Among one of the seemingly easy poses of yoga is shavasana or the corpse (dead body) pose. It may seem easy but it is not. It may seem as though this aasan is not an important one; however as a yoga instructor, I find that this is also inaccurate. The corpse aasan is important, and it is also surprisingly difficult, I feel.
“Most and least challenging”
I once heard another yoga instructor say that the shavasana is the least and the most challenging of yoga poses. I kind of agree. It is not challenging in the physical sense because it only involves lying down with all the body’s muscles relaxed, arms outstretched and the eyes closed. And usually, shavasana is performed at the end of the yoga session; giving the body a well-deserved rest. However, this is when I sometimes find that my students want to leave – there is something urgent to do, something they may be getting late for. Why is this?
Shavasana is the time to get the body to relax. But can you really let yourself relax? Shavasana is when you loosen the muscle tension, free the mind of irritations and worries and relax not just the body but also the mind. But is this really what we do? Isn’t this the time when you find it most difficult to let go of the many thoughts swirling inside the head? Isn’t this the time when the mind and body are already primed to roll up that mat, leave, thinking ahead to running some chores, picking up the kids, working on a project… any number of things are already occupying the mind! Some yoga students tend to think of shavasana as somewhat a waste of time, but they would be very wrong!
Why you mustn’t skip shavasana
While you are doing some of the other more strenuous and challenging aasans, your body is stimulated and so is your brain. This is about making an effort and about controlling the body – about a healthy form of stress. At the end is shavasana, which is meant to calm, de-stress and wind down. Some experts describe this as the shift from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system.
Not only is shavasana a time for the body to slow down and stabilize, it is the time for the mind to do the same. It is the time to let all the stresses and the tensions drain away – literally and figuratively. It is the time for the body to rejuvenate and recharge itself. It is also the time for the brain to relinquish its worries and anxieties to finish off a yoga class recharged, so to speak.
Philosophically speaking, shavasana is also the time when we become conscious of the life breath that sustains us, while contemplating our last breath (or death which is inevitable) at the same time. This is the time when we feel gratitude for this beautiful life and resolve to embrace it and all its potential. Paradoxically, it is the dead body pose that invites us to live life more fully – reason enough not to skip shavasana in your next yoga class, wouldn’t you say?