Beyond Mat:Relaxation

Shavasana or also called as Corpse Pose is the yoga pose which is often used for relaxation at the end of a session. It is the usual pose for the practice of yoga Nidra meditation. Although, the pose looks easy many find it most difficult. Indeed, some may happily balance, bend and twist during the yoga session but struggles with just lying on the floor. The reason is that the art of relaxation is harder than it looks.

Shavasana gives more mental benefits rather than physical like other yoga poses do. Sensory stimulation and external distractions are ultimately minimized to help the body completely relax in this pose.

Apart from relaxation Shavasana also helps in:

• calm the mind
• reduce stress and fatigue
• control blood pressure; brain waves and breath gradually drops thus blood pressure drops too
• relives chronic headache
• cure insomnia
• improves concentration and memory

This poses definitely an easy one as mentioned earlier provided you grasp the rules. Lie facing ceiling with legs and hands apart, palm face upwards. Maintain in this pose for about 5 to 10minutes by keeping the mind idle, relaxed and focused. Relieving from the pose also matters since your heart is on the left side of your body when you roll to your right side, your heart remains above your organs, physically exerts less weight on your heart. The heart remains open and free of pressure. Resting on the right side allows your natural blood pressure to reach its potential homeostasis. In addition, you may perform for five minutes every 30minutes if you are doing a longer duration of yoga practice.

      Some may query regarding Shavasana vs meditation. Shavasana has done in lying position whereas meditation is done upon sitting position. Apart from that, Shavasana allows our body to melt into relaxation but meditation are a bit more intentional. Corpse pose allows the body to absorb and integrate the benefits of our practice into our muscle memory, mind and nervous system. This is the reason why it allows the physical body and nervous system to return to baseline.