At some point in a yoga class you may have heard the teacher say, “Savasana is the most important pose“. Depending on your reason for practicing yoga you may have found this statement confusing. Why would sava (corpse), sometimes called mrti (death), asana (pose) be more important than dynamic standing poses like warrior one, or strength building postures like boat pose? And why would a pose that asks you to lie still on your back be useful when you came to class to learn how to move?

In most schools of Hatha yoga, the corpse pose brings us to closure by asking us to completely surrender our physical practice. We’re told to relax our muscles, to turn our gaze inwards, to quiet our minds and eventually even cease the effort in the breath. This pose isn’t for sleeping, it’s to practice being a corpse. A corpse no longer worries about things that might have felt important in life but were, in fact, temporary. A corpse ceases to resist union with the earth and gives up its weight completely to become the earth. A corpse does not effort to move towards or away from likes and dislikes, hopes and fears. A corpse gives itself to the movement of the organism that surrounds it and eventually becomes indistinguishable from the organism. A corpse is not the separation that most of us feel in most situations, a corpse has found yoga (union) with the earth and the air. A corpse is not concerned with the past or the future, it is not concerned at all.

In a standard yoga class you’ll practice standing poses first, then move to the floor and practice forward and backward bending and then lie down to finish with supine postures and end in Savasana. In some ways each yoga class takes us backward through the life cycle. In yoga asana we first  learn to stand, then we learn to sit, then we learn to withdraw our senses, and then we learn to rest in awareness. Your life cycle generally goes the other way. Interesting isn’t it? We practice yoga to come back to our inherent stillness and perception, our intimacy with what is.

Practice a few minutes of Savasana every day. Find somewhere to lie down comfortably and feel your body connect with the earth below you, your skin breathe in and communicate with the universe around you. If you are anxious try to deepen your inhales and imagine bringing in clarity. With your exhales try to feel gratitude for something, it doesn’t matter what. Scan your body and notice the places of tension, discomfort and holding on. Approach these places with love; extending appreciation to your body for its efforts, for its strengths and for the challenges you feel, remembering that if you didn’t have challenges you wouldn’t learn. Let your breath, your kindness, and attention spread through each part of your body and imagine that your are saying goodbye to a dear friend, feeling your appreciation and love as you let go. Try not to fall asleep, but stay with the sensations of your body as they become more subtle and as the breath ceases to be an effort. Let your eyes rest back into your skull, there is no need to look outside of yourself. Release your lower jaw and let the tongue fall back in the throat, there is no need to talk. Soften the sinuses, the cheekbones, the ears and turn your senses inwards.

Listen to your inner cues, you’ll know when you’ve stayed long enough. To come out of Savasana, come out with same care and attentiveness you came in with. Deepen your breath into your belly and let it spread out to subtle movements in your fingers, toes, arms, legs, and face. Reach your arms up beside your ears to take a long deep breath and welcome life back into your body. Roll over on to one side and spend a moment noticing what you see and feeling equilibrium in your limbs. Press yourself into a seat and take a few minutes with care to feel your place in the space around you. Try to take the peacefulness and equanimity of your Savasana into the rest of your day and night.

“That is the end of your practice for today, but it’s not
the end of awareness.” – Patricia Walden

Salabhasana variations are simple backbends performed while lying prone (on the belly) that prepare the body for deeper backbending practice by strengthening and lengthening the muscles of the back, legs and “core”.

There are many variations of Salabhasana, here are a few:

To prepare, first lie on your belly with your fingertips below the shoulders. Concentrate on lengthening the tailbone towards the heels, there should be a slight pressure of the pubic bone towards the floor, which will cause the naval to rise away from the floor, maintain these actions while practicing the variations. Activate the legs by pressing the toenails down, the inner thighs spiral in and up.

Ekapada Salabhasana (one leg locust pose)

Lie on the belly with the legs extended backwards, the inner ankles together. Extend the arms forwards on the floor beside the ears, the palms turned down.
On the inhalation, lift the head, chest, right arm and right leg. Do not flex the head too far backwards, keep the neck long and relaxed and the right should drawing away from the right ear.
Try to keep the frontal hip bones on the mat and the shoulders even, so the right side of the body does not tilt upwards, rather the muscles of the back and leg lift upwards.
Keep the knees straight, the right arms elongating from the shoulder joint and the right leg elongating back from the lumbar spine.
Hold for five breaths and release on the exhalation. Repeat on the opposite side. Practice 1-3 times on each side.

Salabhasana A and B from the Intermediate Series of the Ashtanga Tradition

Lie on the belly resting on your chin with your hands palms up along your sides, the legs together with the edges of the big toes touching, heels slightly apart so that the inner thighs spiral in and upwards. Follow the same alignment principles for Ekapada Salabhasana.
For Salabhasana A roll the shoulders up and back as you slide the shoulder blades down and in. With an inhale, lift the head and legs using your back muscles to arch up. Keep your arms to your sides, using the tops of your hands to press down into the floor broadening the shoulders and the collar bones.
Keep the neck level, the legs strong and gently squeezing together, and your tailbone lengthening. After 4-5 breaths, lower with an exhale. You can rest with your forehead to the floor, or on one side of your face.

For Salabhasana B, from the A variation, slide the hands forward, palms down, until the forearms are 90 degrees to the floor. Press the hands down and back and slightly out to the sides as if you were trying to scoot forwards on your belly. Keep reaching out through inner legs. Hold for 4-5 breaths and release on the exhalation.

Bhujangasana (snake or serpent pose)

Begin lying on the belly with the legs extended hip-distance apart and the hands spread wide underneath the shoulders. Draw the elbows in close to the ribcage.
On an inhalation, firmly press the pubic bone, tops of the feet, and thighs into the floor, lift the shoulders up and back as you press into the palms to lift the chest off of the floor.
Maintain a connection in the front of the body between the lower ribcage and the top of the hips, engaging from the pubic bone to the belly button. Allow the tailbone to slightly drop down, as you try not to over engage the buttocks muscles. Lift from the sternum to the top of the head, maintaining an equal openness through out the spine. Stay for up to 30 seconds breaths. On an exhalation, reach through the crown as you lower the chest back to the floor. Keep the elbows hugging close to the body to engage the tricep muscles and avoid the shoulders rounding forward.

For an advanced variation of this pose and to increase the stretch in the thighs, bend both knees bringing the feet towards the head. Make sure to maintain connection to the pelvic floor and deep abdominal muscles.

Benefits
•    Strengthens the muscles of the spine, buttocks, and backs of the arms and legs
•    Stretches the shoulders, chest, belly, and thighs
•    Improves posture
•    Stimulates abdominal organs
•    Helps relieve stress

Contraindications/Cautions
•    Headache
•    Pregnancy
•    Serious back injury
•    Students with neck injuries should keep their head in a neutral position by looking down at the floor; they might also support the forehead on a thickly folded blanket.

Watch out for
•    Jutting rib cage
•    Shoulders in the ears or tensed  trapezius
•    Lifting too high on the arms and over stretching in the low back
•    Collapsing in the lower back and losing connection with the legs and pubic bone
•    Tensed face, keep your gaze downward cast towards the nose to relax the optic nerve

If you have chronic or acute back pain or abdominal pain, hiatal hernia or if you are pregnant please consult a certified yoga teacher before practicing these postures. Always practice on an empty stomach, in a place that feels safe and peaceful.

Opening the shoulders, strengthening the trunk

Stand on your knees so that they’re hip width distance. Keep your shins in line with your knees so that your feet are also hip width apart, tuck your toes underneath.

Slowly bring your hips back onto your heels so that you stretch the underside of your feet.

Hold your block the long, flat direction between your palms. Inhaling, straighten your arms forward and up towards the ceiling. Once your arms are fully extended upwards take a few breaths and widen the shoulders, rolling them up, back and down, wrapping the shoulder blades down and around the ribs. Try not to let your shoulders creep up beside your ears and keep the neck relaxed. Bring your tailbone down and slightly forward so that your lower back is wide and not overarching. Engage the strength of your lower abdominals by lifting your naval slightly up and in towards your spine. Bring your bottom two ribs together and lengthen through the sides of your waist bringing your ribs away from the hips.

Keeping this alignment through your trunk and your shoulders, now take your elbows up towards the ceiling so that the block comes back to the space between your shoulder blades. Keep your elbows coming inwards, keeping them inline with the shoulders. Maintain strong alignment through the trunk, keep the lower back strong and straight and the belly in. Breath into the opening at the outsides of your armpits and into the width of the back around the bottom ribs and kidneys.

Stay for 10 breaths and release.

Lifting the chest, lengthening the spine

Stand on your knees so that they’re hip width distance. Keep your shins in line with your knees so that your feet are also hip width apart, tuck your toes underneath.

Place your block the narrow width between your thighs and squeeze inwards with your thighs. Bring the naval up and in towards the spine and feel the tailbone descend.

Strongly press your palms together in front of your chest with the fingers outstretched and the elbows coming out to the sides. With your thumbs pressing into the middle of your breastbone begin to inhale into the point that your thumbs touch your chest. Keep the lower back long and wide and try to lengthen up your spine with the inhalations. Begin to lift your chest up towards the ceiling. Take your time and use your breath. With the inhalations lift the very center of your sternum up, with the exhalations widen your lower back, reach your tailbone down and squeeze the block between your thighs.

You want to feel the length and strength of your lower body supporting your heart to lift upwards. Keep the palms pressing together to broaden the chest and help the shoulders to remain wide.

Stay as long as feels good and then release to Balasana (child’s pose).

Ustrasana variations

Repeat the previous exercise lifting the chest and lengthening the spine, when you’re ready take your right hand back onto your heel and stretch your left arm up and back towards the right so that your left side and ribs stretch. Maintain strong alignment and lifting up from the lower back (don’t overarch or crunch into your lumber spine) as you press your hips forward. Allow your body to move with your breath and experiment with different arm movements to open around the ribs, chest and connective tissue at the front of the abdomen. Let your head and gaze be where they need to be so your neck does not strain.

To release reach even further laterally to the right through your left arm. Start to take your hips back towards your heels so that your spine slightly rounds forward to bring you back to center. Either rest in child’s pose or come up again to stand on your knees.

Repeat on the left side.

When you are done, rest in Utthitta Balasana (Extended Child’s Pose) with your knees wider than your hips, the edges of the big toes touching, heels apart, and your forehead resting on your block or the floor.

This pose was modeled for you by the lovely Lita Batho
Header illustration by Elisabeth Scherer