“Memories create impressions in the mind and at a later time come to the surface, either when we want them or sometimes even when we do not want them.”

–Sri Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

“While memory is indispensable to progress, it can also be an obstacle, or screen, to perception, because it is linked to prejudice, cultural conditioning, and our own desires.”

–Bernard Bouanchaud, The Essence of Yoga

“The process of yoga includes the gradual replacement of harmful or negative memories with helpful or positive ones. Whatever receives attention will strengthen, and whatever we pay no attention to will weaken.”

–Nicolai Bachman, The Path of the Yoga Sutras

“Our concepts and ideas need to be carefully weeded and released on a regular basis so that our consciousness can keep evolving. Without this constant vigilance, we find we live with stored memories that anchor us in the past.”

–Nischala Joy Devi, The Secret Power of Yoga

“The function of memory is to remember, recollect, and recognize. These points of memory can be used for progression or regression. If it is used as a base toward refinement, it enables progress. If a person lives in memory and does not make constructive use of it, then his acts become repetitive and stale.”

–BKS Iyengar, Core of the Yoga Sutras

“We learned at the outset that yoga is the stilling of the mind’s activity. Since remembering activates our subconscious impressions, we need to learn how to stop this from happening…. Here it is important to understand that yoga is not about repression. Rather, it is about cultivating the equanimity that leaves the impressions powerless to affect us.”

–Devadatta Kali, Managing the Mind