To advance, become a beginner
Want to become more advanced? Well then, you’re going to need to become a beginner again.
By Andrea Marcum
There’s a saying that we begin again every time we step onto our mat. So, whether you are brand new and literally stepping onto your mat for the first time, or years into your yoga practice, we are all essentially beginners together. The beauty of being a beginner is the ‘beginner’s mind’. The mind of a beginner is one that is open and ready to learn. It’s not bogged down with what it thinks it already knows. There is a fresh, newness to everything.
Becoming a beginner is nothing new
Seeking a wide-open beginner’s mind in the face of our stories, prejudices and excuses is nothing new to us humans. The Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Hindu scripture and an important historical yogic text written sometime between the fifth and second century BCE, is the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna before the start of the Kurukshetra war. From a yogic point of view, it addresses the tension between our easily distracted senses and pre-existing impressions, and the clarity of intuition that is part of an uncluttered beginner’s mind.