Yoga off the Mat part 2

Since having Total Knee Replacement surgery, guess what my favorite yoga pose is? 

My FAVORITE pose/action is SAVASANA (Deep Relaxation). I’m fidgety most of the day. I’m not comfortable in any one position for very long, but when I’m able to lie down, even on the tables at therapy-- it’s HEAVEN. I can literally feel myself surrendering to the padded table, so much so that I wondered if I ever really surrendered like that during a yoga class. I’ve always remembered Jodh’s explanation of building up tension through practicing our Kriyas so that when we got to Savasana, we could really and truly relax.

I pride myself on being a “Savasana Whisperer” of sorts. I love it when people fall asleep during Savasana when I teach. One time someone slept through past the end of class-- and this was pre-COVID, when we were all still gathering in Urban Yoga Chicago.

Sleeping right now doesn’t come easy for me. I’m not in pain, but I have a lot of discomfort trying to get into a comfortable position, whether sitting, standing or lying down. I’ve built up a lot of tension since the surgery. I realized that I needed to practice Savasana to get myself to fall asleep. Notice I said PRACTICE Savasana. Savasana should be the easiest thing to do, right? You are just lying there! But no, quieting and slowing the mind is not easy when you have a million things to do. Being distracted by this ache and that pain doesn’t help either. 

I think people who can fall asleep during Savasana can do so because they feel grounded and supported by the community. They feel safe in that moment, and this allows them to surrender to total relaxation. Without that feeling of grounding, Savasana is one of the hardest yoga poses to do. After a hard session at PT, if I end on the table, I always request to ice on the table as well. I lie down and surrender, if even just for 10 minutes. They don’t realize it, but I am practicing Savasana, surrounded by my “therapy gang” community.

--Ysraelia (Izzy Ji)