I Love Beginners!

We were all beginners at some time. Before our first step, there was lots of belly-creeping which evolved into crawling.  Then it was all about trying to get the heavy, oversized head over the tiny feet without the whole tower tipping over.  Lotta falls on the rump; some tears.  But once you got it down, you were able to walk, skip, and run, always balancing the noggin over two feet.  And maybe those feet were wearing red, patent leather, platform pumps with 5-inch heels.    

Enter your first yoga class.  Most adults we don't want to spend a lot of time crawling or bawling.  We want to be successful--right now, damn it.  I want to touch my toes today!   Why can't I balance on one foot?  If we can't, well, well, just forget yoga   It's just for skinny, ex-gymnasts anyway.  And, I don't fit into all that uber-pricey Lululemon, low-rise, muffin-top producing yoga pants.  It's this impatience and self-judgment that keeps us from sticking to yoga, as well as learning Italian, playing the guitar, painting or singing.     

On the flip side, there are beginners who come in wide-eyed and ready to sacrifice their egos, hamstrings, and shoulders to the rigors of their first class.  Here's why I love them:  they don't know what they can't do.  You can ask them to put their foot here, their hand there, and gaze over here and they will do it. They eagerly watch their neighbor and try to
recreate the pose.  No attitude and lots of enthusiasm.  But, after they've been to a few more classes, they find out what's difficult or seems impossible and the mind shuts down.  Now they have poses they've labeled "too hard" or "can't do" poses.  The more advanced in our practice, the more "can'ts" we find.  There's even the yoga adage that Beginning Students practice everything, Intermediate Students practice only the poses they like and Advanced Students practice the poses they don't like.  For me, this is so true.  As an intermediate practitioner, I definitely veer toward the poses I do well and I obviously stall, over-modify or avoid poses that are most challenging.  What poses are those, Cheryl, you ask?  It's revolved triangle, backbends and handstands--all core poses in a balanced yoga practice.  I can't avoid them forever. Now that I'm spending more time with these poses, they're getting better, but oh so slowly and not without frustration.  It's this patience, diligence, and effort is our true yoga.   

There is even a term called "beginners' mind."  It was popularized the Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, the Japanese Zen master, who in the 60's, along with a bunch of white San Franciscans, founded a San Francisco Zen Center and later Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.  Although his classic book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, refers to Zen meditation, I think it applies to life.  "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few."  Thank you, Mr. Suzuki, I couldn't have said it better.