Yoga Pam: The Pose Begins...

My first class with Pam changed the way I understood myself in the world.

While I zip as quick as I can through her flow sequence, she invites the class to slow down. I sweat and ache and curse her (silently), holding each pose the minimal duration.

Then Pam utters one of the most profound insights I’ve ever heard: the pose begins when you want to come out.

This brand new idea blows the closed doors of my mind wide open - right there on the sweaty, gritty floor of the stinky gym.

So many undertakings in life are simply chores to endure and check off as fast as possible. Nobody likes cleaning the bathroom or doing burpees and power squats (do they?!). The problem isn’t trying to power through an unpleasant task quickly. That’s reasonable enough.

The problem descends when that mindset infects everything we do.

Until this moment, I haven’t realized I rush through everything I do—even stuff I actually like.

It strikes me, as I crouch there in the middle of the gym, that this is a great way to waste my life.

It also strikes me that I’m cheating at yoga. You didn’t know you could cheat at yoga?

You can.

I’m naturally flexible and pretty strong, so as a beginner it was easy to fake my way through the poses, looking good enough.

I practiced yoga like that for three years, flying under instructors’ radar, until I moved to Prana Yoga studio in Vancouver and learned that thing yogis are always nattering about… alignment. Oooooohhhhhh. There’s a way to do the poses properly.

Oops.

But once I nailed alignment, I apparently thought that was plenty good enough, coasting through the next five years of yoga, never challenging myself.

I actually mean that. Never. Challenging. Myself.

Not until that deceit-shattering class with Pam did I realize it.

So I experiment. How much farther can I go? How much discomfort can I endure? As it turns out, a LOT more than I thought.

Good to know, right?

Now I’m approaching situations from a new perspective. Whenever I have to do something difficult or uncomfortable (not cleaning the bathroom—that’s just boring—but something meaningful), I remember that the real work, the real journey, the real meaning, starts when I want to stop.

Writing. Teaching. Communicating with my partner. Everything most important to me. All those things I’d been copping out on. 

Try it sometime, starting when you want to stop. It’s like stretching your soul.

Naw, forget that. It is stretching your soul. 

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Next up - The Way You Are...

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Michelle Superle writes books plus other stuff and earns a living teaching people how to do it too. She gets her wellness on by running around with the one lovely human male and the 20 beautiful horses she lives with (one of which is named Princess Tulu!). Join Michelle through her journey back to yoga.