Beginner’s Mind

“In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind, there are few.”

Several years into my yoga practice, my teacher pulled me aside after class and said, “You want all of the benefits of the practice, but you don’t want to do the work to get there.”

I was stunned and devastated. Embarrassed and called out. As someone who is empathetic and fairly sensitive, but more importantly as someone who has always been an A+ student, I rarely, if ever, received this kind of feedback. I have always prided myself on being a student who works hard, studies, does her homework, and shows up prepared. But this teacher was right.

It was one of the most direct and fierce teachings I have ever received. And it was exactly the teaching I needed to catalyze my practice.

After that class, I stopped practicing for a full year. Yes. You read that correctly. A full year.

I returned a year later at the behest of a friend. And when I returned, I made the commitment to start again with full beginner’s mind. I began again with level one, beginner classes. I returned to my mat with the assumption that I knew nothing about yoga – not the alignment, not the philosophy, not anything. I embraced what is called “not knowing” mind and listened deeply, only this time not just with my ears, but my whole body.

I re-learned the entire practice from the ground up. Literally. I started with the parts of my body that were connected to the floor. I worked from the bottom up to re-learn physical alignment and what it would take from a structural level to “do yoga” wisely rather than muscling my way through the practice, which was actually creating more stress and exhaustion and sat in direct opposition to the teachings of yoga. As the Yoga Sturas says, yoga should be steady and sweet, sthira and sukha. And was anything but steady and easeful in the postures.

This journey taught me the importance of a growth mindset. It taught me the absolute power of showing up as a true student with an empty mind and open heart that said, “teach me, I am teachable.” And it taught me what all of that discomfort, which I was desperately trying to avoid, was actually trying to show me.

The quote above, from the famous book Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind, points directly toward the importance of never discounting the basics. As yogis, we can fall into routines and habits, especially as we repeat classes, programs, and postures over, and over, and over again for years on end. This level of repetition leads to digging one well deep, which is important on the path of practice, but it can also lead to mindlessness, zoning out, assumptions, and a lack of presence as you simply go through the motions.

To avoid this, taking time to focus and return to the fundamentals and foundations of the practice (a.k.a. resting in beginner’s mind), is a key component of a longstanding practice.

I hope you will always see yourself as a beginner. And I hope you will never see this as a limitation. In fact, I believe, it is the path to freedom.

This month, as IDM TV turns our focus to supporting the basics of the practice, I hope you will join us. Each week Brittany will be leading a Beginner’s practice on the Inner Dimension Community App, and I would love for you to join as a way to reinvigorate your practice, slow down, unlearn a few mindless habits, and return to the love of what brought you to practice in the first place.

It’s a beautiful thing to be able to start again, and we are so blessed that practice, like life, gives us the opportunity every single day. So together, let’s begin again, and I will see you on the mat.

By Lauren