Sometimes I’d rather be in Savasana

They say Savasana (corpse pose in Yoga) in one of the hardest to achieve. Some might say, «why is that? What’s so hard about laying on the floor with your eyes closed?!»

It is more than just laying on the floor. It is the final integration of the entire practice (energy flow in the body, mind, spirit), final relaxation, it is key in healing and renewing cells and creating new prana (vital energy) as well. The benefits are numerous and people don’t pay careful attention to them. They completely dismiss them.

Savasana pose. (Joseph Renger/Wikimedia Commons)

According to Wikipedia these are some of them:

a decrease in heart rate and the rate of respiration.
a decrease in blood pressure.
a decrease in muscle tension.
a decrease in metabolic rate and the consumption of oxygen.
a reduction in general anxiety.
a reduction in the number and frequency of panic attacks.
an increase in energy levels and in general productivity.
an improvement in concentration and in memory.
an increase in focus.
a decrease in fatigue, coupled with deeper and sounder sleep.
improved self-confidence.

As a Yoga teacher I have witnessed how hard it can be for many to just be present and just be. Many are so comfronted with it that as soon as they hear the word «Savasana» they get up, fold their mat and leave.

Savasana is about connecting to your true self through your breathing and letting it all go. It is about just being.

«Bringing awareness to any area of your body is all you need to start the healing process. Nothing else is needed,» Deepak Chopra said once in one his 21-Day Meditation Challenges.

Being in Savasana is not always easy. There are times where being it does get challenging. I just want to get up and go, keep going instead of connecting with what really matters; recharge, let go, fill in the voids with light and healing breath, feel one with Spirit and remind myself of the impermanent nature of things and that we are not our circumstances.

Savasana has taught me to get present to my body, to my old stored emotions and traumas and to those new ones that I might be trying to hold on to. It has taught the richness and depth of being in the moment and accept things just by what they are without challenging, without attempting to change anything. And by this, I don’t mean giving up, I mean just being and simply accepting what is. There is tremendous power, peace and freedom in that. Then new doors of possibilities open in front of us, doors we either missed because we were too busy «struggling» and believing the monkey mind; or doors we have allowed to show up inside accepting and being.

Let go and let God, they say. I believe so.

Fernanda Beccaglia tiene más de dos décadas de experiencia periodística y en las artes culinarias. Fernanda también es estilista culinaria, life coach e instructora de yoga.