Why Savasana is so Important

 

 

Go with the flow

Who doesn’t like Savasana at the end of their practice?

Don’t worry, that’s perfectly normal.  You didn’t start learning Yoga to lie on your back, trying to be still. Someone probably told you Yoga was going to be beneficial to destress you’re over-anxious mind, and the bonus would be a fab new body.

I’m sure, like me, the word Yoga didn’t have much meaning when you first started practicing. Until maybe a teacher expressed its translation and you discovered that it meant, ‘Union’. 

Maybe you started conjuring up thoughts of what that was going to mean to you:  a toned body, better health, and a miraculous brain transplant that would stop you from overthinking!

Well, behold, Yoga probably did do a lot of this for you, but it took time, patience, and a willingness to let go of any preconception you had of Yoga.

However, like most, even though we may understand Yoga, how many of us really understand the unique benefits of Savasana?

Preparing for death

Savasana aptly translated to Corpse Pose is meant to prepare you for the ultimate destination, death!

Well let’s not think about that too much now, right? Lying flat on your back, comfortably with your arms and legs at 45 degrees, does seem inviting. So why can it be the least favorite pose for many of us Yogis?

I’m sure you’ve heard that Savasana is the most important, yet hardest pose for a Yogi to practice? If you haven’t, I’m going to let you in on a little secret, no matter how perfect you get that side-crow pose, or headstand, Savasana will always be the toughest asana for flexibility of the mind.

All that flowing and holding your poses for a lengthy amount of time during your practice, does eventually move your thoughts away from your body.  It starts to take you on a magical journey to discovering more about your limitations. 

We think Yoga is all about how bendable our bodies can be pushed, but we soon realize that the mind also becomes supple.  Our monkey brains slow down, tension is released, and we move with more grace and strength than we ever thought we could imagine. 

Most of us do want to relax after all that stretching and strengthening and enjoy Savasana, but we often mistake the true meaning of it. We secretly pray that on this day something remarkable will happen and that we will be able to keep our concentration. 

However, there we are once again looking up at the ceiling, wondering how much longer we have to maintain the pose.  Unfortunately, the tension comes back, as do all the thoughts that were there, to begin with. We should be able to relax, so why don’t we?

Then there was light

I will admit when I first started doing yoga, Savasana was actually my favorite pose because laying on my back was something I could do! 

Certainly, at the end of a very intense class, I appreciated those well-earned, valuable moments of doing absolutely nothing. I would often flop into a state of final exhaustion, sometimes falling asleep, hoping that the respite would be endless!

According to Sri K. Pattabhi Jois who says, “Savasana is most difficult for students because it is not waking, not sleeping.”

Therefore the true benefits of Savasana come to us when we are fully aware while remaining in complete surrender.

When I was developing my knowledge and practice, of course, it became that pose that I would sometimes spend the least amount of time in, or ahem, actually skip altogether. 

Similar to stretching before and after a workout, I didn’t think it was important. I was more focused on the physical side of yoga, rather than stopping and experiencing a little ‘death’. I now realize that by surrendering to the experience of making room for something to happen, I am completely in the present moment.

It’s at that moment that I feel lightness in my body and my mind doesn’t wander. I realized if I skipped it, I’d be skipping the full benefits of yoga and its spiritual connection. 

The aim of my yoga practice is to let all the monkey brain thoughts fall well beyond my mat. It’s a chance to start my day as I want it. It’s the one time in my hectic life that I get to be my truest self, it’s MY time! 

So, it makes sense now to end it with a resting pose as beneficial as Savasana.

It’s like riding a wave 

I live near the ocean, so it’s easy for me to take my feelings and pound them out in the sea. I always come out refreshed and invigorated. However, I find I don’t need to as much now I understand how beneficial and important Savasana is during my yoga practice. Savasana has become my new saltwater therapy for my mind.

Admittingly, some days my practice naturally takes me to Savasana, and my thoughts surrender to the waves of my breath. Meditation comes easily for me when the state of my mind gives in. I ride the waves of my energetic body and release any tension. All my negative or worrisome thoughts get carried away with every pranic breath. I feel the detachment from all that I fear.

Then come the other days when I resist, and with this resistance arises the crashing down of all my thoughts. Huge powerful waves that I’m endlessly trying to swim against. The more I struggle, the more they crash upon me with great force. I fight to leave Savasana, hoping that if I lay there long enough, a miracle will happen. Then I realize that Savasana never quite began.

Like the ocean waves fiercely colliding against the rocky headland during a storm, our thoughts can be just as harmful to our field of energy. This lowers our vibration and opens us up to illness and negativity. Our damaging thoughts gain momentum as we allow this cycle of resistance to come crashing down violently. Taming the mind can be the hardest part of our practice. We can, however, change our thoughts about difficult poses such as Savasana.

It’s an experience

The transition from the physical postures to Savasana is to stop the mind from wandering or becoming busy again. There are many, tools like breathing exercises, body scanning, or guided visualizations that are used to help to stay still, quiet, and focused.   

My personal favorite is to start Savasana by saying out loud the Bija Mantras for each of the main 7 chakras. I repeat this until I have successfully drifted into nothingness where the sounds are resonating around me, long after I have completed humming them. It is then that the breath, the mind, and the body are released, and I experience complete peace. Except I’m not sure my neighbors feel the same!

Do you know the Bija Mantras?

Tell me a funny or memorable experience you’ve had during Savasana.