Bikram Choudhury Quotes

The more intense the nature of a man, the more readily will he find meditation, and the more successfully will he practice it.

Developing the muscles of the soul demands no competitive spirit, no killer instinct, although it may erect pain barriers that the spiritual athlete must crash through.

Get your mind right, get your spirit right, and get your body right. And keep it there. That requires working out; that requires fasting, eating well, prayer, and getting to know who you are. And not bending.

In my weightlifting I am trying to show that if you pray and meditate, you can bring to the fore your inner strength. Now, if somebody is really inwardly strong, he is always at peace.

The basic philosophy of stoicism is that you have nothing real external to your own consciousness, that the only thing real is in fact your consciousness.

Lady Gaga listens to me. Her mantra is only one word - 'Bikram' - because Bikram makes her what she is today. It works.

After all it is those who have a deep and real inner life who are best able to deal with the irritating details of outer life.

The outward work will never be puny if the inward work is great.

I thought when I started meditation that I was going to get real calm and peaceful and it's going to be over. It's not that way; it's so energetic. That's where all the energy and creativity is.

I have always heard that uber-successful people who write books about how to become uber-successful all have one thing in common: They all meditate every day. I consider yoga my meditation.

Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence. When the mind has settled, we are established in our essential nature, which is unbounded Consciousness. Our essential nature is usually overshadowed by the activity of the mind.

Like Yoga, the spiritual life is actually very difficult.

A lot of people over the years have been doing yoga and I think even more these days are expressing an interest in it. So there are a lot of manifestations of spirituality here in town.

The means that make one qualified for enquiry are meditation, yoga, etc. One should gain proficiency in these through graded practice and thus secure a stream of mental modes that is natural and helpful.

There's this idea that, 'All I have at the end of the day is my mind.' That's the only thing you can control. I believe that.

I enjoy watching the karate practitioners because of their high spiritual level.

The idea of the mystic solo, meditating away on his own, is only one path of yoga. Very early on, I chose the path of Life. One path is austerity and isolation, the other is Life. But they both lead to the same place.

In yoga, it really is about being grounded.

Vijji was not an accomplished yogi. She did what she did with just the sheer intensity of her emotions.

I know how strong I am mentally, how I work on myself.

Spiritual superiority [consists in] deep dedication ... in the form of the most rigorous training, as commitment, resistance, solitude, and love.

We underestimate the value of patience. It is possible that people might sometimes interrupt our meditation sessions or Dharma study, but they can never take away our opportunity to train in inner virtues such as patience. It is this mental training, rather than outer virtuous activities, that is the essence of Dharma practice.

Perseverance is the essential requirement in the practice of yoga. It has to be done day by day, week by week, year by year, until the mind is brought to the 'still point' where it is open to the grace of God.

The awareness is not part of the darkness or the pain; it holds the pain, and knows it, so it has to be more fundamental, and closer to what is healthy and strong and golden within you.

The highest strength is acquired not in overcoming the world, but in overcoming one's self. Learn to be cruel to thyself, to withstand thy appetites, to bear thy sufferings, and thou shalt become free and able.