“Corpse pose restores life. Dead parts of your being fall away, the ghosts are released”

- Terri Guillemets

Savasana - otherwise known as Corpse pose. As still and as peaceful as a corpse. The only pose you’re likely to do in every single Yoga class no matter which teacher, whatever style.

It's the pose that we end class in. The sweet finale to movement: stillness. You’ve probably heard a teacher at one point tell you that Savasana is actually a pose in and of itself and an important one at that - maybe even the most important. Is it, really? You might have thought to yourself - what’s the point? Isn’t it just lying on the floor and relaxing? Does it really matter if I skip it?

Please Don't Go

It’ll break your teacher's heart just a little if you leave class early, skipping Savasana. Seeing those two words together - skipping Savansa - gives me a twinge of pain! Come on, don’t leave - you’re missing out on the best bit!

Simply hearing the word Savasana is a sign for some people to roll the mat up and go. Or to start rolling up the mat in their heads. Automatically, we might start thinking about what time it is, our tasks for the day ahead - the mind projects ever forward, predicting and preparing. But in Savasana, just like any other pose, if we are able to be fully in the moment - not in the past or future - we can experience the gifts of this remarkable pose.

By embracing Savasana, we embrace stillness, pause and rest and allow ourselves to go there. Over time we learn to accept this process as a valuable part of our Yoga practice just as we might the more dynamic or ‘doing’ parts of Yoga. Just as we choose movement, we choose repose. To be as well as do.

Why Savasana

So why stay for Savasana? As we nestle down back to the reassuring ground, we might hear the words, “Integrate, assimilate, rejuvenate”, and imagine we are absorbing the benefits of the practice that's just gone before. There’s time to notice and feel what our practice has done to us. As the relaxation response kicks in, we literally allow time to ‘rest and digest’ the efforts of your focus and work. It’s a time to stop efforting, gripping and resisting. Now’s time to feel the breath again, flowing freely, in a new body - a different one than that which arrived on the mat.

Savasana is a Skill

Learning how to 'Savasana' is learning the art of relaxation which is so key in this day and age. For most of us, wakefulness involves stress. Simply being alive is stressful. Maybe we don’t even know how it feels to be awake and truly relaxed anymore, and we only get a glimpse of this after Yoga. What is that feeling when you stir from Savasana?

When we come back to Savasana again and again, we repeat the process of settling from agitation to a place of peace and tranquillity. Over time, the memory to relaxation becomes quicker, easier; the pathways are laid down and reinforced. Just as we build muscle from repeating our Yoga Asana, like driving down a road many times over, so too the act of laying down for Savasana helps to fortify and automate the path to quiet relaxed wakefulness.

Sleep or Savasana?

A note on sleeping in Savasana. Of course, people fall asleep. We've all been to a class where someone appears to have started snoring even before they've hit the ground. They clearly needed sleep and rest maybe too lacking in the everyday. It's taken me about a decade not to fall asleep in Savasana, and it’s okay if we do. I still do, actually.

The boundaries between sleep, unconsciousness, semi-consciousness and what the 'sleep' really is in Savasana is another question altogether, which I won't debate here! Whatever happens in Savasana, let it go and let it be.

Savasana, Deluxe

I used to get quite agitated in Savasana, especially when I started out. For me, the silence felt louder than noise, and the act of trying to stay perfectly still was trickier than it looked. It took me time and practice to love it consistently. I now crave the quietude - go figure.

I’ve grown to love Savasana so much in fact, that I’ve leaned towards a practice which is arguably all about the Savasana - Restorative Yoga. You could say the whole of a restorative practice - releasing held tensions very slowly - is in service to the Savasana for when we finally arrive there. Working out the kinks so we can finally be still. Thinking about it, maybe all of Yoga is in service to this - learning to know ourselves when the mind and body cease to distract.

Let Go

Physically, emotionally, and metaphorically. Savasana helps us to learn this helpful concept of letting go.

Someone once said to me that learning to let go of anything is actually a practice in letting go of life in all its finiteness and properly embracing death (indeed, our final Savasana - corpse pose for real) without resistance, and with this, paradoxically learning to embrace life. Woah - heavy.

“Letting go is the hardest Asana.” - Anonymous

On a less morbid note, I like the idea that whatever went before - whether delighting in a favourite pose or mental frustration in a pose you hated, once you're in Savasana - you let it all go. Whatever endeavours or thoughts preceded, we did them, we did our best, and then we let them go. Let go of the practice, the day, the past, your thoughts, the fruits of your labour. Letting go of whatever you don’t need to hold onto. All of it.

In Service to Savasana

As a teacher, I'm often guilty of rushing Savasana at the end of the class. Savasana can be difficult to love if it’s hurried on a hard floor in an icy studio: cold feet, bright lights and someone snoring next to you - difficult to relax, I get it. Sometimes, it’s worth tending to our Savasana and giving it the attention it deserves when we can.

Tomorrow, let's do a fat, juicy Savasana and see how it feels so we have time to set up, adjust, settle and enjoy it for the truly giving pose it is. Grab warm clothes and bits and bobs for the deluxe version (blankets, bolsters/pillows, strap, eye bag recommended).

It feels right to luxuriate in Savasana to mark the end of the month and with it, the last class of my collaboration with Yogamatters.

Onwards to Feb - you can register for future classes on my platform HERE. Class starts again on 18th Feb.

Final Yogmatters class tomorrow - letting it go.

Let's practise.