Hot Yoga Pose Forums > Chapter: Savasana
I can relate to a lot of what Brittany had said. I used to dislike savasana a lot. At the end of class, it felt nice to have the cold towel, but I would always be thinking of the other things I felt I needed to do once I left class. It felt like a waste of time, and actually stressed me out. Ohhhh how things have changed. I love the differences in the script for each teacher in this pose, and I love how relaxed I feel now in savasana. I wrote this in another forum, but one of my favorite cues I've heard in savasana is that the ground is holding you up now, so you don't have to hold yourself up anymore. I never realized how rigid I used to be when lying in savasana. Now, relaxing my lower back into the mat and getting as flat as I can releases so much tension.
Chrissy Graziano
Yes, Lisa - the forefront of your mind is exactly where Savasana should remain: did you know that your forebrain, located on the front of your forehead. is the part of your brain that controls your ability to relax and remain calm? If you ever find yourself in a stressful or even panic-invoking situation, you can press this part of your forehead to activate your forebrain, and. combined with deep breathing, it will help you regain your balance instantly.
Chrissy - I too am happy to hear that you're finding the beauty and the POWER of Savasana. Cant wait to hear the Yoga Nudra Savasana you created. Love that cue about the floor holding YOU up instead of you holding your body poised on the floor (I created that cue so really glad to hear other teachers adopting it!) Its especially lovely on the Riverflow floor, which, beneath the thin layer of carpet, is pure concrete - try to get an image of the smooth, dense, hard surface that concrete is, there for one purpose only: to offer you support in all the places your body needs it
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I am excited to share my progress in this pose!! Yup, not just the rest which is always welcome, but I've gotten so much better at shutting off my mind! I can truly focus on breathing and it feels amazing. I am excited to share this with my students!
Jeanne
Jeanne, you and I both. I used to dislike this pose because it wasn’t comfortable at first. I felt antsy and was always corrected about my chin “jutting up” and “crunching my neck bones” so for a while I couldn’t breathe right and felt a constant double chin. I always used to clench my jaw too. One day rhonda told us that the only time all day our teeth should touch is to chew and our tongues resting place is on the roof of our mouth. Ever since those two tips, I felt my savasana deepen and become much more relaxing and allowed me to let go of the tension in my neck and now I can breathe normally and elongate my neck and enjoy this moment of 0% I also used to have this moment of guilt when I first began when I would lay in savasana because I’d say “I came here to relax and sweat and get a work out I’m not working out I won’t miss poses or take a pose off I’m tough I can do this I don’t need a break” and now I see that if you take a pose off sometimes it’s not about a “break” it’s about allowing the 0% for your body to soak in the benefits of what your doing or enjoy a meditative state. It’s better to listen to your body and take the pose off and feel what your body needs rather than push it for the sake of pushing it to feel a sense of “accomplishment”
Stephanie
I love this pose, it feels deserving after completing the balancing, standing and stretching poses,, and certainly a sense of accomplishment. Getting better at shutting down the mind, like Jeanne. In the beginning, I also needed to relax my chin, as Stephanie, you mentioned. I become aware of my chin sticking up. Now, I look forward to every Savasana.
amy
Its truly lovely when you begin to appreciate Savasana for its tremendous value. Wouldnt it be lovely to not have to "earn" your Savasana with accomplishment, and to not have to "get better"at anything including shutting down the mind, but to just be as you are in Savasana....though I must admit that I too love closing the thinking mind and engaging my Vortex mind in Savasana...and feeling as if I am barely in my body as my quietness take over...
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I love savasana after the standing series and final savasana.
Just like heather and Tina mentioned the fidgeting was initially something I experienced. And as Brittany and Steph mentioned that I used to think why such a long rest I need to work out and sweat more.
Well I have come to appreciate this pose just as Lisa and Jeanne have where I close out the chatter. Yes eyes remaining open, staying present in the room is an awesome thing but also letting everything go not thinking of anything. Sounds like negating the process but for me I have learned to clear my mind and think of nothing. I used to make my to do lists during this pose but now that list is out the window and I’m just listening to my breath, relaxing, letting go sometimes feeling like my limbs are not attached. In this pose I believe I tap into my sahasrara chakra because of the connection from the crown of my head to my heels connecting then back up again helps me stay connected & grounded to take this feeling outside of the studio.
With this TT journey i’ve Come to appreciate more of the simple things in my life and staying in the moment in savasana is one of them.
maria
So beautiful Maria! I love your connection to Sahasrara Chakra in Savasana which is such a lovely time to feel it (isnt anytime lovely lol?) And I personally am happy to hear that you let your To Do Lists fly out the window, now that you know you have a Universal Manager who requires that you turn things over to her in order to be as efficient as you want....and there is something even more profound and powerful going in in Savasana (as if this isnt enough!) Remind me to tell you about the power of The Grid...
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I love the description in the book about how this theoretically seems like it may be the easiest pose but then many realize it is actually one of the hardest—this resonates with me very much. But it definitely has become one of my favorite poses. As I have started meditating, I’ve realized a correlation between savasana and meditation. This is a good time in class to listen to my inner guidance and see what kind of messages I get. It also gives me a chance to observe what type of mind chatter I have going on, and like with meditation, I found this pose to offer more relief when I stopped trying to force my mind to be quiet, and made it an opportunity to observe my thoughts. In addition to the mind benefits I find from this pose I love the cue to lower the low back to the mat—this is a great relief for any tightness I may be feeling in my low back.
Pamela
True relaxation is so undervalued in society today. I love Savasana because it gives an opportunity to teach and accept the value of relaxation. At times In my life when the more physical aspects of my asana practice fell by the wayside Savasana has always been there; to offer the release of tears or emotions or to just let my thoughts drift along being quietly observed.
Paula
I too love Savasana and agree with Paula that relaxation is so undervalued in our society. For some reason I used to dose off during Savasana when I did Ashtanga yoga, but now I just relax and feel my emotions--sometimes tears, sometimes joy. I also love the cooling rocks when they are given out--I always read the word on them to see if they have a message for me--and often they do.
irenem
Such beautiful observations about this special moment in the Hot 26 sequence: that first longer Savasana. Its all about letting go and allowing...whether its a physical dropping the lower back, or the emotional release of tears. Savasana is always your personal connection inward, and a lovely time to hear from your Inner Being - very much an opportunity to listen in as you say, Paula, and Irene - consider that those stones might just be your Inner Being conversing with you
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Savasana is my FAVORITE pose! And I agree with author, it does take time to master the pose. For me the pose makes all the difference in the practice. The days I do really let go and relax completely- I leave the studio in very different state than the days I hold on to my thoughts and tension. I feel that first savasana not only allows to rip the benefits of the standing series, It makes a huge difference in the floor series. I really really really don't want to judge, but I always wish for students not to rush out of the studio right at the end of the practice. That final savasana is to me the WHOLE point of the practice! But I do tell myself -"don't think about them, don't think about anything, and stop talking to yourself-your are in Savasana!!! :))
Irina
Savasana has become a meditation to me. Even with my eyes open I can drift off into a dream world. It is often full of colors and I feel as though I'm floating. My favorite is to do my practice outside and when I lie in Savasana I feel the sun getting hotter on my skin as I float up towards it. I can hear the teachers voice but it is in the back ground and gets more distant as I float up in to the sky.
Erica
And just think, Erica: Savasana is the easiest, most natural yoga asana... what does that say about our easy, natural state of well-being? Its just second nature! Maybe all that struggling and pushing and efforting to perfect the yoga poses -and everything else in our lives - is missing the point. Maybe we're supposed to lie outside under the sky, and float.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Wow! I was coming in here to say that this is the easiest pose and yet there is so much more to it then meets the eye. Yet all you really have to do is let your whole body relax, and just breath! Its that easy; a natural state of well - being!
Lisa N
Lisa: what is the “whole lot more to this pose than meets the eye” you speak of?
Rhonda Uretzky
I love the practice of Savasana and so happy for Brittany that she is experiencing the profoundness of it. I fall deep into the mat and floor and simply breath. The experience of simply being is so easy and yet we need the reminder to do so. The tools and skills we have learned are learning with TT and the hot 26 are with me all the time. I love having all this great stuff in the forefront of my mind and I look forward to sharing with others.