Savasana II

I've written about yoga before. And also about Savasana: Corpse Pose. It's essentially lying on the floor. Doing nothing. But even Wikipedia tells me that, "Savasana is perhaps the most important pose of yoga practice." Often, people will say that it is during this time of not-doing that the body resets itself and integrates the work that has just been done.

Again from Wikipedia, "...even the deepest muscles will have the opportunity to let go and shed their regular habits, if only for a few minutes."

शवासन

I've decided to Savasana as often as I can throughout the day, especially after a run. Sometimes I don't even lay down. I just stop what I'm doing, and feel my muscles (or my mind, or my emotions) integrate what just happened. I picture that some parts of it stay in my body- the positive changes, the encouraging progress, the sense of accomplishment. And some parts float away- the unhealthy habits, the negative fears, the disappointments, the soreness.

10 times I have done Savasana in the last week:

1. After running
2. After work
3. After driving somewhere frustrating
4. After putting my kid to sleep
5. After writing thank-you notes
6. After intensely working on a project on the computer
7. After yoga (duh)
8. After grocery shopping
9. After talking to people on the phone
10. After folding a mountain of laundry and watching TV

After doing this for about a week, I honestly think I can feel the sensation of things settling in, and floating away. It's my new favorite thing.

Wait... 5 HOURS of Yoga??

Yes. 5 hours a week. That's about 6 days of yoga for 30-45 minutes a day. Oddly, getting the yoga started has been a real challenge. The runner inside me really wants to find a way to 'count' or 'add up' all the yoga time. But in reality, about 25% of the time I'm doing yoga, I'm doing this....

The challenging part is to shut my brain off. It keeps telling me, "This is not burning calories. This is relaxing. You could do this in bed with covers. This is worthless laying, not meaningful progress." Which is when the Mindfulness comes into play. The only way to turn off my brain is to let it focus on what's immediately going on. The push of the carpet into my back, the feeling of the air in my nose, how the fabric of my shirt moves every time I inhale.