Judith Hansen Lasater is an author and yoga instructor who has been practicing her passion for yoga since 1971. She is the president and co-founder of the California Yoga Teachers Association, the Iyengar Institute of San Francisco (the first one in the United States) and serves on the advisory boards of the Yoga Journal and the Yoga Research and Education Center in San Francisco.
Lasater’s interest in yoga began in her early twenties while she was still a graduate student. She suffered from severe arthritis and was searching for a way to relieve her pain. While working at her local YMCA, she had the opportunity to take yoga classes and noticed immediate relief from her painful arthritic symptoms. It was a life-changing experience. Lasater immediately began practicing yoga and found her calling. When she discovered yoga, it was as though a light bulb went off and she realized that yoga could lead to overall well-being.
Lasater views yoga as an act of kindness to oneself and a form of worship that focuses on the body, not religion. She has a warm, non-judgmental approach to teaching and views each student as a separate individual with unique needs. She trained in India in the methods of B.K.S Iyengar and uses this method to instruct yoga teachers. She also includes kinesiology, yoga therapeutics and the Yoga Sutra of the San Francisco Bay Area in her teaching style.
Lasater is the author of six books, including: A Year of Living Your Yoga, Yoga Abs, Yoga for Pregnancy, 30 Essential Yoga Poses, Living Your Yoga and Relax and Renew. She is a contributing writer to the Yoga Journal. She has a Master's in Government from the University of California, San Francisco and a PhD in East-West Psychology. She is also a practicing physical therapist.
~ Amanda Miller
Lasater travels extensively and has given workshops and instructed students in Mexico, Peru, France, Russia, Japan and the United States. When she is not traveling, she resides in California and is the mother of three grown children.
