Shavasana

The legend of Shavasana concerns a wise and just king who while riding through the woods becomes thirsty.  In his travel he comes upon a sage in deep meditation who does not hear the king’s request for water.  The king is annoyed and throws a dead snake around the sage’s neck.  The son of the sage sees this happen and curses the king telling him that he would die of a snake bite in seven days.  The king accepts this fate and gives up the throne and heads to the Ganges river where sages meet.  He learns about yoga there and the soul which helps him to prepare himself for death which does happen.

Shavasana in yoga is symbolic of the death of the practice.  It is our final resting pose.  It literally means “corpse pose.”  It symbolizes the death of the ego and the promise of awakening to greater awareness within.  Shavasana allows us to integrate what we have practiced in class.  It allows for our mind to relax, stress to diminish and the nervous system to take in the information from the practice of asana and deliver those benefits to all the body systems.  While most look forward to Shavasana, it still is a difficult pose since relaxation is not always that easily available to us.  Like all the poses, it takes patience and repetition to begin to discover its benefits.

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