“As opposed to stretching or working out, the movement of Yoga is sacred. It embodies a holistic blending of our physical bodies, emotions, minds and souls.” ~Judith Hanson Lasater
When life gets hectic, yoga can provide refuge and relief. But to really tap into yoga’s transformative power, notes renowned yoga teacher Judith Hanson Lasater in this free download, the intention we bring to the mat is every bit as important as what we take away.
“The way we do asana is the way we do our life,” says Judith. “Are we aggressive? Are we halfway doing it? Are we resenting it? Are we loving it? Are we using it as an escape? Are we using it to manipulate ourselves away and call that discipline? It’s a mirror. The practice is neutral. The poses are neutral. And what they do is show us who we are.”
Judith further talks about how, in times that drive our nervous systems into hypervigilance, it’s important to find stillness, and give ourselves space to deepen into quiet. Without these precious times, tension creeps into our bodies, disrupts our digestion and sleep, and leaves our minds churning incessantly.
In 40+ years of teaching, writing, and exploring yoga as a scholar of Eastern Philosophy, Judith has helped thousands of students find peace and repose from within. A pioneer in the area of Restorative Yoga, creating practices that evoke stillness and calm the nervous system, she has bucked the trend in modern postural yoga that in some ways mirrors the relentless pace of modern life with challenging Vinyasa flows and face-paced classes.
However we practice, though, Judith invites us to challenge ourselves to ask not only what we can get from our Yoga practice, but what we are willing to give to it. She asks us to consider that the intentions, attitudes, hopefulness and love we bring to the mat determine the benefit we will gain.
Judith explains how the practice of Yoga really explores what it means to be a human being by inviting us to show up to our mats fully present and open to receiving whatever appears. “As opposed to stretching or working out, the movement of Yoga is sacred. It embodies a holistic blending of our physical bodies, emotions, minds and souls,” she says.
Judith shows how even in the simplest asana practice, whatever possibility we are seeking we’ll find, because everything is there. “If you just want to get strong and flexible, that’s there. If you want to cultivate a deeper practice, that’s there. The variable is not the practice; It’s not the pose, the breath, the meditation technique, or the mat,” she says.
“The variable is you and me when we choose what and how to practice. We take it through our own systems–our memories, genetics, languages, our lives. That’s when it’s transformed, when it roots in us. We are each the catalyst for our own yoga practice.”
