If, in the waning moments of your yoga practice, you find yourself restless—thinking about dinner, emails you need to write, itching to get out of there and get home—you're doing yourself a disservice.
Sure, everyone's busy and sometimes it takes a lot to get yourself motivated for your practice, whether it's at home or at class. By the time you find yourself in Savasana, or Corpse Pose, you may be tempted to skip out early, focused on the many tasks you have left in your day.
But here's why Savasana's important, not only at the end of your practice, but any time that you or your teachers chooses to employ it—whether in the very beginning of your practice or along the way:
It Settles and Calms Your Mind
Corpse pose requires a stillness of mind as well as your body. Overall, taking these few moments in your day to completely quiet your thoughts, let go and lie in?nothingness works as an effective de-stressor. It assuages your anxieties (and can even alleviate symptoms from any illness or injury you may be suffering).
It Gives Your Body a Chance to Return to Normal
In Savasana, your breath and heart rate will return to normal and your muscles will relax and your body temperature will drop to its normal level as well.
It Helps You Reap the Benefits of Your Practice
Because when your body is relaxed, after a series of poses or even between poses, your bodily functions and systems (like your immune and digestive system) become stimulated and revitalized. Your body needs that time to process and remember the information and intelligence—yes, intelligence—it's gained through each and every pose you worked on.
It Will Bring You Back to Life
Think of it as a power nap. If you've had an especially rigorous practice, these final, still moments will not only allow you to let go of any tension you worked out during practice but the feeling of calm savasana will then lead right into a refreshed sense of energy as soon as you're on to the next phase of the day.
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