Savasana
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Savasana or Mrtasana
Savasana (Sanskrit: शवआसन, śavāsana, "Corpse Pose", alternately spelled Shavasana or Sarvasana, and also known as mrta-asana) is a yoga asana often used to begin and conclude a yoga session. It is a relaxing posture intended to rejuvenate one's body, mind and spirit. While savasana is a good way to reduce stress and tension, it is not recommended for meditation as it has a tendency to induce sleepiness. If afflicted by drowsiness or restlessness of the mind while performing savasana, increase the rate and depth of breathing.
- Lying on your back, spread arms and legs, about 45 degrees from the sides of your body. Tilt head slightly back so it rests comfortably. Make sure you are warm and comfortable.
- Close the eyes, and start by deepening the breath using dirga pranayama. Allow your whole body to become soft and heavy, letting it relax into the floor. As the body relaxes, feel the whole body rising and falling with each breath.
- Scan the body from the toes to the fingers to the crown of the head, looking for tension, tightness and contracted muscles. Consciously release and relax any areas that you find. If you need to, rock or wiggle that part of your body from side to side.
- Release all control of the breath, the mind, and the body. Let your body move deeper and deeper into a state of total relaxation.
- Stay in savasana for 5 to 15 minutes.
- To release: slowly deepen the breath, wiggle the fingers and toes, reach the arms over your head and stretch the whole body, exhale bend the knees into the chest and roll over to one side coming into a fetal position. When you are ready, slowly inhale up to a seated position."
Following practice, when one is in savasana, the body is often in the anabolic state of metabolism during which cells can repair and rejuvenate themselves. Organs and tissues are “built up” (increasing muscle mass, bone growth). The opposite state is catabolic metabolism. It’s counter-productive to have both states occurring at the same time, so there are signals in the body which switch from one to the other, and most of those signals are hormonal.
In yoga, when certain poses are done which affect the glands of the endocrine system, certain hormones are produced which bring the body into the anabolic state. The 8 primary endocrine glands are located in the same approximate locations as the chakras.
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