Meditation Quotes

“You need to belong to yourself, and let others belong to themselves too. You need to be free and detached from things and your surroundings. You need to build your home in your own simple existence, not in friends, lovers, your career or material belongings, because these are things you will lose one day.”
― Charlotte Eriksson, Empty Roads & Broken Bottles: in search for The Great Perhaps

“There's no such thing as positive thinking. There is, however, positive acting and positive doing, and positive being. Positive thinking is the reflection of such activities. You can't force yourself to think positively, but merely suppress negativity and get insane while pushing yourself along a river that flows on the opposite direction. Every life challenge is there to show you that you don't want to hit the rocks. It's really that simple when you look at things as they show themselves to you. You flow with the stream and you avoid the rocks along the way. That's positive thinking, even when you are angry about life, even when you're complaining, and even when you feel antagonistic with the world and the ones around you. That's the truth, simply because it will bring you back results. And that, you won't ever get by sitting on the floor and imagining emotions. You have the right to hate the rocks that come your away, as long as you keep paddling and enjoying the journey. There's no point in closing your eyes and pretending the rocks aren't there or trying to make them vanish with wishful thinking, or expecting a big magical bird to save you and take you in his wings for a pleasant flight in the skies.”
― Robin Sacredfire

“Non-attachment doesn’t mean you forgo possessions, pleasure, or comfort. It simply means you are at peace when those things fail to show up in your life. It means that while you can enjoy moments of ease, you are equally at peace when pain, hardship, and struggle define a given moment.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“• لا ننجح بأن نكون أسخياء مع أنفسنا إلا في اللحظات النادرة التي نحتاج فيها إلى القسوة فعلا .”
― باولو كويلو, ّحاج كومبوستيلا

“Meditation is the alchemist of the soul. It transforms disappointment into acceptance; betrayal into forgiveness; scarcity into abundance; loneliness into self acceptance; fear into love; despair into hope; anxiety into peace; and apathy into compassion.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“Sculpting the future and healing the past can only happen through mindful action in the present moment.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“So many people confuse attachment with love. Attachment to someone implies control; loving someone assumes unconditional acceptance. Attachment leads to grief and loneliness when the person is no longer
near—or even sometimes when he or she is in the very same room. Love is the realization that there is no distance between you and the other—whether they are across the room, around the world, or beyond the veil of death.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“True power—not to be confused with worldly power—is found at that beautiful
and sacred spot where will and surrender merge into an unstoppable force.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“The law of karma is like the wind—blowing on all. Whether you are good or evil, bright or dim, kind or unkind, there is no escaping the effects of your thoughts and the actions that arise from those thoughts. In fact, the only
difference between the wise and the ignorant is that an illuminated mind erects windmills while the ignorant mind builds weather vanes.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“Why do we call yoga a practice? The yoga poses of life—the grief, the fear,
the uncertainty—rarely offer us the option of coming to child pose or modifying the posture. The yoga mat offers us a safe and controlled environment in which we can witness our challenges, embrace our discomfort, and hold space for our struggles. A yoga practice doesn’t prevent the storms of life, but it does teach us to weather those storms more gracefully.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“The windmill doesn’t try to control the wind or demand that it blow in another direction. It simply surrenders to the wind, and in so doing becomes a source of immense power. The water wheel doesn’t attempt to change the course of the river; it simply surrenders to the flow and allows the power of the river to
be expressed through it. Most see surrender as a form of weakness, when in reality, surrender is the source of all true power.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“The hardest part of any yoga practice is rolling out your mat.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“Apathy is the bushel basket under which the ego hides its fear of being powerless. It is easier to become apathetic when there are no words or actions sufficient to comfort a wounded body, a grieving heart, or a
shattered community. And so we look away and avoid awkward conversations under the guise that we don’t want to upset others. Yet, the most powerful posture for a healer to take is that of the witness. To stand and
witness a person or community devastated by suffering, and to let them know that while they suffer they have a hand to hold, offers the most potent medicine of all—compassion.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“When infused with compassion, even the most useless snake oils have the power to heal broken hearts and shattered souls.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“In most forms of exercise one’s breath follows the movement—the faster and harder you work, the faster and harder you will breathe. In yoga, the exact opposite is true. Rather than changing the breath to match one’s movement, the movement is changed to follow the breath. In doing so, a yogi gains immediate and unconditional access to the deepest levels of consciousness, because just as breath and movement are connected, so too is the breath bound tightly to the mind.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“The narrow edge between comfort and discomfort is to a yogi what a grain of sand is to an oyster.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“People slip spontaneously into moments of concentration all the time—while reading a book, exercising, playing chess, or creating art. A yogi seeks to experience that same level of concentration intentionally in a practice known as dharana—the act of purposefully narrowing the mind’s focus on the breath, the sensations of the body, a mantra, or a prayer bead. This consistent and purposeful focusing of the mind while on the yoga mat or meditation cushion gives the yogi the same level of focus in life, allowing for wild creativity and unfathomable productivity.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“The great paradox of life is that to fully live, we must let a piece of ourselves die.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“Although you could open a can of soup with a hammer, a stone, or even your teeth if you didn’t mind making a mess or chipping a tooth, a much wiser approach would be to use a can opener. The breath is like a can opener for the soul. Can you explore the depths of your being without conscious breathing? Sure. The more relevant question is, why would you want to?”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“Instead of asking, “How can I ease my suffering?” yoga would have us ask,
“How can I better serve my brothers and sisters?” Because only in answering the latter can we hope to answer the former.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“What I can tell you is that yoga is about removing the muck by shining the light of awareness on it. That is why yoga is so hard. None of us wants to look at the muck, but looking at it is the only way to dissolve it. Thus, there are many times that a yogi may feel filled with darkness. It’s not that the darkness
arrived because of yoga; it’s that yoga made you aware of all the things that were holding you back. The good news is that with this awareness, you have the opportunity to dissolve the muck once and for all. However great the doubt, however deep the despair, you can take comfort in knowing that you
are feeling these things because your yoga is doing exactly what it was designed to do. You can also take refuge in the knowledge that whatever you are feeling—whether high or low—will pass, because it always does.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“Is there any success, without the soundness of mind?”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Meditation on the holy Scriptures , free us from mental slavery.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Standing at the end of a diving board looking at the water never made the water warmer, but it will make taking the plunge unnecessarily hard.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“What is it to succeed in yoga? Success in yoga means finding the smile buried deep beneath the pain and discomfort of any moment. Success in yoga is knowing that others were able to find a smile beneath their pain and discomfort because you were near. Success in yoga is speaking to yourself and others with compassion and kindness, even when you want to wield your words as weapons. Success in yoga is to listen more than you speak. Success in yoga is when mindfulness celebrates the joyful moments and
becomes a refuge for the painful ones. Success in yoga is to be grateful even for your pain, suffering, and challenges. Success in yoga is willingly taking the time to put the needs of another ahead of your own. Success in yoga is feeling fear rattle your bones and then doing it anyway. Success in yoga is not only finding your purpose in life, but also finding the courage and passion to live that purpose. Success in yoga is remembering that it was never about the number of times you fell but rather the number of times you got back up.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“Once we understand cause and effect, we can stop complaining about the effects of our choices. We can start making more mindful decisions about the thoughts we entertain, the actions we perform, the people with whom we
associate, and the quality of life we want to live.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“إن الجهاد الحسن هو الذي نخوضه باسم أحلامنا عندما نكون شبابا .. تتفجر أحلامنا في داخلنا بكل عزيمتها ولا تنقصنا الشجاعة اطلاقاً .. لكننا لم نتعلم بعد كيفية النضال .. وحين نخلص الى تعلمها بعد جهود مضنية نكون قد فقدنا الطاقة على الكفاح عندئذ نرتد على انفسنا ونصبح ألد أعدائنا .. نتذرع قائلين أن احلامنا طفولية وعويصة على التحقيق أو أنها ثمرة جهلنا لحقائق الحياة .. فنقتل أحلامنا لأننا نخاف من خوض الجهاد الحسن”
― Paulo Coelho, ّحاج كومبوستيلا

“The mind is the only level at which any lasting change can occur—it is the soil in which we plant our hopes and fears, habits, and patterns. What we plant in the mind will grow and bear fruit. Just as it would be pointless to complain about a carrot seed failing to produce a tomato, it is equally pointless to look at the garden of your life and complain about what you see growing there. We have to be willing to plant different seeds.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“Just as a hug is the only way to express yourself when words are inadequate,mudras, or gestures, convey profound spiritual experiences that cannot adequately be expressed verbally. The most powerful,universal and healing mudra is a smile. When we overflow with joy, we cannot help but smile spontaneously. And when we are mired in doubt, fear, anxiety, and depression, a smile creates a map in the mind that leads us home to that joy that is hidden in even the darkest moments of our life. It is one thing to know that joy is possible in any moment—in any situation. It is another
skill entirely to know when to find that joy when your world is crumbling around you. The map is with you always—just smile!”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living

“Guilt is like tarnish on a piece of silver. It effectively obscures beauty and radiance, but can never lessen its true value. Just as the true beauty and value of silver is revealed with a little bit of polish, your true worth will shine with regular spiritual practice.”
― Darren Main, The River of Wisdom: Reflections on Yoga, Meditation, and Mindful Living