Deep Relaxation: Savasana

Welcome to our relaxation to ease deep tension in your body and your mind. We're going to go through a relaxation practice, a shavasana practice, where we will do what's called progressive relaxation, which simply means we're going to squeeze and release muscles, first we'll adjust the legs one at a time, then the arms and the whole body. I'm using four blankets for my own comfort. The most important practice is to support yourself with something under your legs. I'm using one rolled blanket supported by a second blanket for height.

You could use blocks under this blanket or a rolled bolster or even pillows at home. I also will have a blanket underneath my back for comfort and if you wish you should put something under your back as well. To set up, before we add the fourth blanket over our belly or legs, take your legs out and separate them, make sure they're on your mat or on cushion, your knees face the sky. Your seat is centered if you're laying down on blankets behind you. I folded a little extra blanket as head support and I'm going to place my blanket right on my belly to allow for a little extra grounding.

Find a position where your legs feel equidistant from the center, your arms by your side equidistant from the center and after we do the progressive relaxation, you could place your arms in any position you wish, but to begin we'll take three gently exaggerated breaths. Stretch the breath a little longer than natural all the way to the top of your inhale and all the way to the bottom of your exhale. One more purposely stretched breath, long breath out and we use that stretched breath with our muscle tensing on purpose, bringing your awareness to your right leg. Again exaggerate the length of a breath as you squeeze every muscle in your right leg, maybe point the toe and lift it up a little bit and then exaggerating your exhale, bring your leg to rest on the earth, give all your weight of your leg to the ground. Switching to the opposite leg on a long inhale, squeeze the muscles of the calf, the thigh, the seat, lifting it up to the top of your inhale and exhale, let the entire leg drop onto the earth and pause for a few breaths, feeling your legs carried by the ground.

Bring your attention to your seat and your belly on an inhale, squeeze your seat nice and tight and as you exhale letting go of your seat, your pelvis, your belly falls into your back. Do one more breath for your seat, inhaling squeeze everything tight in the seat and the pelvis maybe even in the thighs and on a long exhale soften your seat, belly falls into your back. Allow your seat and your legs to rest on the earth completely. Bring your awareness to your right arm and hand and on an inhale gently splay your right palm open, as you take a long exhale squeeze your fist, all the muscles of your arm, inhale lift the arm off the ground, exhale return the arm, the shoulder, the hand to the earth, let your hand unfurl, let your arm, your shoulder be held up by the ground. Bringing your awareness to your left hand as you inhale splay your whole left hand open, stretch your whole palm, exhale make a gentle fist, squeeze all the muscles from your chest down your left arm to your fist, inhale lift the arm off the ground and exhale return your arm to rest on the ground completely, take a few moments to feel from your chest to your shoulders down your arms to your hands, allow your arms to be carried by the ground, take just a couple more breaths to squeeze the whole body equally everywhere including the face, on your inhale splay your palms open, stretch through your feet, on your exhale make gentle fists point your toes, inhale squeeze your whole body equally everywhere maybe even scrunch up the face and as you exhale let the whole body rest completely on the ground, we'll do that one more time as you inhale splay your palms open, stretch through your toes, exhale make gentle fists point your toes squeeze your body equally everywhere to the midline maybe including your face, the next exhale let everything land on the ground, allow your whole body to be held up by the earth, we'll rest here for just a few moments imagining that you keep going in the direction of softening, your body leaving a deeper print on the earth, as you gently begin to soften and expand beyond the outline of your print, allow your eyes to fill your sockets allow your throat to be free to fill your neck allow your heart to be soft enough to fill your chest allow your belly to fill your abdomen allow your legs to be at rest, effortless legs allow your body to land on the ground allow your breath to flow freely through you, allow it to rise and fall on its own and gently bring your hands to your belly and your heart, feeling your breath move under your palms, linger here as long as you wish and when you're ready to close slowly roll to your side and pause and we'll finish together in an easeful seat, taking our time to transition mindfully, making a little pillow out of your arm for your head, putting weight in the hand in front of your chest, gathering your belly and pressing slowly to come up landing a comfortable seat, pause with your hands in anjali mudra prayer and soften your head to your heart, one more breath to let all your weight land on the earth, feel your breath flow freely, rising and falling on its own make you feel more at ease, more grounded and more open, namaste.