The Power of Savasana
It is my belief that we do the majority of our learning in savasana- corps pose. It is the moment of total surrender in the asana practice. An opportunity to process and reflect through delicious silence. The time for our cells to reinforce new muscular memory. A mini reincarnation.
Regardless of your belief in or around reincarnation, let’s examine it for a moment. Over the course of each life, we discover truths. In our next lives, through death, those truths are established in our minds, bodies and spirits allowing us to uncover greater mysteries and lessons in each life as we progress.
Imagine each savasana as the end of a life, trusting that each awakening or rising from savasana imbeds newly earned knowledge and experience into each cell in your body to inform your next practice.
BUT we don’t even have to look to something as ideological as reincarnation to see the power of savasana. How often have you “slept on” a big decision. Why do we expect clarity through surrendering to the wisdom of our sleeping body? Every prose and cons list you’ve ever written is a linear expression of surrender to what is. How many times have you needed to step away from a paper or project in order to see it more clearly? These are what I call life savasanas.
I have had a powerful year of life savasana. After I taught my yoga class and completed my 200 hour certification at Yandara, I went over 3 months without opening my mouth to say a single cue, let alone teach a class. When I finally did teach my first yoga class after being certified, I didn’t recognize myself. I had grown and learned dramatically over the course of my 3 plus month savasana. In the same year, I stepped away from performing for 6 months only to restart by playing one of the most challenging roles in musical theater history. After day one of rehearsals, setting foot on stage for the first time in 6 months, my director looked me in the eyes and said, you’ve grown. And trust me, I’m not getting any taller.
So when we find ourselves stagnating in a pose or a job or a relationship, we can give myself permission to surrender to what is. Perhaps it’s as simple as going for a walk around the block or getting a good nights sleep. It might mean, taking a pause from our perceived path to check in with the person we are becoming.
Or maybe it’s simply the trust that yes…the pose will come…in one of our life times.
