Beginner’s Mind

When I come to the practice of yoga, or anything that I have done over and over again, it is easy to get dull and think I know it all, when in truth, I have a completely new body each day. I can discover something new in every practice. “The more I live my life, the less I know.”


I feel my best when I approach my life as if I were a child. My eyes are open to the present and what is happening in the moment. See if when you enter into any situation you think you know, you can shift your perspective to beginner’s mind.


 Dig up an old childhood picture of yourself, and connect with that innocence. There is a part of you that is untouched and that is exactly the same as it was when you were 3 years old. Connecting to that place within is very helpful to developing a childlike wonder. I love to look at these pics of me as a girl and adore her sweetness and her joy.


We all get to be beginners again. Even in the end. When my father was going through chemotherapy, after years of yogic mastery over his physical and etheric body, he seemed frightened as he went into anyphylactic shock caused by the drugs. I remember looking right into his eyes, and saying "just another way to be in the body, just learning another way to be in the body, everything's going to be okay".


Today, write a letter to that person you always carry inside. Let her or him know that it all turns out okay, and share all of the love and wisdom that you have to offer.