Imagine living in a world where nothing ever got finished. Great meals would be chewed, but not swallowed. Snow would fall, but not melt. And soap operas would be never ending. Well, some things wouldn’t change.
In such a world, not only would life be unsatisfying, but chaos and anarchy would quite likely prevail. Fortunately, we live in an orderly universe. When we stop medaling with most things, they just naturally cycle gracefully through some form of beginning to a point of completion. Yoga is a way to practice watching these cycles, and gradually we begin to feel a sense of deep down contentment when we allow ourselves to experience cycles as they arise. Watching the inhale and exhale, birth and death, expansion and contraction–we begin to find true satisfaction in life itself.
Then, why is it so tempting, when practicing yoga, to skip or short change the finishing postures? During the practice, we’re exhilarated by our latest contortion–sweating and squeezing to get that last quarter inch. We watch ourselves, strengthening, lengthening and toning. Life outside the studio may even seem to improve. So when that last half hour of asana practice rolls around, the lure of just a couple more active postures to keep the flow going and eek out little more of the good stuff, can be too difficult to resist.
But like so many aspects of yoga, ordinary logic doesn’t apply. In this case, more rigor and fancy poses don’t necessarily net a better result. Although a great deal can be said for the benefits of achieving deeper backbends, or more intelligent joints, the most enduring result of a good practice is in how the connection to the core spills out into all aspects of life to bring balance, compassion and clear mindedness.
In the Ashtanga yoga system, after the final back bend and forward bend, each practice is concluded with a finishing sequence. This portion of the practice contains twelve postures, beginning with sarvangasana (shoulder stand), and ending with savasana (the corpse). The finishing series is where we absorb the benefits of the practice. Traditionally, even beginners who don’t complete a full series are guided through these postures–or variations of the full poses. Because Ashtanga yoga is such a rigorous form, devoting ample time to the finishing postures is paramount.
As the mind turns deeply inward during the finishing postures, the body’s natural intelligence assimilates the information, the feelings, and the sensations that arise during the practice. The residue of the practice is processed so that valid and lasting change takes place, both on and off the mat. When we shorten or skip the finishing postures, this final step in the cycle of practice is incomplete. Just as we would gain little or no nourishment from a meal that is chewed, but not swallowed, when we truncate the finishing postures the true benefit of the practice is compromised.
None the less, for various reasons, bypassing the finishing postures is a phase many of us go through. First, when the finishing sequence is practiced properly, it takes at least 30 minutes, and that’s a big chunk out of a busy day. Also, if we practice with even a hint of attachment to getting a work-out or going more deeply into poses, it may seem like a waste of time to devote one third of our practice to these postures of stillness. We may also avoid the finishing postures because they are subtle and difficult poses. All of them, but in particular the shoulder stand and head stand, demand proper alignment to avoid injury. We may find ourselves skipping shoulder stand altogether, for example, if after years of improper alignment in the pose we wake up one day with a reversed cervical curve.
Probably the most popular reason we avoid the finishing postures is that it is here that the mind can truly dissolve. It sounds good on paper that yoga is freedom–that our conditioned mind is the great captor, and that yoga will emancipate us from its grip. But when it comes time for the mind to actually let go and surrender, it will do virtually anything to avoid the process of dissolution. And this is where we run into one of the catch 22’s of our practice–it is the mind which brings us to the mat and the very same mind that is required to dissolve if we are to truly benefit.
Learning to surrender to the finishing postures, like virtually everything else in yoga, it’s just a matter of time. For starters, at the beginning of each practice, we can set the intention to give time and attention to the final poses. By allowing at least fifteen breaths in each of the finishing postures, we create space for the mind to relax. Eventually–even if just for a flash of an instant–it feels like the brain of the practice is in our core rather than in our thoughts. This feeling of release may not happen the first time we do longer finishing postures, but it will. It’s a visceral feeling of truth and calm that pervades when the ego dissolves and we merge with the breath.
Another valuable step towards developing our finishing posture practice is to notice how we’re feeling after a class or a practice. When we’ve gone deeply and assimilated the practice by surrendering to the breath in the core of the body, we feel better physically, emotionally, and mentally. By consciously observing how our yoga practice spills out into other aspects of our lives, we can recognize patterns of feeling, thought and sensation that arise after different types of practice. We’ll begin to see how certain practices facilitate a kinder, more compassionate, less ego centered self, and that other practices perpetuate our less integrated, more ego centered, more agitated self.
When we don’t complete the cycle of the practice by allowing ample time for the finishing postures, or when we don’t surrender to the postures deeply, we emerge from practice in a non-yogic state. This can manifest as behaviors and feelings that are angry, aggressive, tense, confused, arrogant–a general state of imbalance. When we do allow for the benefits of the practice to unfold in the context of the final phase of the practice, we can taste the juice of truth and insight that are the nourishment of yoga. It is this taste of freedom, which we find only at the very tail end–when we actually finish a practice–that keeps us coming back to the mat.
sarvangasana (shoulder stand), halasana (theplough), karna pidasana (squeezing the ears pose), urdhva padmasana (upturned lotus), pindasana (the embryo), matsyasana (the fish), uttana padasana (upwardly stretched legs pose), sirsasana (headstand), baddha padmasana (bound lotus), yoga mudra (the seal of yoga), padmasana (lotus), utplathih (uprooting) and savasana (the corpse)