The most difficult posture for me. I know! When I teach, my students are always looking forward to savasana and would love to stay even longer. However, it’s different for me. I need to force myself to get into savasana, not to mention staying there!
As soon as I’m in, my mind seems to be back in the day. Thoughts are popping up and my body just wants to stretch and get up. Damn. Savasana is important to get the practice settle in. In other words: while much of the asana practice is designed to up-regulate the body, stimulate, and even provide healthy stress, Savasana is the down-regulator, by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system (your rest and digest response) and calming your sympathetic nervous system (your fight, flight and freeze response), so we experience a calming, sweet release.
It‘s not about a minute or two, no, 10 minutes. I tell you why: somewhere around minute 6, there is a profound shift in the body and in one’s mental chatter. You feel the weight of your body drop, and so does your mind. This is where you get to swim around in a calm body, quiet mind, and easy heart.
So back to me. I found a trick that helps me to go through the first minutes and ready to fully enjoy my savasana: essential oils!
I follow my feelings to choose the right oil. So far I have great experiences using Lavender, Neroli or Peace (a beautiful blend mixture from doTERRA). This is what I do: I put 2 drops into my palms, rub, bring my hands to my nose and inhale the oil for 5 seconds – it goes into my brain. I hold my breath for 5 seconds – my nervous system calms down and I exhale for 5 seconds – to release my body. I do this 5 times and slide into savasana. It works!
Drop me a line if you want to know how essential oils can leverage your practice and support your health – I would love to help you getting started!