The Beginner’s Mind

I hope you all had a nice weekend! While I was away I spent quite a bit of time in the familiar and also a lot of time in the unfamiliar. I noticed how my mind felt less burdened and stressed when I was exploring new places so since I returned home I have tried to deploy that same practice. This is called The Beginner’s Mind.

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities but in the experts mind there are few.” — Shunryu Suzuki

The concept of the Beginner’s Mind is to approach a situation as if it were new; shedding pre conceptions and approaching it with objectivity instead. This open-mindedness can foster the development of new skills, better decision-making tactics, and greater empathy. When we approach a situation with all-knowingness (like that of an ‘expert’) it is quite limiting in practice.

Our yoga practice is a perfect way to “practice” looking at something familiar with a fresh perspective. That is what I offered to students; to think about the poses as if they were doing them for the first time– to let go of the pressure and judgment they put on themselves, the expectations to achieve or “be the best”. When we try something for the first time we have acceptance of where we are and we can approach it objectively. We entered into poses a little differently than usual; like taking a different drive to a familiar place– it offers us the chance to see it as new again. I was excited to see that two students this week “achieved” a peak pose for the first time. I believe it was because they approached the poses and their practice with an open mind, the Beginners Mind. 

Off the mat, this practice works the same way. Often we “predict” the outcome of a situation and that shapes how we approach it. When we use the beginners mind and strip away our judgements two things can happen; we can drill down to a connection with what is the most important thing and we get to see familiar experiences as fresh and new again. 

When deploying the Beginner’s Mind, it is not that we pay no attention to our past experiences, rather we re-apply it to each new circumstance with an open mind. This is how we keep those “many possibilities”  available in both the heart and the mind. I am wishing you the gifts of the Beginners Mind this week.