Savasana

About This Class

Bryan Kest uses this short but richly instructive class to demonstrate Savasana, framing it as potentially the most valuable pose in any yoga practice. Starting from Child's Pose, the student moves gently to lying on the back, uses a full-body tension-and-release squeeze on an inhale/exhale to prime deep relaxation, and then settles into stillness. Bryan explains the meaning of the Sanskrit name — corpse pose, signifying no movement of body or mind — and walks through three techniques for quieting the mind during Savasana: (1) anchoring attention to the subtle breath, (2) staying aware of the thousands of physical sensations arising throughout the body, and (3) slowly scanning the body in three-to-five-inch increments while visualizing each area softening and being infused with healing light, a method he connects to the practice of Yoga Nidra. The class is almost entirely floor-based, deeply restorative in nature, and explicitly positioned as the antidote to stress and the busy mind of everyday life.