Savasana or Corpse position looks like the easiest pose, but it is actually the most challenging one . Why? Because we have to train our mind to focus on only one thing, our breath. This is where yoga really begins.
We all come to yoga for different reasons; for a healthier or better looking body, to deepen our spiritual connection, improve concentration, or maybe just to relax and distress, but if you have been practicing yoga long enough you are probably starting to discover or feel that connection to something that is bigger than yourself.
When we are in corpse position or savasana with our palms up in the air into receiving mode, our body is absorbing information from the changes that occurred during the practice. It is then that we can receive that increase of prana or energy that the asanas created during the class. It is a time to be, not do. Somebody once said, we are human beings, not human doings… what a perfect time to be.
Depending on where you are on your journey or depending on the day, when practicing savasana you may start noticing you’re not as fidgety when lying down. You might be more connected to how you and your body feel. You can experience a feeling of union with yourself, with others, with the divine. However, at the beginning you may experience nothing and feel frustrated because you can’t quiet your mind. Whatever you experience in Savasana just accept it without judgment. Before you go into it, release any expectations. The possibilities found in stillness are infinite, but practice is the only way to get there. Eventually you will start to feel a real sense of peace; an increased acceptance of what is. You may find this to be the main reason you keep coming back to the mat.
The practice of yoga was developed mainly to help stop the fluctuation of the mind during meditation. The postures or “asanas” were developed so our bodies are healthy and flexible, free of pain and distractions so we can focus on the breath when pursuing the more spiritual aspect of the practice.
Our breath is linked to our brain, and our brain is linked to our mind, so synchronizing each movement with each breath connects your body and mind. Moving with your breath focuses your mind on the present moment, the only time that really exists. Here and now is where you can experience the presence of your soul. God is now, and now, and now.
At the beginning you might become more aware of your thoughts and be tempted to quit, or get frustrated and think you’re are not doing it “right”. It is ok. Be patient. Being aware of our thoughts is the first step to self-discovery. Like you are reminded in class, if a thought should pop up, just let it go by like a cloud in the sky and bring your awareness back to your breath. Each time you notice another thought, just lovingly bring the attention back to the breath. Soon your mind will create a new pattern, and you will become the observer. Instead of your thoughts thinking you, you can start choosing your thoughts; always reaching for the highest, most positive thoughts, loving thoughts, higher vibration thoughts. There are either fearful thoughts or loving thoughts…I suggest you choose Love.
Samskara means “scars” or impressions in Sanskrit. It is often referred to the mental scars we all have. The ways we are use to thinking, like thoughts that pop up first when we are stressed. For example: this is too hard, I can’t do this. When you are able to notice your thoughts with detachment you can start pivoting to more positive thoughts like: This is challenging, but in time I can do it, or I can do my own version of headstand. Samskara refers to these patterns of habitual thoughts, even those from before we are born, from past lifetimes. These habits of thoughts ultimately create our lives circumstances and the people we attract and we are attracted to.
Deepak Chopra has mentioned that 99% of the thoughts we have today are the same thoughts we had yesterday; therefore corpse position is a perfect opportunity to rest our minds on our breaths; even if it’s for a few minutes. Sometimes we can get so attached to our thoughts. We keep analyzing things to death. Often we identify with our thoughts, thinking we are our thoughts. Detachment is another good tool to implement when practicing savasana. On the book, “New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle, he gives an example of how we can make changes by detaching from our thoughts. For example, instead of thinking I am sad, just notice, sadness is in me. Not attaching or claiming the emotion, but noticing it and letting it go. Emotions are energy in-motion. Yoga moves that energy and lets it flow, and then settles it into stillness in the final relaxation.
With progress more than perfection, we will start connecting more and more to that spacebetween our thoughts where well-being is natural to us and where we can allow well-beingto flow to us effortlessly. We become more in alignment with spirit where we become inspired, or In-spirit.
Our skepticism of a higher energy or God will start disappearing, not because we were preached to or somebody told us to believe with blind faith, but because we are starting to experience it ourselves from the inside. So, connecting more and more to our breath, the breath of our lives, we are connecting deeper and deeper to our spirits, and then we can see more the spirit in others. Yoga means Union, when becoming one with ourselves; body, mind and soul, we can then become one with others.
In the end corpse position is a metaphor of our death. Where a part of us is always dying to give birth to something new. That is why we usually do fetus pose after corpse position. Therefore, we can welcome the death of our old self and old habits to create space for something new.
Namaste: “I honor the place in which the entire universe dwells. I honor the place in you, which is of love, of peace, of light, and of truth. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we become one.”
Hope you enjoy many more Savasanas with us at Moksha. Om – Shanty – Peace
