Savasana, the blissfully perfect yoga pose! After your Delray Beach yoga class you get treated with this relaxing and soothing pose. Sometimes it’s easy to find that space of nothingness during Savasana, but other times the mind may still be too busy.
What to do in order to fully enjoy the glory that is Savasana? Here are some helpful tips on how to better relax your mind and body.
During the beginning of Savasana you can bring back to mind what your intensions were to come and practice yoga. What did you want to achieve, what did you want to feel and how did you want to be? Be happy if you remembered those intentions during your practice, and if you didn’t, well, let go. Then let go of the practice.
Let go of everything that happened, everything that was or wasn’t. It’s gone, practice is over, and you have only this moment here and now.
Do what you need to do so that you can fully relax in Savasana. If you feel like you need to stretch, twist or move your body in some way, give yourself some time and do that before you settle down.
If you are in a busy class, you can place a towel over your eyes to give you a bit more privacy. If it’s winter time, take a blanket and cover (parts of) yourself. You can also place a pillow under your head and a bolster under the knees to feel extra comfy.
Have your feet hip width apart and your arms relaxed next to you, palms facing upwards. There are a lot of nerve endings in the fingertips, and when the palms are facing upwards, you don’t get any sensations though your fingers, and you stay more receptive and open.
If you are in a class, different teachers have different ways of guiding students in Savasana. Whether the teacher is guiding you to consciously relax or giving you space for your own relaxation, you can take charge by actively tuning in. Before you tune in, take a moment and bring your awareness to the different sounds around you.
Try to find the most distant sound, and then let your awareness go from sound to sound, until you find the sound closest to you. Then tune into your breath. Once we acknowledge the sounds from outside, the mind is more likely to let go and tune inwards.
Feel the body on the mat, feel your bones heavy and your whole body relaxed. You can imagine a wave of relaxation starting from the toes and slowly moving upwards, filling your whole body. Your fingers get relaxed, arms, belly, back and shoulders. Finally feel the small muscles in the face relax, the muscles around the eyes and mouth, and relax the jaw.
Your entire body feels heavy and fully relaxed on the mat. When the mind actively focuses on different body parts, it’s easier to relax them. Your mind is focused inwards, and your body is relaxing deeper.
Once you feel relaxed, start going deeper inside. Try to find a place within yourself that is filled with pure love. Try to go beyond the thoughts and emotions, deeper than your day-to-day feelings, and identify where in your body resides love. Observe how it feels, how it looks and how it moves. You can start to make this spot larger, you can fill your entire body with this feeling of pure love.
How would you be if all thoughts and actions would come from this place of love? How would life be different? How do you see yourself when you look through love? Enjoy the feeling inside of you.
Savasana may be the best yoga class pose ever invented, but it’s not always the easiest. It can be a place of healing, or it can be very confronting. If you find that your thoughts are all over the place, don’t get discouraged.