.

The real difference between yoga and religion is this: Religion says believe, do not doubt, often citing the word of God and promises of an eternal afterlife, reciting dogma (unsubstantiated pre-modern myths), while yoga only points the way and urges its students to practice and experience for themselves. In this way yoga is very scientific in its approach to self-knowledge, transcendence and enlightenment. Its message is: Try the practice for yourself and only then can you truly believe.

The hardest part of any yoga practice is rolling out your mat.

Concentration is the key to success in anything in life. You need concentration to carry on a conversation, to raise children, to stay positive, to be able to communicate effectively, to succeed academically, to meditate, to succeed in business, to become good at sports, to achieve the goals you set for yourself, and the list can go on and on.

In Yin Yoga, your mat is your meditation cushion.

And now. This moment. It moves too fast. This is the practice, the way we slow down time. Each breath is a gift, each one an opportunity for reflection, focus, and purpose. What's gone is gone. What's ahead isn't real. I take each breath as it comes. Here. Now. I am here now.

The ability to confront your fears on your mat directly translates to how you confront your fears in everyday life, and that is an invaluable thing to take away from your practice.

Renunciation on its own has no staying power. You can renounce bananas all you like, but if you continue to live in your banana home on your banana street, if you keep your job at the banana warehouse and hang out with your banana-gobbling friends, you'll be eating bananas before you know it. Practice is doing the work. It is following up your intention with action.

As much as social media has given me, it shouldn’t be the only source of inspiration for people who don’t fit the typical yoga mold. That’s why I wrote this book. Because all yoga bodies deserve to be represented in print, not just those that are slender, female, and white.