Goodbye, Lotus Pose

by Nina

Trees in the Ocean by Brad Gibson

Today in my weekly yoga class, my teacher asked me to demonstrate a pose—Marichyasana 2—that I used to be able to do. But because the arthritis in my right hip prevents me from taking Half Lotus position (which I used to do with ease), I had to turn him down. It got me thinking. Naturally, not being able to get into Half Lotus on one side also means that Full Lotus is also unavailable to me. Even if one day I get a hip replacement (I’m hoping that won’t be necessary because so far I’m not getting any worse, thanks in part to yoga), I still won’t be able to do Lotus. So, well, that’s it for me, folks! 

As some of you may know by now, I’ve been working on non-holding (see Non-Holdiing (Aparigrapha)) by getting rid of objects that I have no use for but to which I have an emotional attachment. So I decided today that I should just let go of Lotus pose (and all its variations, such as, Arda Padma Paschimottansana) in the same spirit. And I said to myself, “Goodbye, Lotus pose.”

For most of us long-time yoga practitioners, some poses that we used to be able to do will become inaccessible to us as we grow older. And in a culture that tends to value the ability to do showy and athletic yoga poses, this can be hard. I recently wrote a special post for a reader who felt terrible sadness about what she saw as the loss of her practice (see Practicing with Pain). People who start yoga later in life may just need to rule out certain types of poses entirely. Yet the ability to do these kinds of poses has no relationship to the rewards we can reap from the practice.

A few days ago, a long-time friend who is in his late seventies was telling me about how he had to give up tennis, which he loved, because it was so hard on his joints. But the thing about yoga is that even as I let go of certain showy poses, I’ll never have to give up the practice. The rich repertoire of poses, modifications, and props ensures that people of any ability will benefit from the practice, even those who are profoundly disabled. If you can breathe, you can do yoga.

And the practice of letting go of poses we can no longer do or poses we will never be able to do—of non-holding—may help strengthen us to weather the other losses that life inevitably holds in store for us with equanimity and grace.