Relaxation: Shavasana (Part 2) - Lesson 2.8

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In the previous lesson, I shared the importance of regularly relaxing the mind and body and about how relaxation techniques bring about the removal of physical and mental tension. Today I'd like to share a new shavasana/savasana practice with you :) I hope it will help you relax and leave you feeling refreshed. ❤
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Today, I've included the following bits of yoga information:

• A Youtube Video | This video is from the playlist I made called "A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya." Why Youtube? Sometimes I have felt the need to verbally share some of the experiences I am having as a result of my yoga practice. Sometimes I demonstrate how to do an asana or a pranayama practice (though I am not an expert admittedly). Sometimes I have found that what I am studying provides so much incredible information that it would be a shame to summarize it or keep it to myself, so I share that too. I hope what I am doing with my life and my studies is beneficial to someone out there. So, this is only me expressing love... my love for yoga, for myself and family, for life and for everyone out there. Namaste. ❤
• Photos | I am sharing the pages from the book regarding naukasana and shavasana (part 1) practice. I realize I failed to really demonstrate those two practices, and for that, I apologize. Here they are. I'm also sharing the pages from this lesson :) 
• Links | to previous blog posts which complement this lesson. For example, I first described savasana (part 1) and provided photos of it --> HERE. 
• The Book's Descriptions | Swami Satyananda's description of the shavasana (part 2) technique, its benefits, instructions, summary, etc. 
• A Recording | In case you want to listen to the lesson being read directly from the book and would, therefore, like to practice savasana while being verbally guided ... then you're lucky because I've included myself reading the pages and "teaching" the savasana. :) I've been listening to myself teach the lesson sometimes when I really need a little help relaxing. Savasana (Part 2) starts at the 10-minute mark. The previous 10 minutes include a guided journey through savasana part 1, as well as other news.

READ ONLINE!

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My whole intention here is to help you develop your own yoga practice for a more peaceful life. Eventually, maybe, we will all be able to maintain an intuitive sadhana (spiritual practice) on our own. And... Perhaps we will all feel comfortable sharing what we are learning with the people we care about. Benefiting everyone :) ❤

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YOUTUBE INTRO & RECORDING

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Shavasana Part 1 & 2

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SHAVASANA - PART 2
The two parts of shavasana comprise a whole, and as such, the second part should be practiced immediately after the first part, without a break. 

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Technique

• Your body should be in the supine position which you have already assumed for shavasana part 1.
• Make sure that the eyes are closed and consciously release the eye muscles. The mouth should be closed.
• The teeth should not be clenched but slightly separated.
• Don't press the lips together, but let them relax.
• If necessary, yawn to remove facial tension.
• Feel that your head is very heavy.
• Now feel heaviness in the whole body. Imagine that your whole body is so heavy that it is sinking into the floor. Tell yourself that if you wanted to raise your body now, you would find it impossible, because your muscles are completely limp.
• Feel gravity acting on every part of your body and pulling it towards the ground.
• Now watch the space or blankness in front of the closed eyes.
• Imagine that this space surrounds your whole body. Your body is in the middle of that space. Try to imagine that your body is slowly sinking in that space. Slowly, slowly, slowly sinking like a leaf falling from a tree. Feel your body sinking, sinking, sinking into the depths of that infinite space. 
• Do this for a minute or two (or longer) if you have time. 
• If thoughts arise, let them arise. 
• But continue to feel the body sinking. 
• Now, become aware of your breath. Don't change the rhythm of the breath; only become aware of the flow in and out of your nostrils. 
• When you breathe in, know that you are breathing in. 
• When you breathe out, know that you are breathing out. 
• Try to feel as if this is the first time you have ever breathed; you are experiencing breath for the first time in your life. 
• As you breathe in, feel the health-giving oxygen entering your body, nourishing all the cells and giving you perfect health. 
• As you breathe out, feel all the toxins leaving your body. 
• All the tensions, stresses, problems, etc. are flowing out of you via the exhaled breath. 
• Feel all the anxieties leaving you with every breath. 
• Try to maintain awareness only of the breath, but if other thoughts arise, don't worry. 
• Merely carry on with your practice. Continue int his way fro as long as you have time available. 
• At the end of the practice, stretch your hands, your arms, stretch your feet and legs, become aware of the surroundings, and slowly open your eyes. 
• If you have carried out the instructions without sleeping and with alertness, but without tension, then you should feel wonderfully refreshed.

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Regarding Sleep, Awareness & Benefits

Thomas Cole [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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Sleep
The biggest problem is sleep unless of course, you practice shavasana specifically to remove insomnia. It is the habit of most of us to sleep whenever we achieve a reasonable degree of relaxation. We seem to associate relaxation with sleep and tension with wakefulness. Yet the aim of shavasana is to gain a high state of relaxation while being fully awake. 

If we fall asleep halfway through shavasana, we lose much of the benefits, because, during sleep, the mind again manifests its usual patterns of worry. By remaining awake and directing awareness to the different parts of the body and the breath in the way described, our awareness is coaxed away from its entanglement with obsessive mental anxieties. So, try to stay awake, even though it is very easy to just drop off to sleep. 

Awareness
Throughout the practice, one should try to be aware of all the processes which we have described in shavasana. However, it is very easy to think of other thoughts and become distracted from the practice at hand. You should not suppress thoughts if they arise. Let them occur, be aware of them but simultaneously continue on with shavasana. 

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Benefits
People who suffer from high blood pressure, neurasthenia, diabetes or any other ailment that is directly (more directly than other ailments, that is) related to excessive stress are particularly advised to practice shavasana a few times every day. 

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Instructions
During yoga classes, the teacher gives all the necessary instructions and the practitioner merely listens and carries them out. It is far easier to gain benefits under these circumstances. However, when you practice by yourself you should develop the idea that you are the instructor. Instead of the instructor being in the form of another person, he is now in your head. Mentally repeat the instructions to yourself and then enact them. In this way, you are more likely to maintain awareness throughout the practice. 

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Summary of the Steps of Shavasana
Shavasana is a systematic technique which progressively relaxes the body and mind. Therefore, the order of practice is important so that you become more and more relaxed as you work through the technique. The following is a list of the basic steps to possibly metally repeat to yourself throughout the practice:

1. Adjustment of body position on the floor
2. Experience of contact of body with the floor
3. Feeling of heaviness and limpness of different parts of the body
4. Feeling of sinking in the space in front of the closed eyes
5. Breath awareness. If you change the details of this technique to suit personal circumstances and preferences, try to maintain this basic order of steps.

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PAGES OF SHAVASANA (PART 1)

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Works Cited:
Saraswati, Satyananda. A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya. Yoga Publications Trust, 2013.