yoga pose of the week: savasana

I am sick. :(

It's nothing serious - just a runny nose, congested head, itchy throat and aches all over - but certainly too sick for yoga. The only yoga I've been able to do since Sunday is, well, no yoga. I read about yoga and think longingly about yoga, but that's it. :(

In light of my pathetic state, this week's yoga pose is good, old savasana (a.k.a. corpse pose) - the only yoga pose I can muster this week.

This is savasana:

(from Yoga Journal)

Savasana is usually practiced briefly at the beginning of the class, and at length at the end of a class. It is meant to be a chance for your body to soak up all of the new information it has just acquired in the last 60, 90, whatever minutes of yoga. This therapeutic pose also helps to relieve stress, reduce headaches and fatigue, alleviate insomnia, and lower blood pressure. It can be the most restorative pose of all.

Sure, it looks easy, but some days it is one of the most difficult poses. Ten plus minutes of lying still, ridiculously sweaty and exhausted, trying just to focus on your breath and nothing else - sometimes it's the very last thing I want to do! But every time I feel as though I'm suffering through it, savasana always inevitably reminds me that yoga is so much more than just a killer workout. It's about learning to be still, and resilient, however difficult it may be.

mxo