Judith Hanson Lasater

Learn how to communicate with compassion and choose language that reflects your personal values and aims with this essential guide to Nonviolent Communication. Judith Hanson Lasater and Ike Lasater, long-term students of yoga and Buddhism, had studied the concepts of satya (truth) and the Buddhist principle of right speech for years but it was not until they began practicing Marshall Rosenberg's techniques of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) that the concept of speech as a spiritual practice became real for them. In What We Say Matters, the authors describe their personal journey through NVC, and detail how speech becomes a spiritual practice when you give and receive with compassion all the time--at home, at work, and in the world. They introduce the basics of NVC with clear explanations, personal examples, exercises, and resources. Some of the skills you'll learn include: - Extending empathy to yourself and others - Distinguishing between feelings and needs - Making requests rather than demands - Creating mutually satisfying outcomes - And many more This new edition includes updated resources and a preface by Judith Hanson Lasate.

The definitive guide to effective and appropriate communication through words and touch between yoga teachers and their students. Clear, effective verbal communication and judicious touch are two skills that Judith Hanson Lasater feels are essential for every yoga teacher. In Teaching Yoga with Intention, she gives pointed advice on how to interact verbally with students in class and how to appropriately use touch to make corrections. Drawing from her fifty years of yoga experience and her training in Nonviolent Communication, Lasater trains yoga teachers to effectively communicate not only technique, but also the more subtle lessons of respect, empathy, and compassion. She also shines an unflinching light on the use of touch in yoga. Teachers often use touch to create understanding and awareness in the poses. But this is a subtle art, and Lasater gives clear guidance on how, where, and when the use of touch can be used appropriately to further a student's development. In this book, Lasater also empowers students by encouraging them to take ownership of and responsibility for their practice. She covers myriad topics that can be difficult for students at any level to navigate, such as how and when to say no to an adjustment; keeping boundaries; when to leave a class; helping your teacher understand your needs; how to communicate your appreciation to your yoga teacher; and if and when to report a teacher's behavior. The skills that Lasater offers help create a safe environment for students to own their learning process, and to progress technically at their own speed.

This expert guide provides yoga teachers with the skills they need to understand how to care for and improve their voices technically, as well as how to express themselves authenticity and effectively as a teacher.Being able to give instruction clearly and with emotional intelligence is part of the personal development that each yoga teacher goes through. This book offers instruction, support and ideas on how to embark on the journey of yoga teaching with greater confidence and mindfulness. After the basics in vocal projection, inflection and intonation are covered, the book details the psychological significance of believing in your own value and finding what makes each teacher unique and accessible to their students. It includes advice on safe boundaries in the student/teacher relationship, self-care, and tips on how to deal with common teaching mishaps with grace and humour. Improvisation techniques and personal stories from other teachers help to expand the reader's skills further to create an affirming, practical guidebook for all yoga teachers.

The essential guide to correcting yoga misconceptions and avoiding injuries in your practice from Judith Hanson Lasater, a yoga instructor, physical therapist, and bodywork expert. "Tuck your tailbone to protect your back." "Increase your breath." "Pull your abdominal muscles into your backbone." Following these movement cues is often believed to benefit your yoga practice and protect your body when entering and holding poses. However, what may seem like a helpful correction can actually lead to injury or physical harm. In Yoga Myths, Judith Hanson Lasater draws on over forty years of experience as a yoga instructor and physical therapist to address the most common mistakes in our yoga practice and provide clear instructions for correcting these errors. Focusing on the eleven "myths" most detrimental to our practice, Lasater provides a comprehensive discussion of what the myth is, why it can hurt us, and how we can avoid it through step-by-step instructions and guiding photos. This book will allow you to return to the inherent wisdom, natural goodness, and spiritual wholeness of yoga and avoid life altering injuries for as long as you practice.

This restorative yoga teacher offers a programme of yoga poses to help rebalance mind and body, and combat stress.

If you think that you have to retreat to a cave in the Himalayas to find the enlightenment that yoga promises, think again. In this second edition of Living Your Yoga, Judith Hanson Lasater stretches the meaning of yoga beyond its familiar poses and breathing techniques to include the events of daily life--all of them--as ways to practice. This edition includes three new chapters (Relaxation, Empathy, and Worship), a full index, and new interior and cover designs. Using the time-honored wisdom of the Yoga Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita to steer the course, she serves up off-the-mat practices to guide you in deepening your relationships with yourself, your family and friends, and the world around you. Inspiring and practical, she blends her heartfelt knowledge of an ancient tradition with her life experiences as a daughter, sister, partner, mother, friend, and yoga practitioner and teacher. The result: a new yoga that beckons you to find the spiritual in everyday life.

Drawing on her experience as a yoga teacher and physical therapist, author Judith Lasater presents an innovative and easy-to-follow program of exercises, asana, and breathing practices. They will help you to: * understand the meaning of abdomen and belly * learn the anatomy and kinesiology of the abdomen * develop and maintain abdominal strength * honor your gut feelings In addition, she has created a special section called "Everyday Abs," where you will experiment with moving mindfully through your activites, such as driving, cooking, sweeping the floor, and more.

In Yogabody, author Judith Hanson Lasater writes, "You can't fully understand the dynamic movement of asana without first understanding the basic structure of the human body." Drawing on almost 40 years' experience as a yoga teacher and physical therapist, she focuses here on macroanatomy and kinesiology in relationship to asana practice and teaching. Organized into five parts -- the locomotor system, the vertebral column, the lower extremity, the trunk, and the upper extremity, Yogabody covers the body's bones, joints, connective tissue, nerves, and muscles. This valuable guide builds on what yoga teachers already know and enables them to quickly decide what might help their students move with more enjoyment and less difficulty. It helps yoga students understand how their own body functions. Packed with color anatomical drawings, black-and-white diagrammatic asana illustrations, and helpful charts, Yogabody is the Gray's Anatomy for yoga teachers and students.

Experience the rest of your life with restorative yoga, the supported poses, and breathing practices that will help you heal the effects of chronic stress. In Relax and Renew, the first book exclusively devoted to this work, you'll find: - In-depth guidance in Basic Relaxation Pose (Savasana), the heart of restorative practice, as well as the Centering Breath - A general restorative sequence that explores backbends, an inverted posture, a twist, cooling forward bends, and a variation of Basic Relaxation Pose (Savasana) - Sequences for busy days, including a fifteen-minute practice, yoga at your desk, and the Totally Invisible Relaxation - Programs for back pain, headaches, insomnia, jet lag, and breathing problems - A special section for women during menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause - A guide to props: what they are, where they go, how to fold and roll blankets, and around-the-house alternatives - Supplemental resources, such as where to find a yoga teacher, recommended books, magazines, newsletters, audio programs, props, yoga vacations, etc.

Presents yoga sequences to bring balance to the endocrine, nervous, digestive, and reproductive systems; increase vitality; bring relief from common conditions; and promote a calm mind and body.

Judith Hanson Lasater has been teaching an annual yoga retreat at Feathered Pipe Ranch, in Helena, Montana, for twenty-eight years. When Lasater learned that one of her students was collecting her thoughts--which she called "Judith's aphorisms"--Lasater decided to collect them in this book. Featuring one thought for each day of the year, along with a suggested practice, these brief, powerful insights reflect the author's knowledge of classic yoga philosophy and years of experience. Humorous, inspiring, and surprisingly down-to-earth, they guide seekers both on and off the yoga mat. These aphorisms address love, asana, fear, trust, expectations, pranayama, suffering, laughter, presence, the Yoga Sutra, and much more. They emphasize the experience of being present to one's self and to life's ups and downs--day by day, breath by breath, moment by moment. A Year of Living Your Yoga is a gentle invitation to readers to know themselves on a deeper level.

In 30 Essential Yoga Poses, Judith Lasater draws on her wealth of yoga practice and teaching experience, as well as her training as a physical therapist, to present this comprehensive guide for beginning students and their teachers. The author discusses yoga's ancient eightfold path and its relevance in today's world, and goes to the heart of yoga--the all-important student-teacher relationship. Thirty essential yoga poses (asana), their variations, and breathing practices (pranayama) are also provided, with guidance for the student practicing at home, and points for the classroom teacher. Sequences are presented with photographic charts for easy visual reference, and a "Mantra for Daily Practice" and glossary of anatomical terms and resources for further study are also included.