Why You Should Never Skip a Savasana!

Savasana is a supine resting pose, practiced with legs extended out, arms out to the side, and eyes closed. It is an ancient posture derived from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, a 15th-century text in which there is many descriptions of Yoga asanas that are still practiced today. It is commonly experienced as the final asana of a yoga sequence, however it is also practiced in deep meditations such as Yoga Nidra.

It’s last, but not least.

The active yang qualities of asana and uplifting pranayama practices induce a stress response, working their magic to strengthen and purify the body. However to bring the body back into an intelligent balance, Savasana is incorporated at the end of practice to alleviate the response by shifting the body into Yin mode, or a parasympathetic state. Savasana is to thank for our post-yoga high!

Savasana is a Yogi’s practice for dying.

Savasana translates to corpse pose. The experience in Savasana is a practice for dying.

Savasana marks the death of who we were when we first walked into our yoga class. Every practice we go through is a death of our old self and therein lies an opportunity to reawaken anew.

The intention of our Yoga practice isn’t to acquire more things, an esthetic, a new identity, etc. Instead of adding on, in Yoga we are practicing stripping away of our accumulated layers by de-identifying from thoughts, expectations, and preferences. Yoga is a practice of letting go of the veils that obstruct the knowing of ourselves as already whole, divine, and enlightened. Yoga helps us to remember who we are beyond all of those aspects of mind by guiding us to let go of our attachments.

In this process of letting go, Savasana is then the practice of death. We let go of the grips of the ego, of all craving, grasping, and aversion. In savasana, we practice being with all that is, while we rest as consciousness itself. In the process of dying, our practice will be similar. In death, we can’t take anything with us - our physical possessions will be left behind, we will need to say goodbye to our loved ones, and at the deepest level letting go of the story of who we thought ourselves to be. In death, we merge back with the part of us that exists beyond the body, mind, and physical world.

Becoming familiar with death and actively preparing for that moment in life is an important spiritual practice. It will make the inevitable process of dying easier, and according to Buddhist tradition, a clearer opportunity to Self Realize.

The deepest intention of yogic practices can only be realized when we become still. It’s in savasana that we release all doing, in both body and mind, to open ourselves up to what resides beyond.

Savasana is one of the most important postures of our practice. Don’t skip it!