Sitting here in Paris on this rainy day, I felt compelled to clarify and clean up some yoga language and concepts so that we can maintain the integrity of our practice.
1. RELAXATION:
Relaxation ≠ Savasana. Please don’t conflate the two! It takes the average, well-rested person 15 minutes to fully relax before savasana. That means 15 minutes to settle down and get the wiggles out. How do you know when you’re there? Well, you start to lose both a curiosity of the external world and a desire to move.
2. SAVASANA:
Here is when you lose the “ambition state,” and there is a conscious withdrawal of the senses (pratyahara). You hear something, perhaps, but you don’t “go with it” in your mind. This is a beautiful, absorptive state. Savasana is a practice!
Many teachers are leaving 5-7 minutes at the end of class for rest and calling it Savasana. Technically, what is being given is a guided relaxation practice. So a proper Savasana is …
15 minutes (relax) + 5 minutes (savasana) = 20 minutes.
3. YOGA NIDRA:
The beauty of this practice is that it already includes Steps 1 + 2 above. In a typical 30 minute practice, you pass through these states with breath cues, energy rotation, visualization practices, and intermittent spaces of silence to finally rest as Pure Awareness. It’s a profoundly meditative state.
Most times, we go to a lying-down practice because we are tired. That is Savasana time, not Yoga Nidra time. Give yourself rest when tired.
We are doing a grave disservice to ourselves and to Yoga Nidra when we are not clear on our needs and intentions.
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