In This Chapter

Why the corpse pose is so-named, and why it's the most important of all the poses

>- More on Om

>- How to relax and stop thinking >- Finding peace at last!

Of all the yoga poses, shavasana (pronounced shah-VAH-sah-nah), also known as the corpse pose, is the most important. Shava means "corpse," and just as it sounds, the corpse pose consists of lying on the floor in complete relaxation, still, peaceful, and corpse-like. "How can lying on the floor be important?" you might ask. Or better yet, "How can imitating a corpse be important?"

Both good questions! Here's a good answer: The essence of peace comes from within, not from without. Shavasana's goal is to relax the body so completely that the body becomes irrelevant, as if it were deceased. With the body "gone," the mind is set free to blossom.

"But a corpse is dead!" you might continue to argue. "Isn't yoga about life?" Yes! But life and death are inseparable—they are all part of a bigger reality. By learning the corpse pose, you learn to live. By focusing inward, which means focusing beyond the body, the ego, and the superficial trappings of the "you" who walks around every day (clothes, habits, personality), you'll ultimately connect with the beauty of the universe. The surface "you" can finally fall away, and the inner "you," the Real You, can emerge. Imagine the resounding cosmic question: Will the Real You please stand up? If you've mastered shavasana, you'll know just who the Real You is! As your body lies corpse-like, the Real You can stand.

How to Be a Corpse

Shavasana involves more than collapsing onto the floor in a crumpled heap after a long, hard day and wishing you were dead. Let's practice the corpse pose with a little more focus!

1. Lie comfortably on your back on the floor, and separate your legs so your feet are two to three feet apart. Let your toes fall out to the sides. Close your eyes.

2. Separate your arms so that each hand is two to three feet from your body, with each palm facing up.

3. Roll your head from side to side, releasing tension in your neck.

4. Roll your shoulders down and away from your ears.

5. Allow your attention to travel up and down your body, scanning for tight spots or contracted muscles. When you find a tight spot, gently tell the area to relax (out loud, if it helps). For example, "Chill out, right shoulder!" You may have to say it twice. Place a pillow under your knees or head if this helps you relax.

6. Repeat your body scan until your body is completely relaxed.

7. Now bring your attention to your breath. Listen to your breath. Don't try to control it. Simply observe it. Feel it flowing in and out of you. Make the sound and feel of your breath the sole focus of your attention.

8. If part of your body starts to tense up, redirect your mind to the tense area and focus on relaxing it again. Then return to the breath.

9. As thoughts pop into your mind ("If my computer crashes again today, I'm gonna throw it out the window." "That new guy at the office sure is cute!"), let them pass back out of your mind. Imagine they are soap bubbles—allow your breath to blow them away softly, up into the sky.

10. Come back to the breath. Back to the breath. To the breath. The breath. Breath. Om.

One for All, and All for Om!

Maybe lying on the floor is no problem for you, but everything after that is a real challenge. It isn't easy to relax, let alone clear the mind. Om to the rescue! We've mentioned the mantra Om a few times already in this book, but let's look at it again in terms of its power to center and relax you. Om is the sound frequently chanted by yogis, because it is an all-encompassing sound. According to yogic thought, if all of life were translated into a single sound, the sound of the universe, that sound would be Om.

Try saying the sound now, right where you are sitting (or standing, or lying down, or wherever you happen to be at the moment). Take a deep breath, breathing from the diaphragm, and sing out the "O" sound as long as you can without your voice faltering. Don't be afraid to put some sound and strength behind it. If you're worried about keeping your volume down too much, you might not give the sound the breath support it requires. Stay strong and sing out the sound, which is pronounced like "OH," then slowly let the "O" sound come to a close in a resonating, vibrating

"MMMMM" sound.

Now take a breath, close your eyes this time, and try it again. Let the sound stretch out for as long as you can with the support of a deep breath. Use up all your breath, but don't strain yourself. Doesn't that feel good? Do it again if you'd like to. Notice how, when your entire body is vibrating with that sound, it's easier to concentrate on the breath and the sound than whether to have dessert with dinner tonight or whether you can convince someone else to do the dishes.

Also notice how much Om sounds like "amen." If you've been to or go to church, you've probably heard the "amen" sung at the end of every hymn. Have you ever noticed that when a chorus of voices sings "amen," the voices often bloom from a single note into a harmony, like a multipetaled flower opening in sound? Think how nicely this concept fits into the yoga way of thinking. Many voices harmonize to form a single, beautiful sound that is more complete than one voice alone, just as the universe is a beautiful blending of each soul into a single vibration of love.

In a nutshell, the point of chanting Om is to let the incredible power of sound and vibration work for you, pushing away worldly concerns and physical discomforts to bring your mind to a singular (yet universal) focus. Try it the next time you try the corpse pose. You'll be blissfully surprised!

When the Easiest Is the Hardest

Some of you may still be stuck on the idea that shavasana is the most important of all the postures. "How hard can it be?" you might wonder. "How hard can it be to lie on the floor and relax?" Actually, shavasana is also the most challenging pose, even though it seems, at first, to be the easiest. In a way, the corpse pose is both the easiest and the hardest pose. Unlike some poses, where you first need to spend a lot of time developing strong ankles or upper arms or balance, the corpse pose can be assumed by anyone who can lie on the floor.

On the other hand, not only is relaxation a true challenge for many, but shavasana has a strong mental component, without which you aren't truly practicing shavasana. Just as you can hold the lotus pose perfectly without truly practicing yoga, you can certainly lie in what appears to be a perfect shavasana without coming close to a yogic

state of mind. Ideally, shavasana could be practiced in the midst of total chaos, because the yogi in shavasana has utterly released him- or herself from the body. The body is merely a shell or a vessel, while the soul is directly connected with the universe. Certainly it takes a long while to reach this point, and the corpse pose can be practiced quite productively before this state is reached, but this is the ideal destination—and a challenging journey it is!

Let shavasana become a part of your workout, and take it just as seriously as any other posture—even more seriously. Your body will learn how to release all its tensions and will benefit even more from the other postures because of its time spent in shavasana. Your spirit, too, will learn how to soar beyond the limits of its "container." Now that's a powerful skill!

Open Up and Let Go: The Body

Your body is a complex organism with thousands of parts, all connected and related, yet separate, too. It's no easy task to relax the whole thing, let alone transcend it completely. When practicing shavasana, it can help to have a plan for releasing each part of your body a little at a time. Read over the following steps for releasing and relaxing the lower body, upper body, and face. Enough times through, and you'll have the steps memorized.

The Lower Body: Going Nowhere

Once you are in the corpse pose and have followed all the steps mentioned earlier, but before you focus on your breath, relax your lower body:

1. Tighten one foot, curling the toes and contracting your foot muscles for a few seconds. Then release and feel the tension flowing from your foot.

2. Flex your ankle and tighten your calf, then relax both.

3. Lift your entire leg two inches off the ground. Tense your leg, especially the large thigh muscle. Squeeze! Then let your leg fall to the ground. With the release, imagine all the tension falling away.

4. Repeat these three steps with your other foot and leg.

5. Lift your hips two inches off the floor and squeeze your buttocks as tightly as you can for several seconds. Then release the contraction and drop your hips back down. Feel all the tight areas releasing and relaxing. Your hip joints should feel loose and your buttocks muscles completely relaxed.

If lying flat on the floor is uncomfortable for your back, put pillows or blankets under your knees. This protects your lower back from undue strain. If your head or neck is uncomfortable, rest your head or neck on a small pillow, but make sure your throat feels open. Too many pillows could block the flow of energy through your neck; too few pillows could cause your neck to overstrain backward. If you have low blood pressure and your feet get cold, wear socks. Strive for a feeling of openness in all parts of your body.

Continuing upward:

1. Contract your stomach muscles as tightly as you can, then release them.

2. Lift one arm about two inches off the floor. Squeeze your hand into a fist and hold it tightly. Flex your arm muscles for several seconds, then relax your entire arm and let it fall. Feel stress and tightness flowing down your arm and out the ends of your fingers. Repeat with the other arm.

Ouch!

The Upper Body: Still Rhythms

3. Tighten your chest muscles, then release them. As you release them, try to feel your heartbeat. Gently tell your heart to relax, slow down, and rest.

4. Bring your shoulders up to your ears, tensing your shoulders for several seconds. Release them and feel all the stress dropping away. Many people carry tension in their shoulders. You may want to do this several times until your shoulders feel truly loose.

The Ultimate Facial: Losing Your Senses

And now for the rest of you:

1. Lift your head two inches off the ground. Tense all your neck and facial muscles, scrunching up your face like a prune. Purse your lips and imagine you are trying to bring every part of your face to your nose. Release and lower your head.

2. Raise your head again, and open your eyes and mouth as wide as you possibly can. Stick your tongue out as far as you can. Really stretch that face for several seconds, then relax and lower your head to the ground.

3. Roll your head slowly and gently from one side to the other.

4. One at a time, scan your senses. First, notice what you can taste, then let it go. Take your mind away from your taste buds. Next, notice what you can smell, then release your sense of smell. Notice everything your body is touching, then imagine you are floating and can't feel anything. What can you hear? Let it go. Turn off your ears and focus inward. Last of all, let go of your sight (even though your eyes should already be closed) by releasing all tension around your eyes. If you see light through your eyelids, gently push away your awareness of it.

5. Now go back over each body part again, but this time, instead of physically tensing and releasing your muscles, mentally tell each part to relax. Really focus on each area, one at a time, and coax it to release all pain and tension. Consider this the start of a wonderful relationship between your mind and your body. Why shouldn't they converse?

6. After you've completed all these steps, you should feel very, very relaxed and internalized. Mentally scan your body a few more times, seeking out pockets of stress and releasing them. If any sensations try to creep back in, gently ignore them.

Now you're ready to leave your body behind and ride the breath.

Open Up and Let Go: The Mind

You've moved past your body and are now immersed in your mind. But that has to go, too. Yes, the mind is as distracting as the body when it comes to true relaxation— maybe more so! Even as you lie in the corpse pose feeling proud that you've managed to transcend your body, at least to some extent, your mind is holding you back from true awareness. How? By making you feel proud, for one thing! Pride belongs to the ego, and in true awareness, there is no ego. So what's an active-minded person to do? Simple: Stop thinking.

Me? Stop Thinking? Forget About It!

To many, the prospect of not thinking seems far more of an effort than the most complicated yoga posture. We are our minds—aren't we? Not according to yogic philosophy. In fact, wise yogis tell us that we aren't our bodies or our minds at all. These are merely tools to help free our souls and bring them into fuller and more unifying consciousness.

As you rest in shavasana attempting to keep your mind at bay, think about your mind merely as a tool to help you in your task. When used at the wrong time or for the wrong job, a tool can be a hindrance, but when used correctly, it will make any job easier. During shavasana, it's time to put the tools down. Put away your thoughts. Let them go. You can always pick them up again later.

Dream a Little Dream

Imagine waking up one morning with the memory of a beautiful dream. In the dream, you are walking through your home, and everything is familiar until you come upon a door you've never noticed before. You open the door and step through it into a new universe. Pure beauty surrounds you, and you are filled with a sense of bliss. You realize that you are perfect. You have no faults, no sins, no shortcomings, no guilt. You are a being of pure light, and the whimsically lovely universe that encompasses you is also you. Love radiates from you and into you. You vaguely remember the comparatively ponderous and painful life of striving on the other side of the door through which you came, but as you look behind you, the door is gone, and you realize that other life was just a dream.

And then you wake up. Which was real, and which was the dream? Yogic philosophy says that this life we lead in these earthbound bodies and minds is the dream, and that pure bliss is the reality. Yoga helps us to wake from this dream. But even dreams exist for a reason, and we all move through this dream of our lives to learn about our souls. This dream is a lesson, but it's still only a dream (though an awfully vivid one!).

Of course, we don't mean that right now you are really asleep and dreaming all of this. Life isn't a dream in the sense that we are used to thinking of dreams. But according to wise yogis, our interpretation of life is an illusion. Anything that isn't eternal and blissful is an illusion. Yoga, and especially shavasana, helps us to work past our bodies and dig through our thoughts until we unearth the jewel that is cosmic consciousness. How extraordinary to awake to such a reality!

Give Your Mind a Breather

But let's get back to this "dream" we're all living and striving through called life. We have to live in the world, and we can't lie in the corpse pose all day long. We have to eat, sleep, make money, do our daily chores, care for those who depend on us. What good is shavasana during the rest of the day?

Have you ever left all your worries behind and taken off for a vacation, even if just for the night? Maybe you found a last-minute baby-sitter and whisked your spouse off for a romantic evening alone. Maybe you took a personal day off from work, got in your car, and drove somewhere you'd never been before. If you've never done such a thing, you should try it. It's rejuvenating and gives you a new perspective on your everyday life. But even if you aren't at liberty to leave your regular life for a while, you can still practice shavasana—a mini-vacation for your mind.

Wise Yogi Tells Us

"Do not take life's experiences too seriously. Above all, do not let them hurt you, for in reality, they are nothing but dream experiences ... If circumstances are bad and you have to bear them, do not make them a part of yourself. Play your part in life, but never forget that it is only a role."

—Paramahansa Yogananda

If you had a job where you had to work the same hours your mind has to work, you'd probably collapse in less than a week. Of course, our brains are made to be busy, but even the most efficient brain needs a break now and then. Shavasana turns everything off: the senses, the emotions, the thoughts. Only breath exists, and pure consciousness. If you've ever uttered the words, "At last, I can just sit here and do nothing!" you know how your brain feels when you practice shavasana.

Quest for Peace

Perhaps the most compelling reason for us Westerners to practice shavasana is that it simply brings more peace into our lives. Imagine yourself calmer and more clearheaded, able to take any situation in stride, handle any emergency with unruffled confidence. The regular practice of shavasana can give you this gift. We can all use more peace in our lives, and this needn't be a futile wish. Take an active role in bringing peace to your life through shavasana, because even the most hectic and chaotic external life is miraculous and wonderful when peace lives inside you.

The Least You Need to Know

>- If you practice only one yoga pose, practice shavasana.

Mastering shavasana can be more strenuous and requires more discipline than the most physically demanding of yoga postures!

>- In shavasana, first you consciously relax your body, then you consciously relax your mind, then you let your consciousness go, too, living only in the breath and pure awareness.

>- Learning to quiet your mind and remove scattered thinking will bring you

peace.

Part 6

Living Your Yoga

Part 6 will help you incorporate yoga into your daily life in lots of ways. First we go into more detail about chakras, mudras, mantras, and mandalas, which can help you to refine, intensify, and optimize your yoga and meditation practice. Next we discuss diet and how what you eat can affect who you are. Yoga divides foods into three categories: sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic. Find out which category your favorite foods belong to, and how they might be helping or hindering your physical and mental well-being.

Then you'll read about how different postures and other yoga lifestyle changes can help you with various minor complaints, such as headaches or stomachaches, and even how you can help your body to help itself when you suffer from more serious health conditions, from arthritis to heart disease.

Make yoga a part of your health and vitality.