“Without health one cannot have a strong root in the mind. The movements of the mind—laziness, carelessness, believing illusion to be the truth—have to be still in order to know what the soul is.” Yogācārya B.K.S. Iyengar
Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali 1.13 Tatra sthitau yatnah abhyāsah. “Practice is the steadfast effort to still these fluctuations” (transl. B.K.S. Iyengar)
“In this there is no measuring with time. A year doesn’t matter; ten years are nothing. To be an artist means not to compute or count; it means to ripen as the tree which does not force its sap, but stands unshaken in the storms of spring with no fear that summer might not follow. It will come regardless. But it comes only to those who live as though eternity stretches before them, carefree, silent, and endless. I learn it daily, learn it with many pains, for which I am grateful: Patience is all!” -Rainer Maria Rilke
Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali I.17 vitarka vicāra ānanda asmitārūpa anugamat samprajñātah. “Practice and detachment develop four types of samādhi: self-analysis, synthesis, bliss and the experience of pure being” (transl. B.K.S. Iyengar)
I remember my teacher, Manouso Manos, telling a story (this telling was many years ago, 10-15?) that he heard about his teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar, as a boy, holding a scorpion and watching it sting him repeatedly. Manouso remarked about the type of tenacity and detached interest he showed and related it to learning this pose, Vrśchikāsana (scorpion). If my teacher happens to see this picture—this was only my best effort yesterday, its clear where it needs to go next. 🙏🏼