The exit is part of the posture

October 11, 2015 2:46 PM

Every yoga pose contains four essential stages.

Setup,
transition, asana and exit.

But in
our laziest and most impatient moments, we only practice the first three.
Because exiting the posture requires mindfulness, alignment, focus, patience
and understanding. And after sixty seconds of twisting our body into a sweaty
yoga pretzel, we’re so tired and cramped and hot, that the last thing we want
to do is come out gracefully.

And so, in those final ten seconds, we simply
give up. Our posture collapses. Tired eyes drop to the floor and weary legs
flop out like rag dolls.

Kathump. Screech. God damn it. This pose sucks.
Where’s my coconut water?

I’ve been practicing yoga for eight years, and I
still botch the exit almost every time in standing
head separate leg. It’s just too much work. Consider this excerpt from the
instructor dialogue:

Maintain your grip, abs engaged, keep your chin down, eyes
stay open, exhale slowly, stay in control, push your big toe down into the
floor, round up slowly, inhale slowly, keep the arms straight by the ears, turn
ninety degrees, face forward, legs back together, exhale slowly, let the sweat
drip, stand perfectly still.

Who has
time for all of that?

But then I remember what my teacher once told me. The exit is part of the posture. It’s
not some optional extra bonus movement at the end of the pose. It is the pose.
How we come out is just as important as how we go in.

I have a colleague who’s
been talking about writing a book since we first met. She has the title and the
website and the outline and the publisher and the marketing plan all queued up
and ready to go. But every time I call to check up on the book’s status, she
admits that she still hasn’t written a word. Ten years, and still a blank page.
Which means her book will probably never see the light of day.

It
simultaneously breaks my heart and drives me mad. Because she hasn’t yet
realized, the exit is part of the posture. It’s not just a yoga lesson, it’s a
life lesson. In any endeavor or project or task or relationship, there are
similar stages. Setup, transition, asana and exit. We may not use those exact words to describe them, but the stages
still exist. And we do a disservice to ourselves and the people around us when
we leave out that last crucial step.

Learn to come out of posture gracefully.
Follow through with mindfulness, focus and patience. The coconut water will
still be there when you’re done.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How are you exits?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

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* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com