Lessons from Lawrence Pradhan

I remember meeting Lawrence a few years back at the Asia Yoga Conference. We attended lectures by Carlos Pomeda together with Marah, a Filipina HK-based yoga teacher I knew. (his girlfriend back then but wife now!)

I didn't know he was teaching Yoga and was surprised at how graceful he is! Watch video below:

Read Will Tan's testimonial as a student of Lawrence--

I got to know Lawrence when I was starting to explore my passion for Yoga back in 2012. I was very intense then, coming from my hot yoga background and working with studios that wanted to just deepen asanas. I took his weekend workshop and in the process I got to discover another side of Yoga -- go beyond the physicality of Yoga. It wasn't an instant discovery, it took a while, even during the workshop, I found myself getting frustrated if I couldn't come to the pose. every class I'd come into prior would always be giving standard cues, I'd get into the poses but there was nothing smart about how I got into it. I learned intelligent movement in the practice with Lawrence, which body, muscle, movement you need to, to come into your asana properly. This way you don't get hurt, and you go deeper into your practice. 

More than the alignment, one thing he taught me is to be soft, "have the softness quality in your practice", he would always say. I share this a lot to my students, especially the new ones who come into class thinking they want to get into a headstand the very first day of class. Of course most would not understand. What I learned is that with softness comes patience, pausing, thinking intelligently, and many more qualities that help you understand your practice, and your self more. 

In many things that we do, we need time and experience to further harness the skill. Even the most talented people will need to practice over and over again to be better at their craft. I believe that Yoga is a lifetime practice. through my teacher, and his teachers, I encourage my students to take your time, soften youself, enjoy the process, study it and having all this, allow yourself to go deeper into the stillness."

Will Tan is one of the teachers at Beyond Yoga. Lawrence will be teaching master classes at Beyond Yoga QC on Dec 12 and Beyond Yoga BHS on Dec 13. See you there!