I'm just here for the savasana.

For me, running through a heated, vinyasa style yoga class is about focusing, committing, and pushing through. Some days I'm focusing on not getting sweat in my eyes, and other days I'm focused on my alignment in each posture. Some days I'm committed to not throwing up, and other days I'm committed to my intentional breath that supports my practice. Some days pushing through is a testament to my physical abilities and other days, my mental toughness. Whatever the case is, each practice keeps my mind and body challenged, moving, and full of awareness. This in itself is a gift for which I am forever grateful. My exercise of choice challenges me spiritually, mentally, and physically--what more could I ask?

But what about the gift of stillness and peace? Wait--yoga does that too? [Um, duh.] 

Savasana, to the non-yogi folks out there, probably looks a lot like nap time. Lying on your back, eyes shut, arms and legs out straight, kind of feels a lot like nap time. But, when done with intention, it is so much more. According to www.myyogaonline.com, savasana relaxes your central nervous system and calms the mind. It is the one point in your practice, the last posture, that you are invited to stop thinking, stop adjusting, stop aligning, and stop focusing on breath. You are asked to just be. 

Many times over, I have landed in this posture and taken full advantage of the opportunity to just be. Forgetting the grocery list, the laundry, the job, and the obligations to others, and just being. This week, however, I had a revelation as I was lying there. I realized that there is not one single time outside of that posture where I am encouraged to just be. [WHAAAAT???] Even as I lay my head on my pillow at night, there is always something running through my mind, some pressure that I am carrying on my shoulders, and someone to whom I am obligated. But not in savasana. 

I show up on my mat each practice with the intention of being challenged through a physical workout, but what keeps me coming back is the moment of stillness that is provided to me at the end.

I am so grateful for the gift of freedom that the "nap time" posture gives me, even if it is only for two minutes, five days a week. That 10 minutes a week is the most restorative time I can give to myself and I will continue to incorporate more savasanas in my life. So, don't be surprised if you see me laid out in the middle of the floor. 

I'm not napping--I am being. ;-)

What's ironic about this is the thought that I would need to forcefully incorporate more time to BE. Heh?? Isn't that what I am doing all day, every day? Being a friend, being an employee, being a yogi, being a woman? Defining your "being" is essential for savasana to reach it's full potential. For me, savasana is the only time I am living in the present moment and connecting with my spiritual self. There is no human-being to get in the way of the Truth, Light, and Love which I feel and know in that moment. Sure, I find Truth, Light, and Love at other times in my life [boy wouldn't it be sad if 10 minutes was all I got of that good stuff?!], but there are always my human-being thoughts and feelings to take a piece of me away from it. But not there, on my mat, in the darkness, with my stillness and peace. 

So I admit--I'm really just here for the savasana!