瑜伽体式与调息的修习让我们更清晰地认识我们的身体，通过我们的“身”了解我们的“心”，并最终上达我们的“灵”。对于瑜伽行者而言，身体是生命的实验室，一个实验与研究的道场。
帕坦伽利说：体式带来身体之完善、形态之美、优雅、活力与简明，带来金刚石的坚硬与灵透。他对瑜伽的基本定义是：“Sthira surham asanam”, Sthira的意思是牢固、坚定、强韧、持久、永恒、宁静、平和与淡定。Surham的意思是喜悦、安适、慰藉与极乐。Asanam在梵文中是体式的复数形式。我曾把上述经文翻译为：“体式乃身体之强健完美，智性之恒久如一，以及灵性之仁爱慈善。”
（出自《光耀生命》，作者：B.K.S.Iyengar。）
B.K.S.艾扬格大师一生致力于传播瑜伽，身体力行实践着他所信奉的瑜伽理念。如果单凭文字去罗列出他的成就估计也需用上数十页，他留给世人的智慧语录更是多不胜数。我们先从“身”出发品读，觉知这灵性寓居之所的微妙。
1、Asanas penetrate deep into each layer of the body and ultimately into the consciousness itself.
体式深入地穿透身体的每一层，最终进入意识本身。
2、You have to fine out your own limitations. That is what yoga teaches:first to know your limitations, then to build from them.
你得找到你自己的局限，瑜伽的教诲是：首先知道你的局限，从局限中启程。
3、When you begin yoga, the unrecognized pains come to the surface. When we are able to use our intelligence to purify our bodies, then the hidden pain are dispersed.
当你开始习练瑜伽，潜伏的痛苦浮到表面。当我们能够利用智性净化我们的身体，隐藏的疼痛就被驱散了。
4、You cannot look into your mind with your eyes. In asana the eyes should be active to adjust the asana, but in breathing the ears are important in order to listen to the sound of mind’s vibration and adjust its harmony…The sound of the mind’s vibration can be perceived only by the ears. This is the penetration of introspection.
你不能以眼睛看透头脑。在体式中，眼睛应当积极地调整体式，但是在呼吸中，耳朵很重要，聆听头脑的振动，来调整它的和谐...头脑的振动声只能被耳朵感知。这就是内视的穿透力。
5、Practise asanas by creating space in the muscles and skin, so that the fine network fo the body fits into the asana.
通过在肌肉和皮肤中创造出空间来习练体式，这样，身体的精微网络系统便会与体式相适应。
6、The study of asana is not about mastering posture. It is about using posture to understand & transform yourself.
体式的学习不在于掌握姿势，而是利用姿势来理解和转变你自己。
7、Notice your eyes as well, as you hold the stretch. Tenseness of the eyes also affects the brain. If the eyes still and silent, the brain is still and passive. The eyes should be soft and sunk in.
当你在体式中保持伸展时还要留意你的眼睛，因为眼睛的紧张也会影响到大脑。如果眼睛是静止和沉寂的，头脑就会是静止和被动的，所以眼睛应该是放松和向下沉的。
8、Asanas are based on the three basic human postures of standing, sitting, or lying down. But they are not a series of movements to be followed mechanically. They have a logic which must be internalized if the posture is to be practiced correctly.
瑜伽体式基于人体的，三大基本姿势：站、坐、卧。但体式不是一系列机械的身体动作，它们具有一种内在的逻辑。要想正确地习练体式，必须用心领会这种逻辑，并且融会贯通。
9、Asanas, one of yoga’s most significant “tool”, help the sincere student develop physically and spiritually. The ancient sages believed that if you put your whole heatt into your practice, you become a master of your circumstances and time.
体式是瑜伽中最重要的“工具”之一，它帮助真诚的瑜伽学生在身心两方面发展。古代的圣哲们认为，如果你全心全意地投入瑜伽习练，你将成为自己环境和时间的主人。
10、I would like to practise yoga till my last breath, as a humble service to yoga. My only wish is to prostrate before God, surrendering my last breath in a yogic posture.
我将练习瑜伽，直到最后一口气，作为对瑜伽的谦卑的服务。我唯一的愿望是俯伏在神的面前，在一个瑜伽姿势中献上最后一次呼吸。
当修习某个体式时，若你身体的所有各个层面都能协调如一，你就会体验到心之纷扰乱得以止息，身之苦痛得以解脱。在体式中，你必须校正与调和身体以及所有情感、心理及灵性等微妙之体的各个层面。这就是圆融合一的过程。但是，我们应如何校正各个身心层面并体验圆融呢？在表面看来仅仅是将身体扭曲伸展到极端状态的体式中，我们应如何体会到内心的深刻转变呢？一切从醒觉开始。