Refreshing Your Savasana

May 10, 2011 | Yoga practices, Yoga teaching  | 0 comments

- Refreshing Your Savasana

Eve in Savasana


When I teach the yoga relaxation in winter’s chilly temperatures, I see students getting into their lying down positions, pulling socks and jumpers on, and wrapping themselves up in blankets as tight as mummies. Of course we want to keep warm but not at the risk of creating a tense and resistant position.
Here’s some guidelines for teachers to follow in giving their students the optimum set-up for a deep relaxation:
1. Use a folded blanket like a pillow to support the neck and head. Especially with lower backache or sciatica, use a bolster under the knees.
2. Glasses off, space around all sides of the body.
3. Start from a seated position, with knees bent, feet together. Draw an imaginary line down the centre of the body from the crown of the head through to the legs. Lower down slowly along this imaginary line, till lying the trunk out flat.
4. Tuck pelvis under and use the hands to move the buttock flesh down.
5. Lift the arms up vertically and stretch one at a time, moving the muscles of the back away from the centre spine. Then, release the arms to the floor, bend the elbows, and touch the the tops of the shoulder with the fingers. Extend through the back of the upper arms, and then lower the forearms. Let the hands and fingers relax.
6. Be on the very centre of the back of the skull, neck long and chin tucked just slightly.
7. Make sure the feet, knees, centre of tailbone, spine, and base of the skull are all in one continuous straight line.
8. Bring the shoulder blades into contact with floor, then relax the back chest.
9. Widen the back ribs, and rest on the centre of the sacrum with the buttocks soft.
10. Straighten the legs, and let the feet drop out.
11. Allow the body to release into the floor, releasing any tension from the back body, and from the trunk to the neck, arms and legs. Relax the front body from thighs to the throat, and from the neck to the crown of the head.
12. Armpits, groins, diaphragm, lungs, back, and abdomen should all feel light.
Taking time to set up the physical body in this manner means that the student can then bring awareness to the breath and the mind, and finally let go of any thinking. One rests in unbroken stillness in this state which is the true aim of yoga.

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