Quiet

Many years ago, a new student joined my evening Vinyasa Flow class. He arrived and placed himself in the back row.

I started class standing, with eyes closed using cues to ground and notice the breath. After a few minutes, we continued this inward exploration with subtle movement. Feeling your body in space.

He kept his eyes open and did not do anything I suggested. To me, he looked annoyed. To me, it seemed he was just here for a workout. Nothing wrong with that. Often the path to yoga is experiencing it as a workout. However holding still and feeling can be the hardest part.

My sequence was strong that night. As per usual, I offered options, especially when moving into a downward facing dog. Go straight into it, or take a vinyasa, which we had been doing, if you need a little more. He took the vinyasa each time, adding a few pushups. Yep, I decided. He is here for the physical aspect of a yoga class. Nothing wrong with that.

When it was time for Savasana, my regulars knew what to do. Moving into a shape that supported their bodies so they could rest easy. My Savasana’s are always a minimum of 10 minutes, with a few words in the beginning to lull one into it, with tapping into the breath at the end to come out of it.

It was dark, save for one light I had on in the hallway. This gave me enough illumination to see the class if I needed to offer an assist, verbally or physically.

He was flat on his back, eyes open, checking his watch. I sensed there was no way he was going to stay down for 10 minutes. And I was right.

Three minutes later, he popped up. I was hoping he was going into a seated meditation. However, while sitting on his mat, he started to slightly roll the top of his mat towards him, preparing to leave.

I looked straight at him, and he caught my eye. He stayed put. I was grateful for that as leaving early during Savasana is disruptive to others around you.

I was not looking at him with judgement. I was looking at him with understanding. I was this student when I first started practicing yoga.

I thought Savasana was a waste of time. It was very similar to “stretching after running 5 miles” that I avoided with all of my being when I was a runner. I was done with my workout and had other things to do. 5-10 minutes of releasing, in my opinion, was not productive.

The reality was, I didn’t know how to be still. I didn’t know how to surrender. I didn’t understand the importance of intentional rest.

Savasana, to me, is the most important pose in yoga.

Savasana is typically practiced flat on the back, legs wide, arms away from the body, to allow the body to not hold. For some, flat on the back is not comfortable, so bending the knees into constructive rest helps take the strain out of the lower back. For others, lying flat on the back is uncomfortable for non-physical reasons and as such, coming into a seated meditative position is a great alternative.

Regardless of the position, Savasana is a great balancer in terms of our nervous system. While much of asana practice is designed to up-regulate the body, stimulate and provide healthy stress, Savasana is a down-regulator. It allows you to shift from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic side to experience a calm release.

When doing a 10-minute savasana, somewhere around minute 6, there is a profound shift in the body and in one’s mental chatter. Even with all the slow breathing and postures held during a yoga class, there are still a lot of things to think about, feelings that pass through and a physical orientation that requires mental effort. The real quieting of the mind begins in Savasana.

At minute six, the weight of the body drops, grounds. The weight of the mind also drops. The movement of class before has calmed the nervous system down to the extent that it is ready to step aside for a moment, to allow for another area of our being to surface. This is when you get to swim around in a calm body, quiet mind, and easy heart.

Per Rodney Yee, “Savasana is the absence of all patterns – neurological, emotional and physical. It is the ultimate release of the known and unknown world, where awareness is all that is left, without the illusion of the separation of the seer. The world as a whole appears without the subject of “I”.”

And from Judith Hanson Lasater, “In Savasana, your body sleeps and your mind watches.”

The world is speeding up. Inviting the mind and body to experience Savasana can feel like an impossible task. But this is the practice. Being with the discomfort of resting in the present moment and to rest with yourself compassionately and without judgement to simply witness all that is happening around and within you. This is the essence of yoga.