Judith Lasater is a major
figure in American yoga. Her book, 30 Essential Yoga Poses for Beginning
Students and Their Teachers is mostly a book about yoga movement, but other aspects of yoga weave
throughout the text. The thirty poses
and their variations provide lots of choices for practitioners. There are a bunch of sequences laid out at the
end of the book as well if a person does not want to figure out how to fit the
poses together into a full practice.
Lasater very much
approves of props for the access they can provide to challenging poses. In her sequences, she often begins with a propped
version of a pose to allow the body to accustom itself to what’s going on
before moving into the full version. Her
directions are clear and the photographs do a great job of depicting the goals
of the poses.
Her text provides plenty
of context for the poses, both in terms of how the body moves and how the mind
copes with the various challenges. I
ended up in a fascinating discussion with a colleague about the way shoulders
work as a result, which is certainly nerdy, but useful.
Perhaps the best aspect
of the book is the tone. Lasater manages
to encourage and soothe at the same time.
Poses that seem daunting at first become approachable because of her
guidance. She also emphasizes rest and
relaxation as essential parts of yoga practice.
Definitely worth reading
carefully and referring to often!
