Savasana, or corpse pose, is the hardest yoga pose for me.  At the end of a physical practice, however intense, it is here, in final resting pose, where I often have to work my hardest.  The beauty of spending time in this pose is to relax into your body, to accept the work that you’ve done in your practice, both physically and mentally, and to enter into a blissed out state of ahhh.  This is what I strive for, but it is here where my mind wanders.

During practice, my mind is often so focused on what my body is doing that it doesn’t run away and play.  As my body stills for savasana, my mind picks up the pace again.  This is where I find my meditation practice on the mat, where I need to remind myself to let the thoughts float by but to remained unengaged from them.  What mood will Chloe be in?  What are we eating for dinner?  What’s left on my to do list?  Let these pass by, like clouds in the sky, and focus on the third eye.  So I do that, for a minute, and then I find myself in the middle of creating a plan for what comes next.   Stop! I say to myself. This is my last little bit of me time for the night, where I can really relax and just be here.

As with most things in life, the ease of mediation comes with practice.  There are days where my mind will relax and be still and days when it dances around my quiet body.  The key is to have patience with self.  There is no need to judge how long you can sit without a thought distracting you away from where you are, in the here and now.  Let that moment pass and bring your awareness back to what matters most – you.  It is in the quiet moments, whether they are many or few and far between, when we tap into ourselves, that we begin to cultivate this inner awareness.

Inevitably, as the teacher encourages the small movements of fingers and toes, I have finally gotten my mind to rest, to focus on nothing, on everything all at once, and I roll over and come to a comfortable seated position.