It’s #worldyogaday today and I am going to talk of something you won’t see or hear much of on the gram. Which is understandable for where is the glory in being shown lying flat on the floor or bed versus being in a seemingly gravity defining stretch. I’d feel that way too. I used to.
I am talking of savasana and yoga nidra. Both forms of yogic guided relaxation.
I remember I was 8 when my father, an orthopaedic surgeon, told me that the most important part of asanas are the savasanas at the end. ‘The session is futile without it.’
We lived at my maternal grandparents’ house a year later, when my dad passed away, for a year. My maternal grandfather was a big believer in yoga. He would tell us that he was doing savasana when he slept in the afternoon and didn’t want us to disturb him.
Like it is for many who are not aware of yoga, I began to associate savasana with sleep, slack and laziness.
He was the one who urged me to practise yoga when I was 10 and it’s been a part of my life in phases since then. With time I learnt about the importance of guided relaxation.
In the last five years, my interaction with yoga has been with two traditional and ‘serious’ yoga schools:
@theyogainstituteofficial & @sivanandagurgaon
In both, the teachers stressed on the paramount importance of savasana and yoga nidra.
Daily savasana and yoga nidra have played a crucial role this year as I took on Covid 19, herpes, diabetes and back pain.
I can’t begin to tell you how useful it has been in helping me heal physiologically and psychologically.
Most recently my mother took it up on my advice and she says she finds it helpful and she told me about what dadu said on the subject. The @thekittykarmakars join me. There are videos on YouTube which I play while I do my yoga nidra mid day and it really refreshes it.
Please do the more challenging asanas. Each has its significance. Just don’t underestimate the one which needs you to lie still. You might find it to be the toughest. Try it.
