Sivasana & Body Gratitude Rejuvenation
Savasana (translated in English as corpse pose) is traditionally always practiced for at least 5 – 10 minutes at the conclusion of any Yogic practice. Savasana is a restorative pose and allows the body to process and understand the information it has received throughout the Yoga practice.
It is commonly brushed off by some as being just a rest or a chance to have a short nap. Truth be told, savasana is essentially the most important aspect of the entire practice. This is where the body receives the class at all levels: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The body can relax, rejuvenate and heal.
If savasana is practiced in totality, it can leave the practitioner energized for hours after class. When done with this kind of intense awareness, the 'dead pose' is nothing dead, but is an opportunity for complete rejuvenation. That is why in the practice of Nithya Yoga, we call this posture 'shivasana', where you connect with the energy of Shiva, rejuvenation.
In this modern age, many practitioners rush through savasana. Most people find it really hard to lie still for 5-10 minutes and most lie in savasana and start thinking about where they have to rush to next after class. In Nithya Yoga, shivasana should be practiced with the same, if not more, integrity than all other postures.
Your practice is like laying cement foundations. If you step in the cement too soon after it is laid, you might ruin the job. In the same way, allow your practice to set.
Shivasana is the perfect chance to allow the body to do what it does best; heal itself. We should lie still and relax, allowing the body to renew and rejuvenate itself.
Body Gratitude Meditation
Our body is a temple; a temple in which our spirit, our Being, resides. We rarely spend any time appreciating and giving gratitude for our body. Most people these days are convinced through conditioning and the media that their body is not good enough. We forget that each of us is unique and have been crafted by God in a unique way. We should remember that God is an artist and not an engineer. If God were an engineer, he would have just created one mould, a production line, and manufactured us. Existence has created us all differently. As soon as we start to give gratitude to the body we have been given, we start to radiate a whole new energy: the energy of grace. Grace is not like ordinary beauty. Grace is a whole body language. When one is completely accepting of the body for what it is, he simply radiates this grace and appears to be the most beautiful person although he might not be physically beautiful.
A true story
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM says, 'All of our skin diseases take root from hatred of our own bodies.'
A lady with a severe case of psoriasis, a chronic and often incurable skin disease, came to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM for healing. During the healing, she confided that she had suffered trauma in her childhood that left her with self-hatred as well as self-guilt. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told her to practice a specific body gratitude meditation for 21 days. The meditation technique involved waking up each morning and touching each and every part of her body with deep love and gratitude. The woman exploded crying: 'How do expect me to love myself the way I am?' THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said: 'You have lived in misery for twenty years. Try this just for twenty one days.'
In just fifteen days, the lady was rid of her ailment forever! Most of the aches and pains, the skin problems, the hang-ups we experience are just because we don't give the body any attention or appreciation. It is just crying out to be remembered.
In a Nithya Yoga class, we practice shivasana at the conclusion. We go one step further by asking the practitioner, while lying in shivasana to lovingly remember each and every part of the body with deep awareness and gratitude.
Pranayama and sitting in completion in the space of listening
After the steady state is achieved through asana and vinyasa, you can now experience the space of expansion of your life energy while breathing without thoughts. Pranayama practice comes after asana
After pranayama practice, sit in the space of silence. Create a space of listening. Sitting in the space of listening in the master's presence is called Upanishad in the Vedic tradition. The Ultimate alchemy and communion happens during Upanishad.
Closing chant - Poorna Mantra chant
The first mantra of the first upanishad is:
Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnat Purnamudachyate Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnameva Vashishyate Om shanti, shanti, shanti Harih om tat sat Sarvam sadguru padukar panamastú Om Nithyanandam
"Out of the whole, the whole came out If the whole is removed from the whole The whole remains as the whole"
Out of completion, experiencing the whole Out of completion, realizing you are the whole This is enlightenment
When you feel you are the whole You experience the wholeness of the Cosmos If you feel wholeness You will radiate Holiness
CHAPTER 7 - MORE ON ASANAS