Transitions - the journey or the destination?

Our life is full of transitions. These include being born, starting school, leaving school, starting relationships, ending relationships, starting work or study, ending work (retirement) or study, entering menopause and ending menopause.  In fact, the Buddhist tradition believes our whole life is simply a transition from birth to death.

How many of these transitions get fully acknowledged?  Some of these may do as we celebrate leaving primary and secondary school with special assemblies and evenings. We have a graduation ceremony to celebrate the end of study. But what about the end of a relationship? The end of our childbearing years? The end of menopause? Some of these life transitions can get lost as we focus on what is next – i.e. the future rather than taking time to reflect on the ending of a part of our life.  

Our yoga practice is also full of transitions as we move from one pose to another, or from asana to meditation. How much attention do we give the transition from one pose to another vs simply being in one pose and then arriving in another  - again with that focus on the destination rather than savouring and celebrating the journey getting there.

So what exactly is a transition?

The Oxford Dictionary describes a transition as “the process or a period of changing from one state to another”.

And as humans, we have a tendency to gloss over these transitions, this process of changing from one state to another.  Our focus is often on what we have been doing eg the focus is on the past, eg that meeting we just attended and what occurred in it.  Or the focus is on the future eg the yoga class we are heading towards. And we can be so focused on the past and the future (the destination) that we miss the journey between the two and the beauty of being in the present moment.

When we arrive for that yoga class, we often arrive in a rush and just jump right in without really spending the time to really arrive. We might do the same when we leave – we roll our yoga mat up and jump into our car and drive off with our focus on where we are going next, without acknowledging the process of leaving.

And we can do the same in our yoga class. We can tend to gloss over the transitions when we are teaching or practicing yoga. We can be so focused on where we are going eg getting into a certain pose, that we can ignore being in the present moment and enjoying the journey of getting to that pose.  Do we transition gracefully?  Do we finish one pose completely before we start moving into the next or is there just a blur between the two, neither recognising the end of one pose and the  beginning of another.

And missing these life (and yoga) transitions or not being in the present can contribute to life feeling too full and busy.

I just spent a weekend at a cancer retreat with Aratiki Trust (I’ll reflect on this in my next blog). We practiced meditation led by a teacher ordained in the Soto Zen Buddhist tradition. Their practice acknowledges the transition of entering into meditation.  This includes pausing at the doorway into the meditation room and bowing. This is a pause and acknowledging leaving everyday life and transitioning into the meditation space. Then there is a bow to the meditation seat – acknowledging self and the taking time to meditate. This is followed by a bow to fellow meditators and community. I really enjoyed this process and noticed how it brought me right into the present, into the here and now.

And when I am in the present, enjoying the here and now, life seems to slow down and feels less busy.

When I notice I am caught up in this busyness of missing the present moment, I have a favourite practice I return to, which is similar to the Zen Buddhist practice I experienced on the weekend.  

I stop and pause and take three breaths whenever I arrive somewhere. So instead of arriving home and flinging your keys in your usual place and getting caught up in what is next, you might want to arrive and pause on the doorstep and take three deep breaths and orient yourself to this new space and place. And you might tell yourself “I am arriving”.

You can also do this as you are leaving – pause and take three deep breaths as you leave a space and tell yourself “I am leaving”.

And notice how it feels to be present to those transitions, to the beauty of the present moment…. Rather than always focusing on the future, on the destination.

Try it in your yoga class. Focus on how you get from one pose to another…slow everything down….

We only have this one life so let’s not waste all those precious moments of transitions. Celebrate and stay with the here and now. And perhaps enjoy a slower, less busy life.

I’d love to hear how you get on.