Savasana. Corpse pose. It is the end of your practice, and time to let

Savasana. Corpse pose. It is the end of your practice, and time to let go of everything that
has come before. This letting go is important, it happens first and clears the slate for you
to experience yourself. The more completely you let go, the deeper your savasana will
be. You can fully rest in yourself when all the impermanent things have fallen away, like
how ‘advanced’ your practice was or was not on a particular day. Or your thoughts and
plans about your life after practice, a distraction that easily holds us on the surface of our
savasana, often to the point of skipping the pose altogether! Corpse pose is considered one
of the most important poses to practice, as it offers so much potential for self exploration
and understanding.
How can you get the most out of your savasana? Can you let drop away every materially
or socially constructed thing that you use to define yourself by? What will remain, who
would you be? Who are you before your thoughts arise, before your actions are carried
out? What is the source of your life, the essence that generates your thoughts and decides
your actions? Start to contemplate and answer these questions while in savasana. Begin
at the surface and go deeper one layer at a time, releasing each layer as you go. One hint
is to let your answers change, actually feel out each possible answer instead of jumping
to what you might imagine is the ultimate answer. In other words, don’t come up with
the best possible answer then go about trying to feel that one. Rather, start where you
are, feel who you are in the moment you ask the question, then let that identification go.
Feel then release. This process can sound much easier than it actually is, but you will learn
about yourself and the lasting benefits of yoga.
Try to view the process of releasing what you are attached to as simply a pattern of
movement that you can begin to recognize and direct. It is not a matter of winning an
argument with yourself, or logically convincing yourself of the validity of any imagined
deeper ‘truth’. There are things that you will be interested in letting go of that are not
readily accessible through language or logic. Many of our fears are like this, so finding
a more visceral definition of surrender is very useful. And furthermore, when you move
inwards, eventually you will come to places that are unknown. What you will move into
when you release where you are will be unimaginable from your current perspective. These
steps into unknown space are not possible with logic, so in the beginning pay attention
to the actual feeling and the internal movement of letting go. So when you move beyond
simple attachments, you will have a way to continue.
Who am I?
by John Pattison yoga teacher & lifesmith
This kind of practice of moving deep into yourself during savasana and meditation
absolutely needs a pre- or co- requisite practice of self kindness, self acceptance, and
unconditional self love. As these are the only tools that will help you navigate deep into
yourself and let you rest there. These practices are a great place to start, you will find that
they develop in tandem with your ability to move deeper into your savasana practice.
Hari Om
John