Savasana

If you\’ve ever taken a yoga class, you know savasana.
(pronounced \”Shavassana\”))
It\’s the final pose, and the translation from the Sanskrit is \”Corpse pose\”. (svana=corpse, asana=pose)
It\’s when you lay down, body supported, all muscles relaxed, and do….nothing. Maybe you have a rolled up blanket or bolster under your knees. Your feet are just splayed out, as are your arms. Like a rag doll. Sometimes, you have a flaxseed pillow over your eyes.

It\’s many peoples\’ favorite yoga pose in class. I have seen t-shirts that say \”I am just here for the savasana\”. It is extremely relaxing. The lights are low, it\’s quiet, and you\’re not moving. I must admit-it\’s kinda heavenly.

I took my 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2017. It was one weekend a month (plus homework, and home practice, and apprenticing, and observations) for eleven months. There are shorter programs, but I prefer the slow and steady. I need time to absorb and integrate concepts, and practices. It has only been since the training (recently) ended that I am starting to realize how much I did learn. How much I integrated.

I\’d been stressing, as the end of the training approached, and since, about what to do now. Yes, I would like to teach. Yes, I would like to find a way to integrate yoga with writing, or with my social work training and experience. But as far as practicality: where to teach? How to get a gig? if I teach private classes-where? What about props?

I\’ve been feeling aimless, a little lost, and also a mounting pressure to figure it OUT. To get found.

I went to a gentle yoga class this week. It was wonderful. I knew a lot of the poses, how to do them without the instruction of the teacher. Some of them I\’d never done before.

And then, at the end, came savasana.

And the teacher said: \”Remember that savasana gives our body the opportunity to integrate what we just practiced.\”

And I felt an opening, in my chest. I knew immediately what to do next: NOTHING.

This has been a difficult year. Unexpectedly difficult at my job, which is stressful to begin with. The yoga teacher training was not only more time-consuming than I\’d expected, but also really unearthed a lot of personal stuff for me. In service of healing–yet still intense, and energy-draining.

I don\’t have to decide RIGHT NOW what I want to do with the yoga training.

I need a *savasana*. I need a break, to do nothing, expect nothing of myself, and integrate all of these amazing practices and teachings that yoga embodies.

So that\’s where I\’ll be for a bit, at least as far as being a new yoga teacher goes. In savasana. Doing nothing. Letting everything settle into my body, my mind, my heart. My spirit.

Until the next step becomes clear.

As we say at the end of class: Namaste.
(the light in me honors the light in you)

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