Why Shavasana?
Why Is Shavasana so Important?
Shavasana (Shuh-vah-sana), savasana, Corpse Pose, or maybe best yet, “siracha” (as referred to by one of my students) is a pose that every yoga class should include. Some classes even have multiple, working them in between poses and then a longer one at the end. And for good reason. But why even do it? There are many reasons, plenty of which I am sure I am still unaware of myself at this point, but I will share with you what I do know. So here is a tid bit on what it is, some of the benefits, how you can get into it and my journey with it.
What is Shavasana?
That last pose that your instructor leads you into at the end of class, where you lay down for your nap? Not a nap. This is shavasana, a restorative pose that allows you to focus on the breath to quite the active mind. To just be still and get comfortable in your body, in the moment. It is a form of meditation, which has been proven through modern science to help with depression and anxiety. So take these few minutes and relax.
Shavasana is generally held anywhere from 5-20 minutes. I have found that even in a class where we are working on arm balances and back bends, this alone is the hardest pose. It is difficult to try to get the importance across at first, but once one experiences the benefits for themselves, people generally start to get it.
As an instructor you try not to be demanding, you want people to have their own experience in their own practice. But I have seen it all when it comes to shavasana, students tend to check out and think their practice is done. You want to fidget, cough, look around, check your phone or even get up and leave. And I get it, I have been there.
When I first started yoga, I would let my mind take me out of the moment into the “to do list” for that day and just want to rush off of the mat. But let yourself experience that still mind, the focused deep breaths. This is the reason we do all of the other poses, to actually get you to this ONE pose. To allow your mind and body to be united in the moment, without being distracted.
“We all have monkey minds.” – Buddha
Boy, is it easy to get distracted. Buddha even made a point to talk about it. Buddha compared the naturally chattering mind to being filled with drunken monkeys, jumping around, screeching and wanting your attention. We all have these monkeys, he said. And some are louder than others, fear is a good example of those that tend to be louder. Buddha taught his students meditation to calm or tame the monkeys, but not to banish them. What you resist, persists, after all. Instead you tame them through practice and meditation, show them love and peace. You can even talk to them, begin to understand them more. And over time they will become (more) calm, giving you peace. But know that they will always be there and may start chattering again, and that is okay. It is not about defeating the monkeys, it is about understanding them and dealing with in a peaceful manner. After all, they are you.
What are the benefits?
- Relaxes and calms the body.
- Reduces blood pressure and anxiety.
- When your heart rate slows and body relaxes, your blood pressure drops, which in turn helps control anxiety.
- Brings the body to a meditative state.
- This state has actually been shown to help repair the cells and tissues and release stress.
- Improves concentration and memory.
- Increases levels of energy.
How do you get into shavasana?
There are a few different variations when it comes to shavasana, but today we will focus on the most familiar, corpse pose variation:
- Lie down on your mat, face up.
- Let your feet fall about two feet apart.
- Arms are down at your sides, about a foot away from your body with palms facing up.
- Eyes are closed.
- Relax.
As B.K.S. Iyengar said, “The brain is the hardest part of the body to adjust.”
Relaxing is by far the hardest part. Let your whole body melt into the mat, muscle by muscle. Focus on your natural breath, the inhale filling the body full, the exhale letting it all go, breathing through the nose. Stay here for 5-20 minutes, until the whole body is relaxed. At minimum, stay until the heart rate is lowered.
This simple act allows you to recover from the other poses, or asanas, that were practiced. It releases lactic acid that was built up from the practice and it allows the body to restore and rejuvenate.
I know it can seem like a long time at first, especially when we are so used to being on the go. And the instructor wants you to lay still for 5-20 minutes? Yes, absolutely we do. In the gist of it all, those few minutes in a day are nothing when it helps your mental health and clarity, when it restores your body and rejuvenate your soul.
Give yourself the gift of those few minutes of relaxation. You will thank yourself later.
A bit of my story:
As a teenager, I struggled with anxiety, depression, slight OCD, and eating disorders. Most of who know me probably knew about the anxiety and slight OCD but the others may come as a surprise, as I have not been openly public with them until now. And why now? Because I think it can help others understand that it is okay to deal with those things, and you can come out stronger on the other side. I am more than okay with that part of my story now as I understand it was a chapter that was necessary to make me who I am today. And yoga has helped all of that.
I am not saying it is the answer, more like the beginning of asking the question. But you have to find the question first to even start the search for the answer. That is what yoga has been to me.
And how does shavasana tie into this? When I started yoga, I did not care for this pose. I was your a-type yogi, there for the workout. I did not want to use blocks or anything that would assist me. I would go for the deepest variation because the person next to me was in it. When shavasana rolled around I wanted to jump off of my mat and get on with my day, my mind never slowed down and therefore neither did I. I never took time for myself to heal, to just relax in my own skin. And once I did, I began to notice the difference.
It took awhile for yoga to sink in. I remember an instructor once saying that once we began practicing yoga on the mat, it would start finding its way into our lives off of the mat. I literally rolled my eyes. No way, not me. I was not a hippy! HA. Oh, boy was I in for a surprise.
What started as a workout became a passion. And while the poses themselves helped me link my breath with my body, my body with my mind and my mind with my soul; it was shavasana, it was meditation, that really let me start to look inward. To focus the breath, to be in the moment, to be okay with myself. The anxiety started to disappear as I was more in the moment. The depression melted away as I became okay with who I was, who I am. OCD? Letting go of what I cannot control. Bam. Eating disorders? While I had mostly nixed those by the time I was practicing yoga, they were suddenly of no concern when I started to love my body for what it is, for who I am.
And while I may not have all the scientific facts as to why meditation and yoga has had these benefits for me, I have the facts that it has had these benefits. And that is enough for me right now.
I hope this helps show that it can make a difference. So next time you are on your mat, try letting go. Take a chance at taming those monkeys. See what it can do for you.
Namaste