Learning From Savasana

Savasana is said to be the easiest asana to perform but the hardest to master. Whatever gymnastic demands the other asanas may make of your balance, strength or flexibility, the challenge of maintaining awareness without effort or exertion is perhaps the most revealing exploration of mind-body integration we can engage in.
Leslie Kaminoff Yoga Anatomy. Second Edition 

I begin most of my savasana guided relaxation for students  at the end of every yoga sequence with this little mantra: Right now, there is nowhere you have to go and nothing you have to do but breathe.

I know those words have helped me in my own practice over the decades to settle into the mat and let go of any mental resistance I might have to the moment. When I say them to myself, I can actually sink into the here and now peacefully.

I would like to offer you those words now as you find yourself in an forced "slowing down" that your mind might not be too accepting of; as you find yourself on the proverbial mat of your social isolation after years of busy doing and distracting.

For this time, there is nowhere you have to go and nothing you have to do...but breathe.  

Of course, I want you to  continue with your self and other protective protocol...but relax and just breathe in to this...Right now. This will not last forever but it is happening right now.  And  no amount of resistance, denial, or avoiding is going to make COVID-19 disappear into thin air.

Think of this as somewhat of a unusual  reward for a challenging sequence.You have put yourself in all kinds of "awkward positions" over the course of your life...straining and stretching muscles you didn't even know you had.  Now time has been provided for you to lay back and slow everything down. 

Take this time and make the most of it.  Put down your compulsive need to go somewhere else, to get to another moment or another place and your need to do something.  Just breathe.
Allow life to support your weary body and mind, just like a yoga mat does.  Feel it holding you, protecting you. Then relax into it.  Let go, release  and breathe!  

Right now, there is nowhere you have to go and nothing you have to do...but breathe.


It is not a perfect situation we humans are in right now.  It certainly is messy in many ways...but it is. It is as it is.  You might as well settle into it. Your body and mind will thank you for it.

Breathe!

All is well in my world.