Savasana: When You Find the Space Between the Thoughts

Savasana (Corpse pose) is the last pose of most yoga practices. This pose creates stillness which allows you to integrate and absorb the wisdom of your yoga practice. Even though the body is at rest, it can be the most challenging pose in the entire yoga practice. 

Savasana is the practice of Concentration (Dharana), or having a single-pointed focus. The mind, when left to its own devices, doesn’t stop moving. Thoughts of the past and the future swirl and flood your mind when the body stops moving. The first thing you notice is how chatty you are inside. 

Quieting the mind is challenging, but not the ultimate goal

This practice allows you to find the space between the thoughts by noticing your breath. When you can focus the mind on one thing and let go of everything else, you are practicing Dharana. Finding space takes time and practice. At first there is no space, just one thought after another.

• Breath

• I have to remember to send that email…

• Breath

• I can’t believe my friend said that to me…

• Breath

• I need to get eggs at the store after class, do we need milk? I think we do. What am I going to make for dinner? I think I’m going to try that new recipe…

• Breath

• I was so humiliated that time that I did a belly flop in the pool at camp when I was 7. Everyone laughed and I was mortified. Sarah said that nobody noticed, but everyone did. Why am I thinking about this?

• Breath

It’s a constant back and forth between your thinking Mind taking over, and your Witness running the show. The Witness is the noticer of your thinking Mind.The Mind thinks, the Witness notices. It’s your awareness of what is happening in your head, and in the world around you. 

Practice, practice, practice

The more you practice, the more breaths you’ll notice before the Mind wanders to other places and other times. Noticing your breath creates space. In this space you’ll find the deepest rest and stillness. At some point you may notice moments of no words. Of course once you notice them, the words come flooding back in as you try to grasp the silence. Eventually you will learn to be with those moments and not grab onto them. You’ll sit with them and allow them to just be. Once you “grasp” for it, it’s gone.

When you practice Savasana, you are not trying to get rid of your thoughts. When I first started practicing yoga, I would literally yell at myself in my head for having “allowed” my mind to wander. The mind wanders. It’s what it does. When you notice it’s wandered, you bring your attention back to your breath and start again. No judgment or criticism necessary. Yelling is definitely not necessary, or helpful at all. 

Space

In that space, when you "declutter" the mind, you create room for your own internal wisdom to rise to the surface. You already hold all of the answers that you are seeking, you just need space to hear them. It is in that space that self-exploration and growth happen.

The mind’s wandering and coming back is the process of practicing Savasana. You don’t need to push out your thoughts or try to suppress them in any way. Keep your main focus on your breath, and allow the thoughts space to exist. Maybe they slide to the edges of your focus, like background noise. Eventually you barely notice that they are there. That’s when you find the space. When you let go of caring that they are there in the periphery, you find ease, and can flow into Meditation (Dhyana).

Practicing Savasana

Join me online to practice Savasana! Join me for Beginner Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, or 30 Min FitFlow to move, strengthen, and stretch your body, then practice quieting the mind. If you want to explore meditation a bit more, I teach Movement and Meditation every Monday morning at 8am ET. All online classes are also available on demand. Get a 10 Day All Access Free Trial to experience all of what Purple Room Yoga Online Yoga Studio has to offer! See you in class soon! ~Janine

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