Beginners' Wisdom by Kathryn Arnold
Even though I've been practicing yoga for 30 years, I still consider myself a beginner. So today I sat in on the beginners' conference with Judith Hanson Lasater. Judith has an amazing ability to put me totally at ease in my body. Instead of expecting students to conform to her concept of an asana (pose), she asks us to think of her as a "consultant." She urges us to see for ourselves whether her suggestions are true for our bodies. But more than that, she sets me mentally at ease by interweaving humor and wisdom with detailed asana instruction. I left feeling like I had done more than asana: I had done true yoga. During class I jotted down these dharma nuggets of Judith's to share with fellow yoga bloggers.
Judith on finding your edge:
Practice means practicing what you can’t do, not what you can already do.
There are two kinds of pain in the world: The kind you get from doing yoga and the kind you get from not doing it.
Trying to avoid pain is a form of pain.
You must learn to discriminate between ambition and discipline. Ambition is pushing; discipline is consistency.
Judith on anatomy in Parsvakonasana:
There is no such thing as a knee. The knee receives the karma of the foot and hip.
Judith on the big picture:
We first have to understand separation in order to understand union.
May we live like a lotus at home in muddy water.
