Savasana

• Sava in sanskrit means a corpse, and asana is posture. Thus savasana is a posture that stimulates a dead body, and evoke the experience of remaining in a state as in death and of ending the heart- aches and the shocks that the flesh is heir to. It means relaxation, and therefore recuperation. It is not simply lying on one's back with a vacant mind and gazing, nor does it end in snoring. It is the most difficult of yogic asanas to perfect, but it is also the most refreshing and rewarding.

• A perfect savasana needs perfect discipline. It is easy to relax for a few minutes, but to do so without physical movements or without wavering of the intellect requires long training. At the start, a prolonged stay in savasana is not only very uncomfortable to the brain, but makes the body feel like a piece of dry,dead wood. Pricking sensations are felt on the skin along the limbs and they grow more acute if the pose is continued.

RHYTHM

• When savasana is well performed the breath moves like a string holding the pearls of a necklace together. The pearls are the ribs which move slowly, very steadily and reverently, reverent because when one is in that precise state, the body the breath, the mind and the brain move towards the real self (atma), like a spider returning to the centre of its web. At this juncture state of samadhana chitta is felt.

• In the beginning, the ribs do not relax, the breath is rough and uneven, while the mind and intellect waver. The body, the breath, the mind and the intellect are not united with the atma or the self. For correct savasana there must be unity of the body, the breath, the mind and the intellect where the self holds the reins. All four bow down respectfully to the atma. Then the chitta becomes samahita chitta, in which the mind, the mind, the intellect and the ego are balanced. This is a state of stillness.

• This state is achieved by controlled discipline of the body, the sense and the mind. It should not, however, be mistaken for silence. In stillness there is rigidity due to force of will. Here the attention is focused to keep the consciousness still, whereas in silence that attention is expanded and released and the will is submerged in the atma. This subtle distinction between stillness and silence can be known only by experience. In savasana the attempt is to achieve silence in all the five sheaths of kosas; the abbanaya, the pranayama, the manoyama, the vijnanamaya and the anandamaya, ehich envelop the person from the skin to the self.

• A star pulsates with energy and the energy is translated into light rays, which may take many light- years to reach human eyes on earth. The atma is like such a star and it transmits and impurints its likes and desires on the mind. These latent desires, like stellar energy translated into light, may resurface to the mind level, breaching the silence.

• First, learn to achieve the silence of the body. Then control the subtle movements of the breath. Next learn about the silence of the mind and the emotions and then of the intellect. From there proceed to learn and study about the silence fo the self. It is not until then that the ego or small self of the practitioner can merge with his self. The fluctuation of the mind and the intellect cease, the 'T' or ego disappears and savasana provides an experience of unaloyed bliss.

Stages of consciousness

• Yoga teaches four main states of consciousness. The three normal ones are the state of deep sleep or spiritual ignorance the dreamy or indolent state and lastly the state of watchfulness or awareness. There are verying stages between them. The fourth has a different dimension in which the sadhaka is spiritually illuminated. Some call it the eternal now, beyond space and time. Others call it the soul becoming one with the creator. This can be experienced in perfect savasana when the body is at rest as in deep sleep, the senses as in a dream but the intellect alert and aware. Such perfection, however, is rarely achieved. The sadhaka is then born anew or emancipated. His soul sings the words of sankaracharya:

I was, I am, I shall be, so why fear birth and death? Whence pangs of thirst and hunger? I have no life no breath, I am neither mind nor ego, can delusion or sorrow grind me? I am but the instrument, can actions free or bind me?

TECHNIQUES

• It is necessary to describe in great detail the techniques for practising savasana. However, a beginner need to be discouraged about mastering the details. When first learning to drive a car, he gets confused. Yet with help from an instructor he gradually learns to master the intricacies until they all become instinctive. It is the same with savasana, except that the working of the human body is more intricate that that of any car.

• Savasana is difficult to learn as it involves stilling the body, the senses and the mind while keeping the intellect alert. The seeker approaches it by studying the various aspects of his being – the body, the sense, the mind, the intellect and the self. Scholastic knowledge is not enough. Correct practice is essential to master savasana.

• Before starting the practice remove constricting garments, belts, glasses, contact lenses, hearing aids and so on.

TIME AND PLACE

• Although savasana can be done at any time, it is advisible to do it during the quiet hours. In large cities and industrial areas it is difficult to find an atmosphere free smoke, smog or chemical pollution. Choose a clean, level place, free from insects, noise and unpleasant smells. Do not practise of a hard floor, or on an unyielding surface or on a soft matters,as the body sinks into it unevenly.

ALLIGNMENT

• Savasana is performed lying down full length on the back on a blanket spread on the floor. Draw a straight line there to position the body correctly. Sit on the drawn line with the knees drawn up and the feet together. Gradually lower the back vertebra by vertebra along the drawn line on the floor or on the blanket. Place the body accurately so that the middle of the spine lies exactly on the straight line drawn on the floor or blanket.

• Press the feet on the floor, lift the hips as well as the sacroiliac region, and with your hands, move the flesh and the skin from the back of the waist down towards the buttocks.

• First adjust the back of the body. Then adjust the head from the front. The reason for adjusting the head from the front is that from birth the back of the head becomes uneven, because babies lean to one side, with the result that one side of the head gets more compressed than the other. Hence it is important to adjust the head from the front and feel it from the back. Then extend first one leg and then the other fully. Join both the heels and knees. The joined heels, knees, crotch, centre of the coccyx, the spinal column and base of the skull should rest exactly on the straight line. Then adjust the front of the body, keeping the centre of the eyebrows, the bridge of the node, chin, sternum, navel and centre of the pubis in line.

BALANCE

• To prevent any tilt of the body keep it straight and level. To check the former draw an imaginary line straight along the centre of the forehead, eyebrows, root of the nose, middle of the lips, chin, throat and sternum, centre of the diaphragm, navel and pubis, and then through the space between the inner sides of the thighs, knees, calves, ankles and heels. Then check that the body is level, starting with the head, keeping the two ears, outer corners of the eyes, the lips and the base of the jaw-bone parallel to the floor. Finally stretch and adjust the back of the neck, so that it is centrally placed on the floor.

TORSO

• Pin the apex of each shoulder blade to the floor. Roll the skin of the top chest from the collar-bones towards the shoulder blades and adjust the black to rest perfectly on the blanket. See that the dorsal and lumbar areas of the spine rest evenly on either side and that the ribs spread out uniformly. About ninety- nine percent of people do not rest evenly on both buttocks, but rest on one of them. Rest the centre of the sacrum on the floor so that the buttocks relax evenly. Draw a line between the nipples, floating ribs and pelvic bones to keep them parallel to the floor.

FEET

• Keep the feet together and stretch the outer edges of the heels; then let the feet fall outwards evenly. The big toes should feel weightless and non-resistant. It is wrong to force the little toes to touch the floor. Persons with stifflegs may keep their feet about a yard apart, as this will enable them to keep the back rested on the floor. Keep the back rested on the floor. Keep the back outer corner of the knees touching the floor. If they cannot rest use a folded blanket or pillow behind them. If the legs do not feel relaxed, place weights on the upper thighs. This removes tension or hardness in the muscles and keeps the legs quiet.

HANDS

• Keep the hands away from the body, forming an angle of fifteen to twenty degrees at the armpits. Bend the arms at the elbows, touching the shoulder tops with the fingers. Extend the triceps at the back portion of the upper arms and take the elbows as far as you can towards the feet. Kept the whole upper arms with the outer edges of the shoulders and elbows on the floor. Do not disturb the elbow points. Lower the forearms. Extend the hands from the wrists to the knuckles, palms facing upwards. Keep the fingers passive and relaxed, with the backs of the middle fingers touching the floor up to the first knuckles. See that the median plane of the arms, elbows, wrists and palms are in contact with the floor. If the arms are kept close to the body and the body does not rest properly, and hardness is felt in the arms or in the muscles of the trunk at the back, spread the arms to the level of the shoulders. The feeling of lying on the floor should be as through the body is sinking into mother earth.

UNCONSCIOUS TENSIONS

• One may be unaware of tension in the palms, the fingers, the soles of the feet or the toes. Watch for and release this tension when and where it occurs and drop these parts back to their correct positions.

REMOVAL OF TENSION

• First, learn to relax the back of the body from the trunk to the neck, arms and legs. Next relax the front of the body from the pubis to the throat, where emotional upheavals take place, and then from the neck to the crown of the head. In this way learn to relax the entire body.

• Experience the feeling of non-existence or emptiness in the pits of the arms, the inner pits of the groin, diaphragm, lungs, spinal muscles and the abdomen. The body then feels like a discarded stick. In correct savasana the head feels as if it has shrunk.

• Learn to silence the tissue of the physical body before dealing with the mind. The gross physical body should be brought under control before one proceeds to quieten the subtler mental and intellectual bodies.

• Complete serenity of the body is the first requisite, and it is the first sign of attaining spiritual tranquillity. There is no emancipation of the mind unless there is a feeling of serenity an all parts of the body. Silence in the body will bring about silence in the mind.

THE SENSES

• Eyes. In savasana the sadhaka turns his gaze inwards and looks within himself. This introspection prepares him for pratyahara the fifth of the eight steps of yoga, where the senses are withdrawn inwards, and he begins the journey to the source of his being, his atma.

• The eyes are the windows of the brain. Each has lids, which act as shutters. The iris surrounding the pupil serves as an automatic regulator of the amount of light reaching the retina . The iris reacts automatically to the intellectual and emotional states of the person. By closing the lids he can shut out all that is outside and become aware of what is within. If he closes them too tightly the eyes are squeezed, causing colours, light and shadows to appear and distract him. Gently move the upper lids towards the inner corners of the eyes. This relaxes the skin just above them and creates space between the eyebrows. Treat the eyes gently like petals of a flower. Raise the eyebrows just enough to release any tightness of the skin in the forehead.

• Ears: These play an important part both in savasana and in pranayama. While the eyes are kept passive, the ears should be quiet and receptive. Tension or relaxed in either affects the mind in the same way and vice verse. The seat of the intellect is in the head, while the mind is rooted in the heart. When there are thought waves, the inner ears lose their receptivity, by careful training, the process can be reversed and the ears can send messages back to stop the fluctuations so that the mind will quieten. If the eyes are kept tense the ears become blocked, and if they are relaxed so are the ears.

• Tongue: keep the root of the tongue passive as in sleep and resting on the lower palate. Any movement or pressure of the tongue on the teeth or upper palate indicates a fluctuating mind. If it moves to one side, the head does the same, making total relaxation difficult. Keep the corners of the lips relaxed by stretching them sideways.

• Skin:The skin which covers the body provides the structure for what is perhaps the most important of the senses. The five organs of knowledge are the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. The subtle primary elements of light, colour, sound, smell, taste and touch leave their impressions on the organs of sense. These in turn send messages to the brain and receive them back for response and challenge. The nerves controlling the senses are relaxed by from contact with the organs of knowledge. Pay special attention to the areas of the temples, the cheekbones and the lower jaw. This will enable you to sense a feeling of quietness between the upper palate and the root of the tongue. In savasana the muscles relax and the pores of the skin shrink and the relevant nerves are at rest.

BREATHING

• See that the breath flows evenly on either side of the nostrils. Start by inhaling normally, but exhale softly, deeply and longer. For same, deep inhalation creates disturbance in the head and trunk, with tautness in the legs and arms. For them normal inhalations with deep and soft exhalations are recommended. This quietens the nerves and the mind. For those who become restless the moment. Savasana is attempted, they should perform deep, slow and prolonged in – and out- breaths until quietness is attained. The moment quietness is felt, they should stop deep breathing and let the breath flow by itself. When the art of exhalation is perfected, one feels as if the breath is oozing from the pores of the skin on the chest, which is a sign of perfect relaxation. Each out – breath takes the sadhaka's mind towards his own self and purges his brain of all its tensions and activates. Exhalation is the best form of surrender by the sadhaka of his all – his breath, life and soul – to his creator.

HEAD

• Make sure that the head is straight and parallel to the ceiling. If it tilts up the mind dwells in the future. If down, it broods in the past. If it leans to one side, the inner ear follows. This affects the mid-brain and one tends to fall asleep and lose awareness. Learn to keep the head level with the floor so that the mind remains always in the present. Correction of any tilt will help to bring that balance between the two hemispheres of the brain and the body which is one of the gateways to divinity.

• At the beginning the chin moves up and down unconsciously in respiration. Check this by consciously keeping the back of the head parallel to the floor by stretching it from the neck towards the back of the crown.

BRAIN

• If the brain or mind is tense, so is the skin and vice verse. Learn to discipline yourself from the pores of the skin to the self as well as the other way round. The total energy of the body, the mind and the intelligence should submerge in the self. Use the will to quieten the mind and the intellect. Ultimately sublimate the will.

• As long as the senses are active, the atma remains dormant. When they are stilled and silenced, it shines for the clouds of desires are dispersed. Like the darting movements of a fish in the water of a pond are the movements of the mind and intellect – both within and without the body. When the water is unruffled, the image reflected therein is unbroken and still. When the wavering of the mind and the intellect are stilled, the image of the self rises undisturbed to the surface, free of desires. This desireless state of simplicity and purity is known as kaivalyacastha.

• The aim in savasana is to keep the body at rest, the breathing passive, while the mind and intellect are gradually submitted. When fluctuations take place internally and externally, mental or emotional upheavals in the mind are stilled, bringing about a state of manolaya. Then the mind, free from fluctuation, dissolves and merges in the self, like a river in the sea. It is a negative state of passivity; described in the yoga texts as 'empty', a merging of one's identity at the emotional level. Then the sadhaka prevents the incoming thoughts which distract and dissipate his intellectual energy. At this level he experience a state of clarity where the intellects is in full command and does not allow invading thoughts to disturb it . This state is known as an asunyavastha. When he gets mastery over mind and brain, he reaches a new positive state beyond both manolaya and amanaskatva, which is pure being.

• Manolaya or sunyavastha may be compared to the new moon. Where the moon, though rotating round the earth, is not visible. The states of amsnaskatva or asunyavastha may be compared to the full moon, reflecting the light of the sun, the atma. In both sunyavastha or asunyavastha, the sadhaka's body, mind and intellect are well balanced and radiate energy. He attains equipoise between the two tides of emptiness of emotion and fullness of intellect.

• To achieve this state, the sadhaka must develop discrimination. This in turn will lead to clarity and enable him to relax better. When clarity is gained, doubts vanish, bringing illumination. His being then gets merged in the infinite. This is the experience of the sadhaka, the nectar of savasana.

• Practise savasana for some ten to fifteen minutes to experience a sense of timelessness. The slightest thought or movement will break the spell and you are once more in the world of tiem, with a beginning and an end.

• Getting back to normal from a successful ssavasana requires time. Between two breaths and two thoughts there is a varying gap of time, as there is between and active and a passive state. Savasana begins a passive state, the sadhaka should remain a silent observer until normal activity creeps into the brain and body. After successful savasana the nerves feel shrunken on returning to normal, while the back of the brain seems dry and heavy and the front empty. Therefore do not raise your head quickly, as you may black out or feel heavy. Gradually and gently open your eyes, which are at first unfocused. Remain in that state for a while. Then bend the knees, turn the head and body to one side and stay for a minutes or two in that position. Repeat this in the other side. As a result you will feel no strain when getting up.

SPECIAL PRECAUTIONS

• Those suffering from hypertension, high blood pressure, heart disease, emphysema or restlessness should lie on wooden planks and place pillows under the head.
• Tense and restless people should place weights on their upper thighs and 5lbs on the palms. They should do sanmukhi mudra or wrap a long soft and thin piece of folded cloth about three inches wide around the head and over the eyes and temples. Start from the eyebrows, without blocking the nose; tuck in the ends, either at the temple above or at the sides of the nose below. The cloth should be neither too tight nor too loose. When the brain is active, movements of the temples and tension in the eyeballs will push the cloth outwards. When the skin there relaxes, you no longer feel to be in contact with the cloth. This is a sign that the brain is beginning to relax.
• Those with painful necks, due to cervical spondylitis or sprain, will find it difficult to stretch the back of the neck and to rest comfortably. They should insert a towel or a folded cloth between the base of the neck and skull a sillustrated.
• Highly nervous people, or those suffering from loss of confidence, should lie in savasana, directing the gaze at the middle of the eyebrows,close the eyes and gaze inwardly. They sholud breathe deeply, holding the breath for a second or two after each inhalation. They should practise savasana only after doing sarvangasana, which is described in light on yoga. The deep inhalation and exhalation enable such persons to relax, after which they need no longer focus the gaze between the eyebrows nor concentrate on deep breathing.
• If the gap between the floor and the waist is too great, use a soft pillow or a folded blanket to fill it. This support rests the lumbar back. Persons with backache should keep a weight on the abdomen. This eases the pain.

EFFECTS

• In correct savasana there is minimum waste of energy and maximum recuperation. It refreshes the whole being, making one dynamic and creative. It banishes fear of death and creates feralessness. The sadhaka experiences a state of serenity any inner oneness.

References

The above mentioned information is added from the book called LIGHT ON PRANAYAMA by B.K.S. IYENGAR.