So,
Welcome to this Shavasana practice.
It's perhaps the most important of all asanas,
So most proper yoga classes end with Shavasana.
And it's typically seen,
If you look at Patanjali's Yoga Sutras,
As the preamble for meditation.
First there's asana,
Then there's pranayama,
Then there are the stages of meditation.
But you can do this practice at any time,
Wherever you are.
So make sure you have the props that you need.
It could typically include a pillow or bolster for under your knees,
If you have some back pain or if you want to be careful with your back.
And it's often pleasant to have a folded blanket under your head.
So if you need those,
Then pause the track and get those.
And what you want to do in Shavasana,
Before you completely let go,
You want to make sure you lay your body down precisely.
So a good way to start is,
First sit up with your knees bent,
And then vertebrae by vertebrae roll down slowly,
So that your back is completely on the floor.
And then what you can do is,
With your hands,
Grab your buttocks,
Your hips and your buttocks,
And extend them away from your lower back,
So that you can extend your lower back in this way.
So grab your butt,
And roll them away from your back.
Extend your lower back like this.
And then one by one you can extend your legs,
And if you have some back issues,
Or if you want to be a bit careful with your back,
You can put the bolster under your knees.
This alleviates a little bit the lower back.
And when you're in this position,
Look over your body and see that you make as straight a line as possible,
And stretch your heels away.
So you really want to extend the back side of your legs,
So your thighs and your calves extend away from your back.
And if you can,
Have your feet together,
And when you've done this extension,
Then you can slowly,
With control,
Let the feet go out to the sides,
Evenly,
Until they are completely relaxed.
And you can choose to put a blanket,
A nicely folded blanket under your head and neck,
And make sure that it's not under your shoulders.
So the blanket is touching your shoulder heads,
But doesn't go underneath your shoulders.
Next what you can do,
Is you can slightly press your elbows into the floor,
And pull your shoulder blades more down towards your hips.
You can feel if you do that,
That your chest opens up.
So don't exaggerate it,
Do it with a kind of medium intensity,
That you feel your chest opening up like this.
And when you did that,
Usually you have to again readjust your buttocks to extend them away from your hips.
You want to extend again the back side of your body,
Where your legs are.
So one more time,
Stretch your heels away.
And then lastly,
What you can do is to roll your arms out,
So your thumbs are slowly facing more towards the shoulders.
And this way you can also open up your chest more,
And draw your shoulder blades further back down under your chest.
And this gives a good support for your lungs to breathe deeply.
And then slowly give in to gravity more and more.
It's always a good starting point to be a bit more conscious about relaxing the muscles in your face.
So see that you can get a sense of the skin and muscles around your eyes,
And relax them.
Feel the facial muscles around your mouth and nose,
And just allow them to fall a bit more on the bones beneath it.
Also around and in the ears we can hold some tension,
So if you can be aware of that,
Just allow that tension to become a bit more soft,
To whatever degree is available to you.
You can even let your eyeballs become soft,
And let them sink a bit down into the sockets.
Let your lower jaw become a little bit unhinged,
A bit relaxed.
So you don't want to clench your jaw,
You want to just let it go.
Your lips are touching,
But very gently,
Your tongue is relaxed.
And allow your breathing to come also more to the floor.
What you can try to do is breathe not so much with your chest lifting up,
But with your side ribs expanding a bit out to the side as you inhale.
So flatten a little bit your torso.
And it may be necessary to readjust your head.
That's often for me the case when I'm in Shavasana for a few minutes,
My head starts to tilt a little bit back,
So it's fine to just make some minor adjustments like that in the beginning few minutes of Shavasana,
Because your body is relaxing,
Slowing down and giving more and more into gravity,
So some minor adjustments are perfectly fine to do before you stop doing any adjustments.
And maybe automatically you can already sense the mental relaxation following the physical relaxation.
And it's even possible to forget where you are right now,
Without having an idea where you are.
Where are you?
The answer to that question becomes smaller and smaller if you don't look into your mind.
And then the subtle art of Shavasana is not to fall asleep.
You can of course,
You're very welcome to.
But the juice is really in being with the relaxation without falling asleep.
So can you just enjoy laying here on your back,
Drifting away but not going away,
Staying right here.
And maybe you notice that the mind is still a little bit active with thoughts,
That's totally fine.
If you want you can thank the thoughts,
No need fighting them,
But just stay tuned to your body,
Your breathing,
And feel that you can more and more let go into pure resting.
And if your mind is thinking,
Oh this is a perfect opportunity to think about all these smart things I can do later,
Or people to meet and things to do,
Just thank it,
No need to fight it,
But keep on going back to just empty rest.
So I will leave you here for a few minutes and then I will get us out of Shavasana.
And then without forcing yourself,
Allow your breathing to become a little bit deeper,
Little bit longer inhalations,
Longer exhalations,
Just to gently come back to the room,
Keep your body still otherwise,
Unless you really want to move of course it's fine.
And then on the next inhalation,
I invite you to open your eyes,
Unless you feel that you want to keep them closed,
Always listen to your body and those things.
And to gently come out,
First take your knees off the floor,
Bend your legs,
And when it feels right for you,
You can turn to your right side,
And before you come up,
Just stay there for a few moments,
And when your body is ready you can slowly come up,
Try to keep this Shavasana quietude,
And let your head be the last to come up.
And don't rush this process,
So if this is too early for you,
Please take all the time that your body-mind is asking for.
And then this is the end of the guided Shavasana,
I hope it was beneficial for you,
Thank you.
