When Should I Come Out?
- Jul 15
- 14 min read
"When should I come out of the pose?" is a common question, especially when I prompt a client to exit a pose when the timing "feels right." When given the responsibility of when to choose to exit, the experience of the pose changes.
This question is closely linked to "Where should I be feeling this?" If we know that answer, then when to exit the becomes clearer. But noticing sensations can actually make them amplify: you feel hotter, your muscles ache, time seems to slow, and suddenly you're thirsty. It's then that I might ask you to slow your breathing, notice the thoughts and sensations, but let them go. This article discusses the science and yoga's wisdom tradition behind enduring discomfort, fatigue and intensity.
Holding a pose challenges us physically, but also psychologically. Yoga asks us to pay attention to sensations, to stay present and to hone our skills of discernment (viveka). Other fitness pursuits may champion pushing through, or perceive the body as an obstacle to your goals. I believe that the power of yoga as a movement practice lies in this stipulation, that you pay attention, be present, and learn to self-regulate in order to love and honor yourself as body.
The Body is the Way
Hatha Yoga embraces the body as a means to enlightenment, rather than the obstacle. Liberation (mukti) can be achieved while in the body, and asana purifies and prepares the body for reaching these deeper states (Keller, 2007). Around 1000CE, Hatha Yoga arose in response to the perceived limitations of trying to reduce suffering or achieve enlightenment by withdrawing from the senses and meditating for long periods without first preparing the body for that arduous task. Hatha yogis tapped into the senses to facilitate presence.
Purify the Body; Prepare the Mind
Hatha yogis sought to cleanse the body of its 'impurities' to achieve a mentally receptive (sattvic) state (Keller, 2007). When the body and mind are comfortable and aligned, the breath (prana) flows well; it can be directed to achieve higher states of awareness (Keller, 2007). Nowadays, people often come to yoga for stress relief. Stretching and moving in a slow controlled way while breathing steadily calms the nervous system and reduces stress (Gard, 2014). Aligning the body-having good form-allows the breath to flow freely. Releasing chronically held tension, centering the joints and moving rhythmically soothes the body and mind. All of this is best achieved if we stay present, noticing sensations and responding or abiding appropriately.
Asana is a Firstly a Physical Practice
Staying present during asana can include tracking sensations, quality and rate of breath, and how readily your body can return itself to homeostasis after intensity. While in the pose (asana), we are looking to feel broad swaths of sensation through the muscle belly (areas of intended stretch, weight-bearing, and/or through extended limbs). It is appropriate, safe and advised to feel muscles working. Yoga is not always about relaxing or letting go. It's about engaging the 'just right' amount of effort for a task (steadiness/sthira), and training yourself to release unnecessary tension (ease/sukha), even when the task is hard physically or psychologically. The practice teaches us how to navigate the tricky terrain of avoiding self-harm while not retreating to the couch out of fear of the discomfort of exercise.
Don't Stretch your Joints
It IS time to exit the pose if you feel sensation in a joint, particularly if you only feel joint sensation and not muscular stretch. Students love to stretch an area that hurts; they often tell me that it feels like they are 'working' the area. They misinterpret their self-inflicted pain as a good thing; that they are making the area stronger. That area is not "working"; that sensation is the body's warning system to back off aggravating or destabilizing the joint or overstretching a muscle pulled to its limit. The image above shows areas that should not feel sensation during exercise. Your physical practice is working well when those areas are silent.
Rating Perceived Exertion (RPE): Fatigue and Intensity
However, if your alignment (also called form) is good, your muscles should be working and there should be a level of appropriate effort, and a safe level of stretch. Scientists use a scale called Perception of Effort to assess if perceived states of exertion match up with actual physiological markers. Perceptions could include how pleasant or unpleasant sensations are, but some researchers prefer a less subjective descriptors like "light and easy" or "hard and heavy" (Noble, et al, 1996). Breath rate and heart rate correlate well with perceived intensity and fatigue, but information directly from the muscles, surprisingly, doesn't (Marcora, 2009).
Hedonists: We Seek Pleasure and Avoid Pain
We can describe our sensations by their quality (sharp/dull, steady/smooth), intensity (loud/quiet/moderate), duration (momentary/constant/intermittent), and hedonicity (feels good/bad, comfortable/uncomfortable). Many students, especially those with chronic pain or injuries or with a primarily sedentary lifestyle, focus too much on the hedonistic markers. Noticing the other qualities of sensation broaden your vocabulary sensation. In the extreme, for some students, almost any unfamiliar sensation is "pain" or "painful." Staying present with sensation reframes the vast range of sensations that life offers us as more neutral enabling us to tolerate less pleasant sensations that are actually appropriate. You may be uncomfortable, breathing hard, heart rate up and feeling strong sensations, but those can be appropriate to many forms of exercise without being dangerous. The familiar slogan "No pain, no Gain" was getting at this wise distinction. In fact, avoiding pain (dvesha) and attaching to pleasure (raga) are two afflictions (kleshas) that ironically lead to more suffering (Newalkar, 2017).
The familiar slogan "No pain, no Gain" was getting at this wise distinction. Staying present with sensation reframes the vast range of sensations that life offers us as more neutral enabling us to tolerate less pleasant sensations that are actually appropriate.
Self-Regulation
Using perception of effort is tricky for some yoga practices as only some styles introduce cardio elements. Hot yoga, and stronger Vinyasa Flow will definitely elevate the breath and heart rate while Hatha Yoga or Iyengar Yoga styles use longer holds (endurance) with strong eccentric and isometric contractions. I find that students are drawn to the practice that they are more comfortable with, tolerating longer duration and muscular sensation (hatha or strength focus) or thermal discomfort and cardio (hot or vinyasa). No matter what style of yoga you practice, it will most likely have some emphasis on self-regulation: slow the breath, detach from negative thoughts, recall your intention, and surrender during savasana.
Appropriate Stretching
Yoga practices include multiple types of stretching: dynamic (moving in a controlled, slow range with repetition), static (actively engaged but no movement) and, more rarely, passive (when a teacher adjusts a student into a deeper stretch). Studies on types of stretching having conflicting conclusions about rate of injury or contributions to range of motion (Lauersen, et al. (2014). But it is generally agreed that both the student with limited range of motion and the hypermobile student are at higher risk of injury. BOTH of those demographics tend to come to group classes, making cueing and sequencing challenging for teachers trying to keep students safe. The tighter beginner student may have almost overwhelming sensations in a basic forward fold while the hypermobile student feels little to no sensation. The tighter student needs to back off, find moderate sensation and regulate their breathing while the hypermobile student needs to introduce muscle activation to reduce overstretching and stop chasing the sensation of deeper muscle lengthening.
What You're Feeling is NOT a Stretch
Students often think that any sensation they feel in a yoga class is a "stretch" just because it's yoga. For example, in Child's Pose (Balasana), some students feel sensation in their hip crease or at the back of the knee. This is not a stretch sensation. It is joint compression or impingement, both of which are to be avoided in this pose. Similarly, in Half Moon Pose (Ardha Chandrasana), sensation may be felt at the hip crease of the weight-bearing leg, especially if you're 45 minutes into a Level 3 class and you are starting to fatigue. That sensation is a collapse into the hip joint due to poor alignment (too much internal rotation of the femur), a lack of hip stability (gluteal and deep external rotator activation) and probably a failure of the core to stop excessive anterior pelvic tilt. Track these sensations and ask your teacher what to do to avoid them.
Intensity, which some students seek, should increase with correct alignment because inhibited muscles are recruited to participate and unconscious patterns are challenged.
Discerning between Lengthening & Shortening Sensations
Yoga poses have primary intentions, most often to lengthen one side of the body or limb, while shortening the tissue on the opposite side. In a backbend, the front body lengthens as the back body shortens. Only feeling sensation in the shortening back body (low, mid or upper back), with little to no sensation of lengthening in the front body (thighs, abdomen, chest) signals misalignment or disengagement of the core, often both. It's time to exit, and ask your teacher how to approach the pose more safely.
Muscles Contract when they Lengthen Too
I believe it is important for all students to learn how to identify the 3 types of muscular contractions. For example, in Supta Padangusthasana, the raised leg is positioned vertically to lengthen the hamstrings. I cue students to hold the back of that thigh with both hands (or a strap) and to press their thigh back into their resisting hands. This engages the hamstrings (hip extension) as they are lengthening (because the thigh is perpendicular to the spine). I also cue contracting the shortening quadriceps at the front of the thigh. Additionally, attention is paid to preserving an appropriate lumbar curve (when the raised leg is vertical and not past that), which may involve increasing abdominal support for those that overarch (rarer at this degree of hip flexion), or more commonly, cue to engage the multifidii to retain the curve (especially true for those with short hamstrings). They could retain the curve by placing a folded strap under their low back and attempt to not to touch their back to it, or the opposite leg could bend to 90 degrees, and with that foot on the floor, the student could isometrically drag the foot back towards their butt, activating the multifidii. This pose gives student an opportunity to feel how the absence or presence of muscular engagement changes their internal sensations. What does a shortening sensation feel like as opposed to stretch? What does holding the contraction feel like? Intensity, which many students seek, should increase with correct alignment because dormant muscles are recruited to participate and unconscious patterns are challenged.
Should Everyone Feel a Hamstring Stretch?
By focusing on students' movement patterns (how they enter and exit a pose), teachers can direct sensation away from overstretched areas and too areas that really need it. Standing Forward Fold Pose (Uttanasana) is a pose where students typically have poor movement habits and tend to stretch already overstretched muscles. The student with long hamstrings and relatively inflexible low back muscles may not feel much of a hamstring stretch and misses out on the low back stretch this pose could offer them. They might "swan dive" into the pose, overarching their low back as their hips flex quickly, their palms easily touching the floor. If this pattern continues, eventually the student may feel sensation at the sitbones (hamstring attachment tearing) or the hip crease (joint impingement/compression) as they push to "go deeper."
For the 'tighter' student with short hamstrings, short abdominals and longer weaker back muscles, this same pose feels completely different. Those tight short abs and hamstrings limit hip flexion. Their relatively longer and weaker back muscles yield instead, creating too much rounding in the low back. Instead of hinging at the hips, they hinge at the low back or waist. They may feel an intensely uncomfortable stretch in their legs and their back while their hands seem like they'll never touch the floor.
Both of these students need to revise their movement pattern to address their individual muscle imbalances and feel sensation in the correct muscles. With hands on the pelvis, each student can track how much or how little their hips "hinge". The long hamstring student's pelvis will move immediately and continuously. They need to slow the pelvis, and exhale to engage their abdominals, so that the low back muscles to lengthen. The short hamstring student's pelvis may move late and stop early. They can help assist hip flexion by relaxing their abdominals, bending their knees to release their pull on the sitbones, and lifting their heels. Their back should no longer excessively round, protecting it from overstretching, the hamstring stretch should feel more tolerable, and they may even get closer to the floor. For both students the pose will now feel very different.
Both of these students need to revise their movement pattern to address their individual muscle imbalances and feel sensation in the correct muscles.
Correcting your movement patterns in an alignment yoga class helps each pose feel new. Breaking bad movement habits feels energizing and empowering. Refining your practice with more subtle cues enhances embodiment, which feels highly pleasurable.
And Breathe!
Yoga Instructors remind their students to Lengthen their exhales (calming), Slow their breath rate (lowers perceived and actual exertion), and Deepen their breath (short, rapid, ragged breathing increases distress and fight or flight-sympathetic nervous system activation). This LSD breath is a powerful tool to decrease intensity, perceived exertion and fatigue. Numerous studies have shown that Pranayama techniques done consistently improve numerous fitness markers: lowered heart rate, increased VO2max, reduced broncho-constrictor effect, delayed onset of fatigue, reduced perception of effort, decreased sweat response, and made lungs more efficient (Clifton, et al, 2023).
The Mental Game
Once the alignment is appropriate for your anatomy and your injuries, and you are breathing well, intensity is a mental game. This is where a yoga class can be a game changer. Although discomfort slows our perception of time, exercising with others, being mindful of our task, positive affirmation and no mirrors lessens our perceived effort (Hutchinson, J. C. 2021).
Discomfort Slows our Perception of Time:
Discomfort makes any task seem longer, particularly exercise. When my yoga for scoliosis clients practice their side plank for 1 minute a day, they routinely report that "It feels like the longest minute of the day." However, “In sports terms, this likely means that the subjective perception of time elapsed decreases (shrinks) due to greater than usual sensory awareness of physical sensations of discomfort that are not apparent at rest” (Edwards et al, 2024).
But Discomfort Decreases with Mindfulness
Intentional and nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment helps you to accept internal sensations, as opposed to rejecting or ignoring those sensations. Non-attachment "enhance(s) awareness, decrease(s) emotional reactivity and improve(s) attentional control" (Salmon et al. 2010). In one study, "participants felt like they were not working as hard when they were in the mindfulness condition" compared to the control group (Cox et al., 2018). In a second study, participants reported more accurate RPE (i.e., self-ratings better matched their actual physiological indices of exertion) following a brief mindfulness training intervention (Meggs & Chen, 2021).
Fake it till you Make It
Frowning literally makes things harder, while smiling makes things seem easier (Brick et al., 2018; Philippen et al., 2012). Your yoga teacher is your cheerleader, reminding you to reduce unnecessary effort, relax your brow and jaw. Hopefully her humor and stories distract you during those long wall-sits!
Perhaps a better intention is to notice sensations as they arise, slow your breathing, and reclassify intensity as a challenge, not a threat.
The White Bear Problem
Intending to ignore how you feel can backfire. When study participants were told to "ignore sensations of exertion and keep going" they found that participants instead actually sought out sensations of exertion, which quickly escalated their perception of effort. The very thoughts and sensations that they strived to ignore or suppress got amplified (Bieleke et al., 2020). This is sometimes called the White Bear Problem or Ironic Process Effect (when told not to think about a white bear, ironically, they think about white bears more frequently.)
Internal Intentions Beat External Goals
Yoga emphasizes intention over goals. Intentions are value-driven versus achievement driven. Goals can help us reach out intentions, but they do not override them. That gets tricky when you are trying to build fitness. As you try to get stronger or build endurance, as you get closer to your edge, sensations will increase. Participants had the least perceived intensity and highest achievements when they allowed themselves to feel the sensations, but detached from them. This distinction, notice but detach is different from ignore and push through. The study concludes, "notice sensations as they arise, slow your breathing, and reclassify intensity as a challenge, not a threat" (Wood et al, 2018).
The very thoughts and sensations that they strived to ignore or suppress got amplified.
Don't skimp on Savasana
Passive Recovery, known as Savasana in yoga, reduces the perceived effort of your exercise session. While some styles of yoga are themselves a form of active recovery (low effort exercise with stretching, deep breathing and improved circulation), savasana is immersive, mindful rest. A long, deep Savasana uniquely lowers your heart and breathing rates, improves digestion, and shifts your brain waves into profound states of relaxation (Stewart-Brown, Charlie 2024).
Embodiment Feels Good
Embodiment is transcendence beyond working out to look different, feel different, be like someone else or be like our former self. Yoga is an invitation to be exactly who we are now. It is an invitation to unconditionally love of our self so that happiness and joy are allowed in our imperfect state. In a culture that celebrates youth and idealized fitness, embodiment offers us glimpses and phases of contentment. Yoga offers an embodiment that is connected, attuned, powerful, and expressive of desire (Piron, et al, 2020).
The wisdom of our body helps us discern and detach from freaking out when there is intensity, yet still establish and maintain healthy boundaries.
Practice Makes....the Rest of Your Life Easier
Use your yoga practice to attune to when and how your needs change; it pays big dividends off the mat. A yoga pose is a safe place to stay a little too long, drop out a little too early, and above all, keep coming back and trying again. The consistency of a regular yoga practice may be the most important aspect of all: show up to your life. Be fully present. Breathe and regulate. Try, then rest and let go. Life might just start to feel more possible and less draining. And timing the right moment to exit a pose is good practice for when to exit a conversation, a job, or even a relationship. This is the wisdom of the body helping us to make healthy decisions and create healthy boundaries.
Citations:
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