Savasana — Not As Complicated As It Sounds

Try it now for a few seconds

Image courtesy of the author

Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar, a yoga guru, says “Savasana is the most difficult position in yoga”. For me, it was the opposite, and here I’d share my experience.

I’m not a professional in this, but I started to meditate since I was 11 years old and started doing yoga when I was 18.

The word Savasana is taken from Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language, and it translates into “The Corpse Pose”. In yoga, this pose aims to make you fully relaxed while laying on the floor, resembling a “dead” body.

Even if you're not a big fan of yoga and never meditated, I can recommend to try Savasana and see if you’d become more relaxed. You can do it for 5–7 minutes for the first several times, and if you like, gradually increase up to 15–30 mins.

The exercise can be suitable for days when you feel tired, anxious, or even if you didn’t get enough sleep.

Try it right now, just for a few seconds.

If you’re sitting or lying, just relax your body without changing your position.

Now pay attention to your left hand. Full attention. Imagine that it becomes heavy. Very heavy and warm.

Image courtesy of the author

Did you feel that your hand became more relaxed? If not, don’t worry, it doesn’t work immediately for everyone. For some, it can take a few minutes until they really feel the difference.

The point is to release the tension from your body. Concentrating on smaller parts of the body makes you realize how much tension you’ve built throughout the day.

There’re a lot of guides and online tutorials, the simple description of Savasana is:

• Lying on the back, arms and legs are spread like a star
• Shut your eyes
• Take deep and long breaths
• Release tension from each part of the body and relax

Back in the 90s, I listened to an audio cassette (now I feel old), giving instructions on how to perform it. Since then, I do Savasana occasionally and always start by focusing on my left toe and moving towards the top of my head.

I hope you will try Savasana by yourself, enjoy it and share your experience!

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