A graceful and honorable old age is the childhood of immortality. -Pindar
I will often say in class, "Come out of the pose as gracefully as you went into it". This is a reminder that all of the actions leading into, holding and coming out of a pose, are parts of the pose. Yoga suggests that we seek fluid intentions rather than halting decisions.
I think I've mentioned before that it was a vision of myself as an eighty-year old woman doing a headstand in the middle of a room, that took me to my first yoga class. I decided that I wanted a pliant spine to support me as I aged. I didn't think about the possibility of failing or falling or how long it would take me (although I did wonder what I would be wearing).
That simple whimsical wish, changed the course of my life. I can now do a headstand and I still have some time before my 80th birthday. Every year, I see improvements rather than decline. Of course my point of interest may be different from the norm, but it serves me.
The little girl in the photo perfectly illustrates what I have learned: I can worry about something or make a choice and go with it. Hopefully with the same glee she shows. Every choice will more than likely sprout another but I'll already be headed in the right direction. It's all a part of the pose.
What I now want to be able to do, is to go out of this life as gracefully as I came into it. It's a choice that could change the rest of my life.
Photo: -RR-