Amanda Beard Quotes

The mind is absolutely instrumental in achieving results, even for athletes. Sports psychology is a very small part, but it's extremely important when you're winning and losing races by hundredths and even thousandths of a second.

[Yoga] never calms me. Ever. But it certainly helps me prevent something.

I meditate. I've been a meditator since, I think I was doing it unofficially before all my life and then began to formalize it somewhere around 14.

Yoga is at the core of my health and wellness routine; even if it's only for 10 to 15 minutes I find it helps me to re-center and to focus as well as improve my overall core strength.

If you are humble, your concentration will be very high. That's the way to go in sports.

Yoga disciplines both the mind and the souls and not just your body. It helps me in having a constant positive outlook in life. I would love my family to adopt this form of fitness as well.

Keeping my emotions in check translates to me playing a lot better.

That daydreaming seemed important at the time, but when I asked my teacher Katagiri Roshi about it, he said, "Oh, it's just laziness. Get to work." But as for discipline, I don't even use that word. I think more about passion or love. What I've really learned is the way the mind moves, and how the mind works. Rather than discipline, I know how to seduce my mind.

What I love most about yoga is that you can make it whatever you need it to be. For me, it's a time set aside to pay attention to the stress, concerns, and tension that may have infiltrated my system.

The power of the human will to compete and the drive to excel beyond the body's normal capabilities is most beautifully demonstrated in the arena of sport.

Yoga is somewhat hard to quantify in terms of benefits because you see them in all the injuries you don't get.

I do Pilates and yoga to stay in front of the curve. I feel like it's helping me. Does it work for everybody? I don't know. I'm not a guru on how to be in the best condition. Let me sit here and tell you that. But it works for me.

Yoga isn't just about the body, it's also about the mind and it's a technique that has really helped me.

If you cultivate your body, your mind, your emotions, and your energies to a certain level of maturity, meditation will blossom.

I do love exercise. I do love yoga, which keeps my body nice and healthy.

I teach that the foundation for our practice is being able to go inward and disconnect from the busyness of our thoughts, that focusing the mind on bodily sensations and breath will ground us in the present moment. Yoga is about realizing who you really are, aside from your persona.

Yoga does things with the human body that defy the imagination.

Yoga is a philosophy of discipline and meditation that transforms the spirit and makes the individual a better person in thought, action, knowledge and devotion.

We cannot expect to be in control of the circumstances in our lives when we cannot control our minds for five minutes. Meditation is the daily minimum requirement that will prevent us from breaking down and falling apart at the most inopportune moments. It is the art of listening. It is a practice which enables us to tune in and fine-tune the key areas of our lives: the mind and the spirit.

I practice yoga and take a steam-filled bath or shower. Then I sit quietly and review and prioritize my to-do list.

The mental ability to concentrate is inherent to all; it is not extraordinary or mysterious. Meditation is not something that a Yogi has to teach you; you already have the ability to shut out thoughts.

Meditation depends upon the strength of mind. It must be unceasing even when one is engaged in work. Particular time for it is meant for novices.

I want to be one of the greatest athletes ever to live, not only in track and field, but in all of general sport.

Meditation does not mean just sitting quietly for five or ten minutes. It requires conscious effort. The mind has to be made calm and quiet; at the same time, it has to be vigilant so as not to allow any distracting thoughts or desires to enter.

I'd say a little over a year ago I started doing TM and that's really changed everything. Starting your day off with that and ending with that is pretty powerful. Twenty minutes, you just notice the difference. When I get lazy and don't get it in, I can feel a difference. I do it first thing when I wake up.