Savasana
Peace Y'all,
I have been practicing yoga consistently for Wisdom months now. I feel really good.... strong. I see what additional flexibility can do for the body and I am satisfied with the results. I'm not getting smaller, but I'm getting better. And really, what more can I ask for.
One of my finishing moves is called "Savasana" or corpse pose. You lay flat on your back, eyes closed, feet falling apart, palms up. I use this pose to end my personal sequenced home practice. I suspect the reason why I sequence it in like that is because it clearly is a relaxed position. And most of the videos sequence it at the end. Born Allah Truth.... You knew there had to be a but in there... I didn't always find it relaxing.
When you do a pose in a studio/ashram or from a video, there is only so much relaxation you can achieve. You have to be mindful of keeping up with the video or the class. No matter how you get into a pose you kinda have to adjust your head or eyes to Knowledge the Cipher. Not really conducive to relaxation. When you get into corpse pose they tell you what to do and what to think and then they end it for you. Again, not all that comfortable.
I have often wondered if instructors really pay attention to what they are saying. Telling someone to visualize the calm of the ocean may not work for someone who's parents died at sea. They don't know what's calming for every individual and make generalizations. Another issue I have with classes.
This morning, in my personal practice, I go to Savasana after meditation. I don't meditate long because I meditate while I walk. So my meditation is really for me just to set the determined ideas for the day. Also I am working on my lotus pose. After that is done, I then move into Savasana, and stay there for as long as I can or feel is necessary.
This morning, I was really going for maximum relaxation. My morning walk was hard because the moon is approaching and it is still rather warm outside. I did my regular series of Surya Namaskara, then into my sequnce of hip openers and twists. I did a bow pose, but I'm not really sure how great it was. I suspect the more I do it the better it will get. So by the time I got to Savasana I was in need of relaxation. I got into position and told myself. "Relax!" Now of course it felt good. How could it not. But telling myself to relax was not just gonna make it happen.
So, this morning, for the 1st time, I did my own visualization. I visualized a location where I knew that I had been totally relaxed before.... My aunt's porch. I could feel the swing chair under my body and feel a warm breeze. I could see all the other homes on the sand covered street. I could smell the Earth and hear people singing songs of praise at the church 3 doors down. It was a very relaxing experience. I almost peed on myself.
But you know what I noticed? As the visualization started to take shape, my shoulders released. Then my stomach softened. My face softened. I felt internal knots unravel themselves. I felt truly at ease. Wow! I hated to come out of the pose. It was actually hard to tighten everything back up so that I could sit up, stand and walk. Right now as I'm sitting here typing this, I miss it. Actually am longing for it.
I have always thought of Savasana as that pussy pose at the end of the class. There is no challenge to it, because everybody can do this and do it correctly on the 1st try. But is every body experiencing this? Total relaxation is not something that is easy to achieve.
So for all of y'all yoginis out there in the blogosphere, Have you achieved mass relaxation?
Peace
I have been practicing yoga consistently for Wisdom months now. I feel really good.... strong. I see what additional flexibility can do for the body and I am satisfied with the results. I'm not getting smaller, but I'm getting better. And really, what more can I ask for.
One of my finishing moves is called "Savasana" or corpse pose. You lay flat on your back, eyes closed, feet falling apart, palms up. I use this pose to end my personal sequenced home practice. I suspect the reason why I sequence it in like that is because it clearly is a relaxed position. And most of the videos sequence it at the end. Born Allah Truth.... You knew there had to be a but in there... I didn't always find it relaxing.
When you do a pose in a studio/ashram or from a video, there is only so much relaxation you can achieve. You have to be mindful of keeping up with the video or the class. No matter how you get into a pose you kinda have to adjust your head or eyes to Knowledge the Cipher. Not really conducive to relaxation. When you get into corpse pose they tell you what to do and what to think and then they end it for you. Again, not all that comfortable.
I have often wondered if instructors really pay attention to what they are saying. Telling someone to visualize the calm of the ocean may not work for someone who's parents died at sea. They don't know what's calming for every individual and make generalizations. Another issue I have with classes.
This morning, in my personal practice, I go to Savasana after meditation. I don't meditate long because I meditate while I walk. So my meditation is really for me just to set the determined ideas for the day. Also I am working on my lotus pose. After that is done, I then move into Savasana, and stay there for as long as I can or feel is necessary.
This morning, I was really going for maximum relaxation. My morning walk was hard because the moon is approaching and it is still rather warm outside. I did my regular series of Surya Namaskara, then into my sequnce of hip openers and twists. I did a bow pose, but I'm not really sure how great it was. I suspect the more I do it the better it will get. So by the time I got to Savasana I was in need of relaxation. I got into position and told myself. "Relax!" Now of course it felt good. How could it not. But telling myself to relax was not just gonna make it happen.
So, this morning, for the 1st time, I did my own visualization. I visualized a location where I knew that I had been totally relaxed before.... My aunt's porch. I could feel the swing chair under my body and feel a warm breeze. I could see all the other homes on the sand covered street. I could smell the Earth and hear people singing songs of praise at the church 3 doors down. It was a very relaxing experience. I almost peed on myself.
But you know what I noticed? As the visualization started to take shape, my shoulders released. Then my stomach softened. My face softened. I felt internal knots unravel themselves. I felt truly at ease. Wow! I hated to come out of the pose. It was actually hard to tighten everything back up so that I could sit up, stand and walk. Right now as I'm sitting here typing this, I miss it. Actually am longing for it.
I have always thought of Savasana as that pussy pose at the end of the class. There is no challenge to it, because everybody can do this and do it correctly on the 1st try. But is every body experiencing this? Total relaxation is not something that is easy to achieve.
So for all of y'all yoginis out there in the blogosphere, Have you achieved mass relaxation?
Peace
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