The Practice of Savasana: An Interview with Tias Little by Leslie Howard

Down to Earth by Melina Meza

This week I'll be posting excerpts from another interview from the never-written book on Savasana that I was—at one time—working on with my friend yoga teacher Leslie Howard. Leslie did a good long interview with one of her favorite teachers, Tias Little, back in 2008. Let’s start today with their conversation about  how to practice the pose. —Nina  

Leslie: What is Savasana and how does it differ from just lying down?  

Tias: Well I think the real benefit of Savasana is the body is out of gravity. Gravitational pull—gravitational torqueing on the soft tissues—is no longer an issue so by taking the body out of gravity there is an opportunity to restore and to recover. So in that sense it is allowing the body to completely drop with the force of gravity. 

Leslie: But wouldn’t someone lying in bed or on the couch be doing the same thing? How do you think Savasana distinguishes itself?

Tias: Then, of course, comes the training in observing how the soft tissues do melt or release their hold while in the pose. So that observation piece is what separates it out from “couchasana”. So that, of course, is an art and a training to be able to observe the release and the unwinding as it’s happening. It takes careful observation and, of course, it is difficult to do because it’s easy to space out, it’s easy to disconnect. I think it is good to prop the head up initially simply with a blanket or prop up the spine—you could just prop the upper back—so you get the upper chakras up off the floor. That will provide, hopefully, more alertness. 

Leslie: So, in your opinion, is an elevated Savasana like you describe better?

Tias: I think so for a beginner because there is a cellular response if the person lies flat. Like “oh no I can simply be lethargic and passive”. So I think supporting the head serves to putting in wakefulness. Of course, you could support the pelvis, too. There are ways to do that. I kind of think of Viparita Karani as a Savasana, of course, as you know you can substitute that one, and so it would include that. 

Leslie: In what case might you do that in lieu of lying flat?  

Tias: I just taught this course on lymph system yesterday, and so to restore the legs and to bring more venous return to the heart—to nourish the heart—it is valuable to elevate the pelvis and the legs. That also would increase wakefulness. It is not easy to start zzzzzzzzzzing when your legs are elevated.

Leslie: Do you think there is an ideal duration for Savasana?

Tias: At least 3 minutes. I usually clock it 5 minutes for every hour of class time. So for a 3-hour class, a 15-minute Savasana. I think that is a good sort of landmark to go by. I suppose there is a risk if the student is in the pose too long; there’s a numbing or a dullness that can come in for instance. So there is a time to come out if there is a disconnect.  

Leslie: In your teaching, do you guide your students or are you silent?  

Tias: I like to guide. Of course, in the Iyengar system, often times the instructor talks the entire time, so the student doesn’t fall asleep or check out. So I certainly have taken that tack, and in my guided meditations I try go towards the place that Zen calls “no mind”. Which is also paradoxical because, of course, it is also about presence of mind. Guiding people to the “formless”.

Leslie: So do you—when you are guiding people in Savasana—have a certain way you do it, such as going from the physical to the energetic?  

Tias: I would work from the limbs toward the core. So if I really want to focus Savasana on the neck and the chest, then I would really dialogue the hands and the fingertips, the carpal tunnel flexors, and that. And to address the pelvis I would really speak to the release in the lower limbs, the knee, these kind of the things. So addressing the limbs before dialoguing the core. I mean obviously the limbs are the place of action.  

Leslie: What do you do when a student falls asleep?

Tias: I usually allow it, unless it’s like a table saw because there is a healing that happens. As you know people can’t sleep and have malaise of all kinds. Sleep in and of itself is really healing. I think the two most important poses are Savasana and Shivasana. I think—this is my own read—is that sitting meditation is called Shivasana and of course “shiva” and “shava” go together. If the Shivasana has the same quality of awareness and ease as the Savasana, and Savasana has the same quality of alertness that the Shivasana has, then it is really effective. So the image of the Buddha, for instance, the sitting Buddha, is always depicted and then there is the Parinirvana Buddha where he is lying down. He is in a kind of Savasana. In the Buddhist traditions there is walking, sitting, and lying down as the techniques taught by the Buddha. That would be an interesting thing to research. 

Leslie Howard is an Oakland-based yoga teacher, specializing in all things pelvic. She leads workshops and trainings nationally and internationally, and is the director of the 200 hour Deep Yoga program at Piedmont Yoga. With a state certification in massage, she also practices cranial sacral therapy. To learn more about Leslie, visit: www.lesliehowardyoga.com.  

Tias Little lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he directs his school, Prajna Yoga, with his wife Surya and is the author of three books, The Thread of Breath, Meditations on a Dewdrop and The Yoga of the Subtle Body, to be published by Shambhala Press in 2015. In addition to leading yoga workshops and teacher trainings throughout the US and around the world, Tias currently offers on-line classes through Yoga Glo. See www.prajnayoga.net for more information about Tias.

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