Don’t skip out on Savasana !

By: Lisa Doering

In the last moments of your Yoga practise you find yourself restless, thinking about dinner, emails, to do list or your just itching to leave. By doing this you are doing yourself a dis-service. I was at a yoga class recently and overheard two women telling the teacher they have to sneak out before savasana. 



Sure we are all busy but to miss out on the final 10 minutes, which could be the most important 10 minutes of the practice. 

The average person goes through life with a constant need to be alert and busy to some degree. Being in the information society, we all have cell phones, and  computers which are training our minds to constantly being busy. Yoga helps to unlearn these habits and try to quiet our overactive minds. 

Hatha Yoga, the type that I teach, is one method we can use to achieve this quiet mind state. By practising Asanas ( postures) we give our minds a feeling that something is happening in our bodies, we have to focus. So when we do tree pose, we are not thinking about what to make for dinner or taxes, we are thinking about your standing leg that is wobbly, shaky and possibly burning.  Your concentrating on your rooted foot or maybe wondering why everybody looks so serious about standing on one leg and pretending to be a tree. LOL But in Savasana there are no distractions, this is your reward, let it feel good. Taking these few moments to quiet your thoughts and let go, this can work as a de-stessor, helps with anxiety and can alleviate symptoms of illness or injury. 

Savasana the most important pose in any class. I guarantee you – it is the only posture that you will find in every single yoga class you ever take. Savasana is your body’s time to absorb all of those yummy poses you just did. It’s kind of like a reset button so your body doesn’t go into complete shock after all that physical goodness you just bestowed upon it. 

Savasana can feel really good as well. Like too good to be legal good, like 25 celcius-IN-MARCH good – so good that you secretly curse your yoga teacher when she announces that it’s time to roll over. But, it’s exactly that deliciously awesome feeling that adds to the difficulty of it all. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t fallen asleep in Savasana at least once. It’s because it feels that good, and your body/mind responds, “THANK YOU. I’m turning off now.”

So, the trick of Savasana is finding that balance, that space between unconsciousness and consciousness. You have to be aware but not thinking, and relaxed but not asleep. It’s not so easy when you think about it…or don’t think about it…


Lisa Doering is a certified Yoga Instructor that teaches Hatha Yoga at different studios in Hamilton.
L.doering11@gmail.com
http://ldoering11.wix.com/yoga-with-lisa