Mindfulness of Sensation

by Jill Satterfield

Seanna Browder by Melina Meza

The non-verbal language of our body is sensation. Our body communicates discomfort, fear, anxiety, depression, embarrassment, happiness, love—all through an orchestral variety of sensations.

Becoming familiar with the sensations in our body is a way to become more intimate with ourselves, by seeing sensations as a reflection of our mind and heart. Sensations can be the bridge of communication between body and heart-mind, and being mindful of sensations not only keeps the mind in the present (the body is always in the present moment) but offers a much needed respite to the overly worked and depended upon thinking mind. 

The body will sense and “say” through its language of sensations what the mind is about to think, what the heart is just about to feel. The body warns us that something big is building, and being in the body, and staying present with its current sensation is a skillful way to cut off a strong reaction or loss of emotional control. Staying with sensations—breathing into what we feel—staves off many unwanted reactions and gives us time to have a thoughtful pause, and then a response.

This short introduction to mindfulness of sensations will give you a start to noticing them without judgment, to treating the body with more kindness, and to seeing things as they are without the colored glasses of attachment or aversion.



If you're interested in learning more about embodied mindfulness, I'll be offering another Embodied Mind 200 hour teacher training at Zazen in San Francisco this fall and winter 2015/2016. See vajrayoga.com for further information.

Jill Satterfield is the founder of Vajra Yoga + Meditation, a synthesis of yoga and Buddhism that combines meditation, yoga and contemplative practices. Named “one of the 4 leading yoga and Buddhist teachers in the country” by Shambhala Sun Magazine, Jill has instigated mindful and creative educational programs for over 28 years.

She is also the founder and Director of the School for Compassionate Action: Meditation, Yoga and Educational Support for Communities in Need, a not-for-profit that trains teachers, psychologists and health care providers to integrate mind and body practices into their professions. SCA also provides classes to people in chronic pain, with illness, those suffering from PTSD, and at-risk youth. Jill teaches workshops internationally, is a faculty member of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Mindfulness for Yoga Training and the Somatic Training in Marin, California, and is a guest teacher for many other training programs. To find out more about Jill, visit her website vajrayoga.com.

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Loving-Kindness Meditation

by Ram

Love & Love by Melina Meza

Ashtanga Yoga (Ashta=eight; Anga= limbs) refers to the eight fold path/ rungs/limbs/steps of Yoga as described in the Raja Yoga section of the yoga philosophy. Its practice helps us to discriminate between ignorance and awareness and truth from illusion, which is the means for liberation or enlightenment. The first five limbs help us develop our power of focus and concentration. Dharana or focus is the preparatory step towards attaining a deeper meditative stance. Dharana helps to reduce the chattering of the mind and filters out all irrelevant thought processes. The practice of dharana is not concentrating on the object rather it is the awareness with which you redirect the mind, again and again. This very practice—the mind running or getting distracted, you bringing it back—in essence is dharana (see Samyama: The Trinity of Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi). You can practice dharana at any time and at any place. Dharana gets easier as you practice it. 

Patanjali takes this concept to the highest level when he describes the process of focus coupled with intake of harmonious impressions. In the samadhi pada of the Yoga Sutras, verse 1.33 describes this relationship:

“maitri karuna mudita upekshanam sukha duhka punya apunya vishayanam bhavanatah chitta prasadanam

Focusing with perfect discipline, the mind becomes purified by cultivating feelings of friendliness towards those who are happy, compassion for those who are suffering, goodwill towards those who are virtuous, and indifference or neutrality towards those we perceive as wicked or evil .” —Swami Jnaneshvara 

I was struck with the phrase “maitri karuna” as it is loaded with a powerful message. In Sanskrit and in Pali, the term indicates loving-kindness, although in Pali the term used is Metta. Maitri Karuna/Metta (Loving-Kindness) can also mean tender, soft, good-natured, pleasant, cheerful, kind hearted among others. Basically the term connotes a deep sense of respect, appreciation, and regard.

Maitri Karuna/Metta is an act of compassion, an intention to mitigate suffering and lighten the sorrow. When our minds are clear, we are able to open our hearts and fill ourselves with loving-kindness. In the process we cultivate compassion, are able to truly see suffering, and are moved to take steps to relieve or alleviate the suffering. Loving-kindness is just not about extending selfless service to someone or something you are drawn to, it is also about bringing in the same quality to your own self. We need to love and accept ourselves just as we are; it then becomes easy to truly love anyone in an unlimited and unconditional way. Putting it simply: I am happy and peaceful, so let me extend that peace and happiness to others. As loving-kindness blooms, gone are greed, selfishness, indulgence, insatiability, wanting, and needing. At the core is the desire to be happy, peaceful, and selfless. 

Thus, loving-kindness is non-violence in all forms and practicing this virtue is committing to both yamas and niyamas. What would be your reaction if you found out that someone was not only providing unconditional love to you but also sending positive energies your way for your peace and prosperity? Unless you have fully accepted yourself, you would not be open to receiving this loving-kindness and you will only be doubting the individual’s motive. 

According to Swami Satchidananda yoga master and founder of Integral Yoga:

“Whether our mercy will help the other individual or not, by our own feeling of mercy, at least we are helped.” 

Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is about drawing attention to the mind and heart center, and acknowledging one self’s peace, friendliness and compassion. Expressing and meditating on self’s loving-kindness sets the foundation for being able to offer selfless love to others.

The next step would be to meditate on and direct the loving-kindness to other benefactors, such as parents, siblings, friends, teachers, pets, or anyone that you know who has helped you in some way.

The third step would now involve directing your LKM energy towards any individual outside of your family or friend circle and who could be a stranger. I myself am thinking of this elderly gentleman who lives a block away from my home. We have not been introduced to each other. I see him walking at least three times daily around our neighborhood. This individual not only limps while walking, but his gait is also very unsteady, so whenever I encounter him, I immediately direct a LKM prayer towards him for his peace, physical stability, and good health.

Finally, LKM ends by directing the meditative energy towards a problematic/challenging individual. This is someone whose presence or just thinking of the individual evokes anger, rage, fear, resentment antagonism or other disharmonious emotions in one’s self. While practicing LKM on such individuals, if your emotions arise, honor and appreciate your limits of loving-kindness and return to directing the meditation toward yourself. Switch alternately between yourself and the problematic person, and reflect on the emotional turbulence pervading your psyche just from this one individual. Keep repeating the loving-kindness meditation, and you will overcome these mental turbulences such that you are no longer affected by this individual. 

Some or most of us actually do a slight variation of LKM in our asana class even though we may be unaware of its true intentions. The Om mantra or the Shanti Mantra (Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti) that several teachers practice before, during or at the end of the asana class is actually a form of LKM where we invoke peace to the entire world. 

As a neuroscientist, I was naturally curious to know the benefits that LKM offered. The first and foremost benefit of LKM is that loving-kindness reduces the stress response. People practicing an eight-week course of LKM experienced less distress than non-practitioners. Additional benefits of LKM were reported in a study Effect of compassion meditation on neuroendocrine, innate immune and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress. that looked at the body's inflammatory and stress response system. Initially, the results did not reveal any significant physiological differences between LKM practitioners and non-practitioners. However, when the practitioners were divided into a high-practice group and low-practice group, the results were not only striking but significant as well. The high-practice LKM group saw a significant decrease in inflammation and stress response compared to the low-practice or no-practice groups. The study highlights two significant findings: 1) LKM significantly impacts the stress and inflammatory systems in the body and 2) beneficial changes are seen only in those individuals who actively engage in the practice of LKM. Practicing LKM once a week was not sufficient; it required for the individuals to practice a little of it daily. 

What about its impact on the brain structure? In Regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation: effects of meditative expertise. Richard Davidson from the University of Wisconsin recruited two groups of subjects: a) those who had at least 10,000 hours of LKM practice and b) those who were new to meditation. Using fMRI measurements, Dr Davidson noticed that LKM impacted several important brain regions including the insula and the temporal parietal junction that are mostly involved in empathy and our ability to attune to the emotional states of others. The group with 10,000 hours of LKM experience showed significantly more activation and experienced higher levels of compassion compared to newly practicing group. What is striking about these studies is that the beneficial changes happen in a short period of time with a constant, sustained practice of LKM. 

Take home message: Maitri Karuna (LKM) paves the way for a peaceful and harmonious living! 

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Yoga Relaxation Techniques: They're Not Interchangeable (Rerun)

by Nina

Patterns in the Sand 2, by Brad Gibson

Okay, I admit it. It’s probably my fault. I’ve been going around saying that you can trigger the Relaxation Response (see The Relaxation Response and Yoga) using any of the following: restorative yoga, inverted poses, Savasana, pranayama, meditation, and yoga nidra, etc. as if all those practices were somehow interchangeable. This has led to questions like the following comment left on a Friday Q&A: Yoga Nidra, Restorative Yoga, Meditation and Savasana:

It is very helpful to read the distinctions between these four practices as I try to practice all of them, but it's hard to find the time. I'd be really interested to get your thoughts on whether it's important to do all four? For example, if you do restorative while listening to a nidra CD, do you also need to meditate? I'm interested to know what the various benefits are of these four practices, or are the benefits all the same? 

Let me start by saying that what I said previously—that you can use any of these practices for stress management—still holds true. And it is also true that you can choose whichever techniques you prefer to trigger the Relaxation Response. However, these practices each have different roles to play in a balanced yoga practice. 

The role of meditation in a balanced yoga practice is particularly important. That’s why I asked Timothy to write an article on the purpose of meditation (see his absolutely wonderful post Is Meditation an Essential Par of Practicing Yoga?). Basically, although you can use meditation for stress reduction, its role in classical yoga is to quiet the mind to allow union with the divine or “liberation”: 

1.2 Yoga is the cessation of movements of consciousness.
1.3 Then the seer dwells in his own true splendor.

— from Yoga Sutras, trans. B.K.S. Iyengar

Meditation is also, as Timothy mentions, a “fabulous tool to study your mind and slowly gain more control over it.”

Pranayama is also an important component of classical yoga, which precedes meditation as one of eight steps on the path to samadhi (union with the divine). It is considered an instrument to “steady the mind” and a gateway to dharana (the first phase of meditation).  

“Pranayama removes the veil covering the light of knowledge and heralds the dawn of wisdom.

Its practice destroys illusion, consisting of ignorance, desire and delusion which obscure the intelligence; and allows the inner light of wisdom to shine. As the breeze disperses the clouds that cover the sun, pranayama wafts away the clouds that hide the light of intelligence.” — Sutra 2.52 trans. by B.K.S. Iyengar

On the other hand, the two types of asana I recommended for triggering the Relaxation Response, restorative yoga and supported inversions, are brilliant 20th century inventions, mostly developed by B.K.S. Iyengar, which are designed specifically to maximize physical relaxation and reduce stress. Judith Lasater, one of the most renowned teachers of restorative yoga, writes in the introduction to her book Relax and Renew: 

“The antidote to stress is relaxation. To relax is to rest deeply. This rest is different from sleep. Deep states of sleep include periods of dreaming which increase muscular tension, as well as other physiological signs of tension. Relaxation is a state in which there is no movement, no effort, and the brain is quiet.

"Common to all stress reduction techniques is putting the body in a comfortable position with gentle attention directed toward the breath.”

Likewise, yoga nidra is also a 20th century invention (though you may see some claims to the contrary) developed by Swami Satyananda Saraswati. The first sentence of his book Yoga Nidra defines the practice like this:

“Yoga nidra, which is derived from the tantras, is a powerful technique in which you learn to relax consciously.”

In yoga nidra, you lie in Savasana while the voice of a teacher (or a recording) guides you through a physical and mental relaxation process. So, like restorative yoga, yoga nidra is specifically intended as a relaxation technique, and as such does not replace meditation or pranayama in a balanced yoga practice. This would be true of any form of Savasana in which an external voice is providing instructions and/or imagery for you. Unlike other relaxation techniques, yoga nidra includes a sankalpa (an intention) that allows you to influence your subconscious (or so it is claimed). For example, “I will awaken my spiritual potential,” “I will be a positive force for the evolution of others,” or “I will be successful in all that I undertake.” So this may be something you wish to take into consideration when choosing your relaxation practice.

Unlike the modern restorative postures, Savasana is a much older pose. Based on what I’ve read about the original practice, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Savasana is a reclining form of meditation. For some traditional yogis, it was a meditation on death, hence the literal translation of the name Savasana is “Corpse pose,” and it was sometimes even practiced alongside actual corpses. To practice Savasana properly, however, you must actually do the work of meditating while you are in the pose (and make sure you don’t fall asleep). If you don’t actually meditate while in Savasana, then, well, you are simply relaxing. But that's okay, too, if that is what you are after.

So there you have it. Which of these practices you decide to adopt really depends on what your goals are as well as your preferences. If you’re just after stress management and better health, it doesn’t really matter which you chose. However, if your goal is the “liberation” that is yoga’s ultimate aim, both pranayama and meditation are essential steps along the path.

Sorry if I caused any confusion! 

Ultimate liberation is when the gunas, devoid of any purpose for the purusa, return to their original [latent] state; in other words, when the power of consciousness is situation in its own essential nature. —Yoga Sutra 4.34 —trans. Edwin Bryant

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Savasana Variations (Rerun)

by Nina

My post Savasana (Corpse Pose) describes in detail how to practice Savasana (there is so much more to it than just lying down!) This post shows some alternative positions you can for Savasana take if lying flat on your back in uncomfortable or even if you just want to rest in a position that’s a bit cushier and self indulgent.

The first Savasana variation is the simple addition of support under your head, a position that is good for people who are tight in the shoulders or chest and find it hard to rest their heads comfortably on the ground. Most people benefit from a bit of support under their heads, so check it out. Just make sure the support under your head is firm (not soft) and that your shoulders are touching the ground (not the support). Ideally in Savasana, your chin should be pointing slighting down toward your chest (not tipping back away from it).

Savasana with Head Support

The second of Savasana variation provides support behind your knees, a position that is good for people who have lower back problems or who simply want to rest their backs comfortably on the ground. Use a bolster (as shown below) or a rolled blanket behind your knees.

Savasana with Knee Support

The third variation of Savasana uses a chair to support your calves, which provides excellent rest for your lower back. It also creates a sight inversion (your legs are higher than your torso), which will help enhance your ability to relax (inverted poses is a topic I will address in a future post). Make sure that your legs drop comfortably onto the chair seat (if you are tall, you might have to stack blankets on the chair to make the surface high enough). If you can’t get your legs through the back of the chair, try turning the chair sideways instead.

Savasana with Legs on a Chair

The fourth and fifth variations are restorative versions of Savasana, with support under your torso and head. One version uses a bolster under your torso, and the other a stack of two folded blankets. This may be easier for you than lying flat on the floor or even deliciously comfy, and can help you breathe more freely in the pose as the support helps open your chest. When you do either of these versions, make sure that you sit on the floor (not on the bolster or blankets) before you lay back. The support should be under your torso, but not under your buttocks (a typical mistake I see beginners make!).

Restorative Savasana (Bolster Supporting Torso)

Restorative Savasana (Blankets Supporting Torso)

The sixth version is a Side-Lying Savasana, which is good for anyone who, for medical or other reasons, cannot lie on their backs (as well as for pregnant women). Notice there is support under your head, between your legs and between your arms—super comfy! You can use folded blankets or pillows, or any combination of the two.

Side-Lying Savasana

The last version is Crocodile pose (Makrasana), which is helpful for people who feel anxious or vulnerable lying on their backs and need the comfort of having their front bodies protected. If this pose is hard on your lower back, trying placing a folded blanket under your lower belly (below your navel) so your lower back doesn’t arch as deeply.

Crocodile Pose (Makrasana)

That’s it for now, but feel free to come up with your own variations to these basic versions or to use a version you learned in class or from a book. If you’re not comfortable in the pose, you won’t be able to relax, so take the time to set yourself up with whatever props you like. You can even get creative. I used to teach yoga in a room that had couches in it (don’t ask), and had my students do a pose I called “Legs on the Couch,” which was a variation of Savasana with legs on a chair. My students, who were busy graduate students or mothers of young children, absolutely loved it. (By the way, if you don’t have a yoga bolster, I recommend going ahead and splurging on one. You’ll be amazed at how much use and enjoyment you’ll get from it for years to come.) 

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The Practice of Savasana: Tias Little Interviewed by Leslie Howard, Part 2

Liminal Space by Melina Meza

Here is the second excerpt from the interview that Leslie Howard did in 2008 with yoga teacher Tias Little. In this excerpt he talks about his own practice of Savasana and describes the importance of our relationship to the ground. —Nina  

Leslie: Have you had any memorable experiences in Savasana? Do you remember ever having something out of the ordinary happen? 

Tias: No, um, “Cape Canaveral” blasting off into other orbits but certainly when there is fatigue even within several minutes the body can go to that liminal place between wakefulness and sleep. And that, of course, is a sacred time: Sandhya—between the dawn, between light and dark, between inhalation and exhalation. So between the conscious and the unconscious—the liminal. That threshold is a really valuable place to abide. I think for Savasana if the student is with it and is trained, they are actually in that liminal place. And place I felt in my own practice is where the healing, the really deep healing occurs.

I can’t think of any one or two powerful experiences I have had besides the profound recuperative powers of the pose. And certainly an image or images coming out of consciousness are healing, too. 

Leslie: Do you always do Savasana in your own practice?

Tias: No, no I don’t. There are a lot of times when I don’t do Savasana.

Leslie: Is that because of time constraints?  

Tias: Partly but I don’t push my nervous system so that I need a rest at the end. I am resting in my poses. Whereas I used to “push the pedal to the metal,” so I needed that time for recovery. Now I don’t push myself; I don’t push my nervous system. Something I wanted to share is that in Savasana, there are autonomic releases, discharges, called titration—just little bits of strain are dissipated out of the body. So that can show up as a sigh, it can show up as a flick of the wrist, it show up as eye movement, dream patterning, heat coming off of the body. All of that is discharging strain, which is really where healing occurs. 

I mean I have experimented with consciously trying to create autonomic movements. It looks something like this: when the body clock goes to that place of deep rest and then starts to fire, twitch, and discharge, that is where real healing occurs. So it is valuable if you can have the students long enough in the pose so that some of that release can happen. And you can’t make it happen; it has to happen in the place of a really deep rest. So I think that is why Savasana is so healing in that sense. It is partly those autonomic releases. The ability to let the skin fibers go. 

Leslie: When you do Savasana, do you have a preferred set up? 

Tias: I would say supporting the backs of the knees, supporting the back of the head. I don’t cover my eyes as I think it is too much pressure on the eyes. It makes my eyes blurry. 

Leslie: Is there anything else you would like to say about Savasana?

Tias: The relationship to ground is so important. Unfortunately many people don’t have a good relationship with the ground. The ground is not a safe place to be, either they have been thrown down, pinned down, for instance, a traumatic episode. So for that reason people may be prone—especially with a traumatic episode of Flight of Fight—people will spiral upward. That is why Kundalini yoga may sound attractive. “Oh good I can get out of where I am”. So people may not—as strange as it may sound—have good rapport with the ground.

So I think Savasana builds trust. When we did healing work, we had them feel their feet on the ground—basic. What does it feel to have the floor support you? So those are directives to bring the students back to presence, especially if they are reenacting something from there past. If there is disassociation, ground is so important. So on a healing level, when it comes to trauma, ground establishes trust. In nerves. In respiration. So in that sense it is really valuable for the student that they can let go.

You, I am sure, have had the student is unwilling to close their eyes. They are so caught in activation response. Even though, okay, everyone is lying flat and I am going to talk you through it sweetly—let go of this, let go of that. They can’t. They are stuck in the on position. How do you encourage that student to find and trust the ground, to fall in love with solid ground? Do you know the poem “The Opening of Eyes” by David Whyte, the Scottish poet?

"That day I saw beneath dark clouds the passing light over the water and I heard the voice of the world speak out. I knew then as I had before life is no passing memory of what has been nor the remaining pages of a great book waiting to be read. It is the opening of eyes long closed, it is the vision of far off things seen from a silence they hold. It is the heart after years of secret conversing speaking out loud in the clear air. It is Moses in the desert fallen to his knees before the lit bush. It is the man throwing away his shoes as if to enter heaven and finding him self astonished open at last fallen in love with solid ground."

I always feel if I can get my students to fall in love with solid ground it allows people to be here—for whatever reason people are not here—here with a capital “H”. 

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. His third book, The Yoga of the Subtle Body, will be published by Shambhala Press in 2015. His first two books are titled The Thread of Breath and Meditations on a Dewdrop. 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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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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Balance Pose of the Week: Changing the Light Bulb

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