A Brilliant Prescription
#18 Drip, Drip, Drip, the Bucket Fills
In 2018 I traveled from central VA to the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, PA to participate in a small yoga conference hosted by Yoga International.
The day before I left I went to my last in a series of physical therapy sessions to help me regain strength and confidence after my second hip replacement that year. I was feeling good except for a weird pain, a feeling of something being stuck, in my right foot.
My PT said, “OK, lie down on the table and I will do some myofascial release work.” He had previously applied this gentle, nourishing therapy on me so I was surprised when he said to tap on the table if I felt pain higher than a 10. Almost immediately after he touched my foot the pain was a 20 and I started hitting the table and saying, “Ow Ow Ow!”
He stopped pressing and sent me home.
Within an hour, my foot and ankle were swollen up to three times normal size. I elevated and iced but it didn’t really help. I laid awake all night worrying. The swelling had not subsided by morning.
But, being a warrior-type who is controlled by my work ethic, off I went to join the other presenters: Sally Kempton, Doug Keller, Gary Kraftsow and Rod Stryker for a weekend of teaching. My most well attended class turned out to be the the outdoor walking meditation. It wasn’t hard for me to pay close attention to every (painful) footstep as we slowly climbed up and down the rolling hills of the Institute.
It had never occurred to me to cancel. It was my habit to push through exhaustion, insomnia, minor and major physical discomfort in order to show up and keep my commitments. Besides, I was also scheduled to stay for four more days and film a large tranch of content for Yoga International; something like 15 yoga classes, two workshops and a 5-part meditation series.
My dear friend, Jennifer, was with me the whole time and she was a great support. She made sure that I took every opportunity to lie down with my legs up the wall, elevating my poor foot, which was very slightly shrinking back toward right size. (It actually took over a year for it to return to normal and be pain-free.)
On our last day at the Institute, Jennifer suggested we make appointments at the onsite Ayurvedic Center. Turned out the doctor was in and so I got to meet the wonderful Dr. Carrie.
She listened carefully to my story—two hip replacements in one year and now a big, swollen foot. I told her that I didn’t recognize my body anymore. And I was uncomfortable with the weight gain caused from having my mobility restricted for so long.
Dr. Carrie said, “You have been in chronic pain. And pain is stress. And stress causes your cortisol to spike. And cortisol causes weight gain.”
She gently stroked my foot as she said, “Do savasana every day. This will downregulate your nervous system and lower your cortisol.”
What a brilliant prescription! She didn’t say rest. Or take a nap. Or work less. Or change anything about how I eat, or move or work or play. Just do a savasana once a day.
Dr. Carrie understood that I knew how to do savasana. It’s not the same thing as just lying down. It is a specific yoga asana with alignment principles, philosophic principles, yoga dos and yoga don’ts.
She also understood that savasana is the foundational position for a body of asanas known as Restorative Yoga. Restorative Yoga has one main purpose and that is to help us recover our lost ability to rest. If done properly, it promises better rejuvenation than sleeping which can be quite active, at times, or choppy or even disturbing. Restorative Yoga rests your body, your mind and the systems of the body—nervous, digestive, reproductive—that require energy.
Like all asanas, there is an organizing principle and a container principle for savasana.
The organizing principle refers to how you arrange your body so that the energetic circuitry of your body is balanced and unobstructed. This is how to create the causes and conditions for the most beneficial experience of savasana.
Before you begin, gather up:
1-3 blankets
1 eye pillow or a scarf
Fold one blanket into a small rectangle and place that where your head will be.
Roll up another blanket and place that where your knees will be.
Lie down on your back on a warm floor, rug, yoga mat or your bed. Make sure the folded blanket is under your head and your neck, but not under your shoulders.
Arrange the rolled-up blanket so it is placed under your knees.
Separate your feet so they are slightly wider apart than your hips.
Cover up with the third blanket so you stay warm while you are resting.
Place the eye pillow or scarf over your eyes.
Place your arms by your sides, about a foot out from your body, palms up.
Now you are in the container of the savasana. You have only one job to do: be receptive, which, in yoga, is the opposite of active.
Dr. Carrie recognized that I needed to practice being receptive. You can’t push your body to heal.
You can’t magically drop into the “rest and digest” effects of the parasympathetic nervous system. Nor can you force your sympathetic nervous system to come out of “fight, flight or freeze.”
But since hard work is our mandated cultural habit and associated with rewards, we can get stuck there. The Tibetan word for practice is Gom, which actually means “a process of getting familiar.” The practice of savasana reminds us that there are just as many rewards when we become as familiar with receptivity as we are with activity.
So I did that. Every day I got on my bed and got familiar with savasana. I completely dropped into it. I didn’t meditate or plan or feel guilty or wish for anything to be different.
I remembered my guru saying that the mind is like the sky, without center and without boundary. So I let my mind float like a kite on a balmy day.
Just as I did, you get to decide when you are done with your savasana. At first you might not stay for longer than a few minutes. Eventually you will begin to trust the container of savasana and feel comfortable staying there for longer. Whenever you are ready, gently roll to your right side and slowly sit up.
Take a moment or two to observe the effects of your savasana practice for that day. I often found that my mind was just as refreshed as my body. My creative juices were fed. Savasana did offer many rewards: it was a therapy, a processing, a coming home. The sense of uncoiling felt like a fresh beginning.
As I write this on the last day of January, 2024, I remember how so many of us jumped into the new year with a bang. Ideas, goals, classes to take, books to write—lots of fresh beginnings!
But it’s still winter, the time for hibernating, resting and digesting. Maybe practicing savasana will offer you the balance and ballast that actually helps those active goals come to life.
Practice Opportunities
Make a commitment to your meditation practice in 2024.
Grow your practice gradually with each retreat. Longer times allow you to drop in a little deeper. Sessions include a dharma talk, sitting meditation, stretching, breathwork, group discussion.
Ground
FEB. 11 12:30-2:30 ET
Learning to start where you are; guided meditations to help you ground in your body, your mind, your environment.
Path
APRIL 14 11:30-2:30
Connecting mindfulness meditation practice to life off the cushion. How the technique can be applied to all your relationships.
Fruition
JUNE 9 11:30-3:30
Recognizing the benefits of the practice and how the Path has helped you move from your starting ground closer to your aspirations.
Grow your practice by committing to 5 days in a row. This is how meditation can become part of your everyday life.
Each day I will offer a lesson on the nuts and bolts of meditation, as well as how the practice relates to the rest of your life. On Day 1 I will give specific mindfulness meditation instruction and we will sit for a short period. Every day the instruction will deepen and the length of the sitting periods will grow.
Restorative yoga is about moving into a state of being, away from the normal activity of the body and the mind. By channeling the energies of the body — wind, blood, lymph — through specific pathways, restorative yoga creates a deep sense of relaxation and rejuvenation.
This course is open to yogis, yoga teachers, body workers, social workers — anyone who would like to deepen their own yoga practice and/or share this work with others.
REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR NEW SEASON STARTING FEB. 1
Register Dec. 1 - Feb. 1
We will start a new session of the Lifting the Gaze sangha on February 1, 2024. The sangha has been a touch point, a home, a refuge for us in 2023 as we have shared meditation practice together, studied the Satipattadhana Sutra (the Mindfulness Sutra), shared a lot in group discussions and done a little stretching and breathing, too.
In 2024, we will begin to study the Bodhisattva Way of Life together. This is a foundational teaching and guide to walking the talk of our aspiration to be more kind and compassionate in our daily life.
This retreat is open to everyone! Our practice will focus primarily on sitting and walking mindfulness meditation, sustainable yoga, and restorative yoga. Yoga props will be available in the yoga studio and modifications will be offered for everyone. Each morning will include a short dharma talk and group discussion.
Very thoughtful and helpful, thank you for sharing this with us Cyndi!