Judith Hanson Lasater is a physical therapist with a PhD in East-West psychology and over forty years of practising and teaching yoga. She is known as “the queen of restorative yoga”.
Origins
She studied extensively with B.K.S. Iyengar, who introduced her to props, which were controversial in the US in 1974. She began teaching restorative yoga almost by accident: during a power cut in Canada, she improvised a class with bolsters.
When her twin brother died on their 45th birthday, she practised almost only restorative yoga for a year. In 1993 she published Relax and Renew.
Her ideas
- Stillness: with overstimulated nervous systems, rest is a necessity, not a luxury.
- Intention: an asana’s meaning comes from intention, not movement alone.
- Self-forgiveness: forgiving yourself brings softness to practice and makes forgiving others possible.
- Practice as a mirror: how we practise reflects how we live.
- A perpetual beginner: that is how she describes herself.
One of her questions for life: what am I allowing to have my attention right now?
