If you've ever attended a yoga class, or practiced along with a video at home, you've heard of Savasana (pronounced Shavasana). No yoga teacher should ever leave out, or forget it. And a yoga student who scoffs at it or skips it is only cheating herself. That would be a bit like mixing up all the ingredients for a cake and then not baking it.......or eating it!
(Um, yeah. I said corpse. As in death, coffins, funeral parlors...).
I'll admit, its not exactly the most appealing name or inspiring reference. Why would you want to play dead like a opossum? Well, the short answer is: Its really, really good for you.
Yes, death is good for you.
Savasana means death to:
- old habits
- outdated modes of operating
- unnecessary movement, holding, tension, and gripping of your muscles, heart, and mind
- any and all things that limit you from being your effortless, truly inspired self
Truly surrendering to Savasana is not easy (maybe it has something to do with the death thing?), but the rewards are great. Recently a true surrender to savasana has been eluding me. I used to dissolve into Savasana. Literally. I mean it! I would feel myself not being so "self" and instead, more a part of my surroundings. Those moments are still precious to me. When I would return from my relaxation, the world appeared different. My mind was clear. My body was refreshed. My heart was wide open. I suddenly had creative solutions to problems that had been plaguing me, so much so that I wondered why I had ever labeled it a "problem".
That, my friends, is "good stuff". The Best Stuff. You want some and I want more. So, here's a few tips, reminders, and inspirations for you and me.
1. When you lie down for your relaxation, you are essentially taking Tadasana (Mountain Pose) and laying it down on the floor. So, don't just "flop" down like you're hitting the sack at night. Take your time aligning your body. Start with your knees bent and be sure the spine is neutral, so that its curves allow you to rest comfortably on the floor. If you're spine is neutral, the shoulder blades and the sacrum (3 smooth, flat, triangle bones) should make even and full contact with the floor. If your spine is neutral, the curve of the neck and the small of the back will be slightly slightly lifted off the floor. (Just enough space for your hand.)
2. Sometimes it helps to use your hands and actually pull down the shoulder blades and back body -- like your smoothing the sheets before you get into bed at night. I also like to place my thumbs at the base of my skull and pull the skull away from the neck before resting my head on the floor.
3. Covering the body with a blanket can be grounding. So can strategically placed sandbags at the groins (crescent shape where the thigh meets the pelvis) and shoulder joints so that those joints can release, open fully, and invite your whole being to return home. If you have someone you really trust available, they can actually place their hands and feet on those spots and then balance on you for just a moment, giving you the Savasana experience of your life!! I promise, if they are in the right spots -- this doesn't hurt at all. In fact, its delicious pleasure.
4. Roll the fleshy part of your upper arms gently underneath to open the chest. Then lengthen your arms down at your sides by extending from your shoulders out to your fingers.
5. Extend your legs away from your pelvis before allowing your feet to drop open.
6. Withdraw your sense organs and sink into your "back body". Your sense organs are all at the front of the body. They keep your conscious mind turned on if they don't release and that interferes with full relaxation. For example: let your eyeballs sink deeper into sockets -- use an eye pillow if you have difficulty experiencing this.
7. Consciously guide the body to relax all its parts (perhaps start at the feet and slowly guide yourself up to the skull). And don't forget all those parts you don't normally think of relaxing, like your skin and especially your tongue, which magically releases the internal body's tension!!
8. Let your exhales lengthen -- and enjoy for as long as you like.
9. I like to read "The Avowal" for inspiration right before I get settled in:
"As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit's deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace."
---Denise Levertov
from Oblique Poems;
reprinted in Spiritual Literacy: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life,
by Frederic & Mary Ann Brussat
Namaste~
Tammie
2. Sometimes it helps to use your hands and actually pull down the shoulder blades and back body -- like your smoothing the sheets before you get into bed at night. I also like to place my thumbs at the base of my skull and pull the skull away from the neck before resting my head on the floor.
3. Covering the body with a blanket can be grounding. So can strategically placed sandbags at the groins (crescent shape where the thigh meets the pelvis) and shoulder joints so that those joints can release, open fully, and invite your whole being to return home. If you have someone you really trust available, they can actually place their hands and feet on those spots and then balance on you for just a moment, giving you the Savasana experience of your life!! I promise, if they are in the right spots -- this doesn't hurt at all. In fact, its delicious pleasure.
4. Roll the fleshy part of your upper arms gently underneath to open the chest. Then lengthen your arms down at your sides by extending from your shoulders out to your fingers.
5. Extend your legs away from your pelvis before allowing your feet to drop open.
6. Withdraw your sense organs and sink into your "back body". Your sense organs are all at the front of the body. They keep your conscious mind turned on if they don't release and that interferes with full relaxation. For example: let your eyeballs sink deeper into sockets -- use an eye pillow if you have difficulty experiencing this.
7. Consciously guide the body to relax all its parts (perhaps start at the feet and slowly guide yourself up to the skull). And don't forget all those parts you don't normally think of relaxing, like your skin and especially your tongue, which magically releases the internal body's tension!!
8. Let your exhales lengthen -- and enjoy for as long as you like.
9. I like to read "The Avowal" for inspiration right before I get settled in:
"As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit's deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace."
---Denise Levertov
from Oblique Poems;
reprinted in Spiritual Literacy: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life,
by Frederic & Mary Ann Brussat
Namaste~
Tammie
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