The Wonderful Benefits of Savasana

Seemingly one of the easiest yoga poses, Savasana (or Corpse Pose) is one of the most important, and for many it is also one of the hardest poses to master.  In a world of  ‘busyness’,  lying still and quietening the mind can be a difficult practice.  Not only do we have to be still and focus our awareness on the sound of our breath feeling the rise and fall of our chest, but we lie in a position of openness and this can be challenging for some.

The benefits of Savasana are numerous and include:

• A calming of the sympathetic nervous system which is responsible for driving our stress or ‘alarm’ responses. This assists the nervous system to normalise by reducing the heart rate, lowering blood pressure and calming thoughts.
• As it relaxes the body it helps us to draw our thoughts internally and we can develop better body awareness or interoception. As we often hold tension in our body with realising it, interoception gives us a better understanding of our physiological state i.e. how we are breathing, our heartrate, where we carry tension or musculoskeletal misalignment in the body and our digestive system.
• Savasana therefore calms the autonomic nervous system which creates a feeling of balance and calm which reduces anxiety, depression and helps with insomnia.
• In time this practice slows our beta brainwaves (active) to alpha and theta brainwaves (slower, clearer and more meditative).

 

The aim of Savanasana is to simultaneously help us relax and remain aware.  To detach from worry, fear and attachment.  For some it is part of their spiritual yoga or mindfulness practice.  Some days we lie on our mats at the end of a yoga class and we withdraw easily from our thoughts.  Other days the monkey chatter in our mind makes it difficult to draw awareness internally, and we never quite achieve the mental and physical balance we desire.  Like all aspects of yoga, it requires practice.   Even when we don’t feel we quite achieve Savasana we will benefit from this practice as we move from the mat into the day.

Savasana is essential to any physical yoga practice.  It is not a pose for just filling in time until the end of class.   It balances the body and mind and spirit and therefore allows us to bring yoga from asana into self-awareness.