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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Friday Q&A: Baxter, Are Backbends and Flow Sequences Stimulating or Relaxing?

Judi Friedman, Age 52, photographed by Robert Sturman

Q: Nina asked me what I thought about the recent conversation that she and Ram had via email (see Are Backbends Stimulating or Relaxing?) and I couldn’t help but chime in! So here is what I, Baxter, have to say about the effect of more intense poses and practices on the response of the Autonomic Nervous System and therefore on vagal tone:

A: Nina, I agree with your anecdotal observations as well as your theoretical ponderings (and on a few things, with Ram, too). And my reasons are multiple: 

1. Some students are going to be more challenged by advanced back bends and aerobic flow classes due to a) musculoskeletal issues that make backbends harder for their bodies to do, and b)aerobic fitness levels that are not equal to the intensity of the flow class they are taking. These situations are going to trigger the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) branch of the Autonomic Nervous System. 
2. All the other reasons Ram mentions could contribute to increased stress response in a person, thus triggering the Fight or Flight response of the SNS too. And, of course, I agree with his initial statement of the underlying goals of yoga. 
3. As you postulate, abnormal breathing patterns, such as restricted breath in backbends or the tendency to inhale and hold the breath momentarily when doing difficult or unfamiliar poses could also stimulate the SNS. 
4. I also agree that not all yoga practices are designed to quiet and calm the mind exclusively. As you rightly note, in the Hatha Yoga tradition, there is the idea of “firing the vessel,” as with pottery, to strengthen it and make it resilient under the challenges of the deeper levels of mental practices of yoga as one moves towards states like samadhi. So, at times, we want to stimulate the SNS, too, but not right before bedtime!

Nina wrote back: "I’d like to add that I wasn’t saying that backbends and/or flow don’t reduce stress by releasing held muscle tension! I was just saying that I did not believe that they actually triggered the Relaxation Response, which is something very specific. There is a difference between being in a pose and triggering the Relaxation Response in that pose (for example, Viparita Karani) and doing a lot of exercise and then feeling less stressed AFTER the exercise session."

To which I’m adding: Nina, this is a good point. In the moment of practicing, practices like deep, challenging backbends and strong flow practices will likely trigger the Sympathetic branch of the nervous system. If this is a strong enough stimulation, it could be challenging to calm the system during the course of practice. Vickie Russell Bell has a good sequencing way of balancing things out in her evening classes where she provides adequate time to cool the nervous system down. This will ideally allow the practitioner to shift the nervous system to the Parasympathetic side of things, so the entire system can have a greater chance to quiet and calm both body and mind. A big challenge today is that many yoga classes don’t provide adequate cool-down time, often only leaving 4-5 minutes at the end of class for Savasana. This is not likely going to induce the Relaxation Response, which Herbert Benson, MD, noted comes on between 7-10 minutes. 

And this is certainly not a black or white issue. There are some fit and flexible students who will remain relatively neurologically calm doing the proposed back bend and flow practices, and will likely wonder what all the fuss of over!

—Baxter

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The Value of Not Doing

by Richard Rosen

Enso by Torei Enji

I recently discovered in my files an interview I did with Richard Rosen in 2008 for a book I never wrote that was going to be all about Savasana (great idea, right?). As he always does, Richard had some wonderful things to say, so with his permission, I’m going to share them with you today. Because my questions weren’t particularly compelling and what Richard said was so beautiful, I’ve edited and reorganized the interview at tiny bit so it reads as a single statement. Thank you, Richard. —Nina

In my early years as a yoga student, I really didn’t understand Savasana, I thought it was a waste of time. I sort of tended to either cut it short or skip it completely. And I think a lot of classes—a lot of teachers—still tend to do that. They don’t really give time to Savasana in their classes. As I got older as a yoga student I began to appreciate the value of the practice at the end of a yoga session, and I spent 15 to 20 minutes in Savasana at the end of a practice, which is a good chunk of time relative to the rest of my practice.

Teachers want you to feel like you’re doing something. And a lot of people don’t understand or appreciate the value of not doing. But a lot of traditional yoga is just that. The idea is that you’re already doing something that is interfering with your self awareness, your self understanding. And that rather than doing something to fix it, what’s really necessary is to undo what’s getting in the way, which means a need for a surrender, a letting go. To a certain extent that’s what you get a taste of in Savasana. It’s just stopping doing, and letting what’s being interfered with come out. 

What comes out for me is, like Popeye says, “I am what I am.” I just get a feeling that I’m closer to myself. At my stage of yoga development, I feel very keenly that there’s a separation, that I don’t really know who or what I truly am, and that when I perform Savasana well that I get a clearer sense of the underlying truth of myself, the underlying being.

It’s a contrast to the way I usually feel, which is sort of there’s a lot going on in my head and I’m not exactly aware of the present, I’m not connected to the sounds around me, I’m not connected my breath, I’m connected to anything that’s really happening in the moment. There’s always a distraction of some kind. I’m thinking about this or that. I’m thinking about what I have to do. And so there’s a lack of presence. Whereas the experience of Savasana is a clearing away of all of that static. Like in the old days when the analog radios would have dial—a little bar that would move up a down a range of stations—and you would turn it. In between stations you would get a hissing sound, and as you approached a station the music or sound would come in more clearly. I also think of yoga asanas as being like tuners, where as you approach the essence of the pose, say, the static begins to diminish.

I think there’s a lot of static in the brain that interferes with your connections to your surroundings. It’s a distraction in a way. It’s like you’re trying to concentrate on something and somebody’s playing music outside. It takes you away from the direct perception of what’s going on. In Savasana, at least momentarily, that’s turned down, quieted. So I think the way I would describe my experience of a well-performed Savasana is that the dial gets a little bit closer to where the station actually is and the interference goes away and the music of the self comes in more clearly.

When I come out of a well-performed Savasana, I feel very quiet. My senses are more receptive. I feel more expansive. I feel bigger. Physically I feel taller. And when I walk out of my practice room after a well-performed Savasana, I feel more in tune with my surroundings. Colors are brighter. Sounds are clearer. I feel more alive.

Richard Rosen is a yoga teacher and writer from Berkeley, California. He is President of the board of the Yoga Dana Foundation, which supports Northern California teachers bringing yoga to under-served communities. Richard has written three books for Shambhala: The Yoga of Breath: A Step-by-Step Guide to Pranayama (2002), Pranayama: Beyond the Fundamentals (2006), and Original Yoga: Rediscovering Traditional Practices of Hatha Yoga (2012). He also recorded a 7-disc set of instructional CDs for Shambhala titled The Practice of Pranayama: An In-Depth Guide to the Yoga of Breath (2010). For more information about Richard and the workshops he teaches internationally, see http://www.richardrosenyoga.com/. 

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Are Backbends Stimulating or Relaxing?

by Nina

Margann Green, Age 77

Did anyone besides me notice that in his post Yoga Practices to Optimize Vagal Tone, Ram said included both backbends and flow sequences as asanas that trigger the Relaxation Response? 

Before I published that article, I queried him about that. Because both from my own person experience and from what I’ve learned from various teachers, I’ve always believed that backbends and flow sequences, especially done rapidly, were actually highly stimulating, even causing insomnia in people who practice them in evening classes (see Yoga and Your Emotions). And I always considered those two types of asana as something to avoid when I was feeling highly anxious, and when I’m not, I always finish a sequence that includes those poses with some nice long calming poses and practices to balance myself. 

But Ram, it turned out, had a very different perspective on this issue, and that led us to have a very interesting little email discussion about this topic. In the end, I decided that it would be a good idea to share the exchange with you. This will not only allow you to see a bit of what our blog is like “behind the scenes,” but you may also wish to join in the discussion by adding your own comments.  

Nina: I’m confused by the following statement. "All of the above sequences have a quieting effect on the nervous system, encouraging a shift from Fight or Flight mode to Rest and Digest mode- hallmark of an optimally functioning vagus nerve.” This doesn’t really apply to all the poses and sequences you mentioned, right? Can I say EXCEPT flow sequences, standing poses, and active backbends?

Ram: Reg your query, all the sequences I mentioned (flow, active backbends and inversions), optimizes the vagal tone, switch on the parasympathetic nervous system and move the individual to a Rest and Digest mode. Let me know if I need to change it again to make it more clear.  

Nina: Well, I really wonder about that. It seems like some challenging poses, such as backbends, etc. and maybe flow sequences, are actually stressful and so can trigger Fight or Flight. That’s why people often can’t sleep at night after a backbend or flow class just before bed. At least that is my understanding of how the asana practice isn’t always relaxing.  

Ram: Very interesting opinion, Nina. I guess we can argue about this without reaching a satisfying explanation. 

Yoga (asanas + all the other angas) is a means to achieve enlightenment (knowing one’s true nature, awareness, intuition, clarity etc). Physical and mental stress can cloud the mind and so over the years Yoga was adopted to relieve physical and mental stress. If yoga truly relieves stress, then why should anyone experience stress after doing a yoga pose be it a backbend or sun salutation? I have never ever felt stressed out after doing yoga (even after attempting several challenging poses like in Ashtanga or Bikram); exhaustion yes, but not mental stress. 

In my opinion, the mental stress is not from the yoga poses but it is primarily due to the individual’s own demeanor before going to the mat. I can think of several possible reasons:

1. The individual continues to harbor disharmonious impressions while doing Yoga
2. The individual was not able to let go of the emotional turbulence even while doing the asanas
3. The individual got mentally challenged by the neighbors who were more agile
4. The individual did not like the particular teacher and was mentally upset
5. The individual did not appreciate the corrections from the teacher
6. The individual did not appreciate the neighbors who were sweating or breathing heavily. 

 All the above and others that I cannot think of right now can stress out an individual. So it is not asanas per se but the individual’s outlook and attitude.

I am not sure you will agree, but this has been my experience when teaching in the class. I do not want to put the blame on Yoga, at least not yet.  

Nina: Well, I will leave your post as is. But this is an interesting discussion that we should continue to have. 

I am not alone in my thoughts that some yoga asanas are stimulating rather than relaxing (perhaps “stress” is the wrong word, though I think others would agree with me in that they stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, just as some pranayma practices do). This is especially true for active backbends. (Recently at a class with Vickie Russell Bell, she said she always finishes the backbend section of her nighttime classes with a least a half an hour of relaxation, so people won’t go home and have trouble sleeping.) 

When I first started studying yoga, I had no idea why certain poses like Viparita Karani were so relaxing. But I experienced them as such. Later I learned from Roger Cole about baroreceptors and inversions. Likewise, I (and many others) have experienced backbends as highly stimulating. Many people talk about how they cause insomnia. We don’t have an explanation for this, but isn’t it possible than something physiological is going on that is causing this? For example, flexing the neck quiets the nervous system because of the baroreceptors. What does extending the neck, which we do in most backbends, cause? Or, Rodney Yee's theory was that exposing your vulnerable organs (the opposite of what animals on all fours do) triggers a bit of fear response. Maybe one day there will be a study on this. But for now, I’m sticking with my anecdotal experience and that of several of my teachers.

To me this is not “blaming” yoga; it is just another aspect of the asana practice. I think of the asanas as being developed to “fortify” the body for meditation, pranayma, and other spiritual practices, not to relieve stress. And backbends are an important part of a balanced asana practice to create a strong, healthy body. 

I agree with you, however, that the attitude with one approaches a yoga poses, perhaps one that you fear or dislike, could also contribute to its effects.

Ram did not respond to that message, so I guess he was still not convinced or was just busy with work, as he does have a full-time job after all! Then, yesterday, I was practicing Dhanurasana, and I noticed my heart racing after. It’s hard to breathe in this pose for me, as it is in many backbends. My breath speeds up for sure. Maybe my inhalations are longer. So I was wondering if the stuff Baxter taught me about pranayama and the nervous system (how longer inhalations are stimulating—see Pranayama: A Powerful Key to Your Nervous System) might apply to backbends as well and, likewise, flow, if it is rapid and challenging (like Ashtanga, which I have tried). That’s my latest theory of why backbends, flow sequences and other physically challenging poses do not trigger the Relaxation Response.

But as I told Ram, we can agree to disagree as there is no scientific study of this as far as we both know.

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