Today in yoga class I heard a phrase that rang a bell for me. It really gave me an opportunity to learn something about myself. Perhaps it will do the same for you.
The phrase was said aloud by our teacher, David, while we had been in savasana for a little while. We were all resting, with outstretched arms and open chests, and with our eyes closed. It was the last asana practiced before the end of class, and this is true in every class. In Iyengar yoga asana practice you always end your practice in savasana. Today you might say that we were prepared to hear this phrase.
"Length, width, balance, to place the body with awareness. And now let the body be. Let yourself be. Accept yourself just the way you are. Accept everything else just the way it is. Surrender to this posture, savasana, allow the relaxation."
Easier said than done, you might say. I am the kind of person who is perpetually fixing things, fixing myself in yoga asanas, making adjustments to things in my life, and yes, I know intellectually this is due to my tendency to sometimes exhibit OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) behaviours. Knowing something intellectually is okay. It helps one's understanding. But for a person like myself, letting myself "be", now that is harder.
In yoga asana practice, especially in the Iyengar method, there are many fine physical adjustments made throughout one's practice. You learn to see and to feel nuances of musculature, to acknowledge patterns habituated in your own nervous system, and to awake to subtle signals within your own body. So to "let myself be" is difficult. Life is a fluid event, and everything is always in motion, even when we lie still our autonomic systems are moving continuously.
There are times though when we need to just lie down and rest. There are times when we need to be still. There are times when enough is enough and we must accept that we are done for the moment. And one such time is in the wakeful state of rest in the asana we call savasana.
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