The Stages of a Yoga Pose

When you practise yoga regularly, you’ll come to recognise that the poses have stages. Donna Farhi writes about these in her book ‘Bringing Yoga to Life’, which I’d highly recommend if you haven’t already read it, and whilst the names of each stage I mention in this post are those given by her, the descriptions are my own and reflect my experiences through my own practice.

Whilst these stages can be experienced in different styles of yoga, I’ve found that it’s easier in a yin yoga practice because you get more time to observe. Yin yoga also enables you to fine-tune your awareness; to become increasingly more attentive to what’s happening in body, mind and spirit and to develop greater awareness and a relaxed form of concentration.

Here are the five stages:

Feeling what is

In the first stage your attention begins to settle like the grains in a moving sand picture when the frame has been turned upside down. Just like the grains of sand descending, this happens gently and without force. You practise extending compassion towards yourself if feelings of frustration, tightness, tension or disappointment arise and as a result your practice can transform into a place of welcoming and kindness.

Feeling where you’re stuck

As you come into a yin pose you’re likely to meet your ‘edge’ – the point beyond which it may not be possible or advisable to go. These are often noticed as physical edges, but they may also be mental, emotional or energetic. If you reach a physical edge which is there because of your skeleton, this won’t change over time. However, if the inability or unwillingness is due to tension or a habitual pattern of physical holding, it may soften over time. This may be the time you spend in a pose during one yin practice or the time you spend in many yin practices.

Joining with the breath

Once you’ve found your edge, the next stage is to find your breath. You might notice the different stages of the breath – not just the inhalation and the exhalation but the spaces between as well. As you pay more and more attention to your breathing you’ll find greater union between your body, your mind and your breath.

Moving into stillness

Once you’ve found your edge and your breath, you let yourself become still. Don’t worry about needing to stay as still as a statue – that’s not what this means! You’re looking to avoid mindless movements that distract you from your practice but moving with purpose and intention if your body yields or asks you to back away is part of your practice and you become more attuned to these signals with practice. As you surrender to the pose, layers drop away and you become stillness.

Refine your relationship with your life force

As you hold a yin pose for time (often several minutes), you can enable your life force energy, or prana or Qi, to flow through you with greater ease by stimulating the lines of energy that form your subtle body. Energetic blockages or stagnations can be freed up and as you come out of pose you may notice the flow of fresh energy as a tingling, surging or warm sensation.

Each time you practice, you can cycle through these stages and observe your relationship to each. Perhaps one comes easier to you than the others, or maybe one of the cycles is more obvious in one pose than another. How can you continue to cultivate a relaxed sense of awareness as you practice?