What holding a pose can reveal about your presence, your practice, and your life.
Have you ever been in one of those classes where the teacher gets you into the pose, rattles off some good dialogue, and then – boom – “Change!”?
It might not be obvious at first, but then you hear a comment like this from Bikram:
“There is a big difference when you hold 5 seconds more or less.”
That holding – the pause, the stillness, the staying – is what makes the difference.
When I was most recently with Bikram in Thailand, he added something that deepened this even more:
“Mind, body, spirit together – freeze in each phase.”
It makes sense, doesn’t it?
It’s not “get into posture and unravel out of it.”
The pose is: proper entry.
The pose is: stillness.
The pose is: breathing normal.
And the pose is: exiting the same way you went in.
I often hear students say, “You hold the postures longer than other teachers.”
Hmm. Not really.
I think it’s like anything in life – we can get ahead of ourselves. Rush the process. Anticipate the end. But when we do that, we never really get there in the first place.
I know this personally. I wasn’t truly present until I realized how not present I was.
The moment is the moment. Not a millimeter before or after.
I remember Emmy Cleaves, one of the most senior teachers in our lineage, saying in class – so simply, so perfectly:
“Be the first one in, and the last one out.”
That’s true in posture.
That’s true in presence.
That’s true in life.
Even reading this right now – are you here? Fully?
Or are you skimming, half-in, half-out, your mind jumping ahead?
How often do we re-read something not because it wasn’t clear – but because we weren’t really there the first time?
Another key factor in this practice is pacing.
Goodness, the dialogue is brilliant for that alone.
Say the words in the right order, with the right timing – not more, not less – and it helps the student hold the asana.
In stillness.
Breathing always normal.
As teachers, much of the dialogue is description.
And while we describe, the student is doing what?
Holding.
Breathing.
Staying.
If the pace is too fast, they miss it.
Too slow, they lose it.
90 minutes of just-right pacing becomes a powerful moving meditation.
Like I wrote in another post: they’ll walk out not even knowing their own name.
And here’s one more point – it’s a little tender, but that’s why we’re here.
There’s a reason we rush out of a pose.
Why we fidget. Why we don’t hold.
Stillness is uncomfortable.
Stillness makes us feel.
Pain.
Anxiety.
Fear.
Presence.
It reminds me of therapy I did in college – root-level, Monday-night, no-hiding kind of therapy.
Five of us, sitting in a circle for four hours.
One night, the therapist, Bob, kept questioning me. I don’t even remember what I said. But I’ll never forget what he said:
He slammed his notebook on the floor and shouted:
“I don’t care what you think, Michele. I want to know what you feel – right now.”
That moment didn’t hit me in the head.
It hit me in the mind.
I was so detached from presence – so focused on where I thought I should be – that I wasn’t actually there.
That night cracked something open. But it’s yoga that’s kept me open.
It’s yoga that helps me stay here.
That helps me feel.
That helps me hold.
90 minutes a day.
Over and over.
Until the story that gets in the way of presence… falls away.
And what’s left?
Clarity.
Relief.
Joy.
You.
Like Bikram said:
“Big, BIG difference when you hold 5 seconds more or less.”