My name is Jennifer, and I am a recovering perfectionist.
I studied piano for many years with a wonderful teacher who taught me how to make beautiful music. She did this by addressing every single note I played, describing how it should be played. I would practice over and over, for many hours, making the music I was supposed to make.
When I started doing yoga years ago, it was a vast sea of unknown to me. Every class I went to was full of newness, with surprises around every corner. I wanted to be told how it all works, and exactly what I should do. Where does that foot go? And this arm? How should I breathe?
I decided to do my teacher training program hoping to get the inside scoop. The amazing people who are teaching my Yoga Teacher Training at Sundara Yoga have a wealth of knowledge, individually and collectively, and I have learned so much from each of them. The thing that I wasn’t expecting to learn is that, often, what I’m “supposed” to do depends on what is happening inside of me. Instead of waiting for someone else to tell me I’m doing it right (or wrong), I need to begin by listening to the teacher within.
I live in my head a lot of the time. I know my mind better than anyone else, but to also be the one who knows my body and my physical experience best has been a revelation to me. Doing yoga is not about creating a perfect picture with my body, but about experiencing the moment and accepting what is. Or, as Judith Lasater says, “Yoga is not about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the way down.”
I studied piano for many years with a wonderful teacher who taught me how to make beautiful music. She did this by addressing every single note I played, describing how it should be played. I would practice over and over, for many hours, making the music I was supposed to make.
When I started doing yoga years ago, it was a vast sea of unknown to me. Every class I went to was full of newness, with surprises around every corner. I wanted to be told how it all works, and exactly what I should do. Where does that foot go? And this arm? How should I breathe?
I decided to do my teacher training program hoping to get the inside scoop. The amazing people who are teaching my Yoga Teacher Training at Sundara Yoga have a wealth of knowledge, individually and collectively, and I have learned so much from each of them. The thing that I wasn’t expecting to learn is that, often, what I’m “supposed” to do depends on what is happening inside of me. Instead of waiting for someone else to tell me I’m doing it right (or wrong), I need to begin by listening to the teacher within.
I live in my head a lot of the time. I know my mind better than anyone else, but to also be the one who knows my body and my physical experience best has been a revelation to me. Doing yoga is not about creating a perfect picture with my body, but about experiencing the moment and accepting what is. Or, as Judith Lasater says, “Yoga is not about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the way down.”
Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D. has taught yoga for over forty years. In this book she has collected some of her aphorisms and presented them, one for each day of the year, along with a suggested practice. Whether a beginner or an experienced yogi, this is Judith’s invitation to bring yoga into your life.
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