Yielding to the Pose

I began this past week to use the phrase: yielding to the pose in my classes without really fully understanding it's meaning. Previously when I thought of yielding, I pictured a street sign... yellow... wait...thinking of it more as a cautionary sign or something where you must pause, look both ways but continue on without necessarily stopping. 

To yield means "to bring forth or bring about; produce; give or to give up; surrender" (Webster's dictionary). Or as a noun, it means "the amount produced". I think in our power vinysasa-like American classes, we are quick to take the latter definition. How much can we yield or produce in an hour? If we do the salutation faster, is it better? If we do more of them, does that make us stronger? Becoming almost robotic in our movements from one to the next.

"There cannot be flow until there is deep stillness, a yielding within."-- Anand

When I yield to salamba sirsasana (head stand) or to a situation in life, it doesn't mean I'm weak, but that I have shown the wisdom or vision to see beyond the circumstance and view it as an observer might. When I am not yielding, I am imbalanced, giving way to my fears. But when surrender deepens, I tap into the balance of strength, the fluidity breath, and a powerful centering emerges from that grounding to the earth (muladhara chakra). Yielding holds infinite potential.