There are moments in life when we give up the struggle and sink back into the soft core of our being.
Savasana can be one of these blessed moments. We surrender to the force of gravity and release tensions, some deep seated, some unconscious, some just hanging out on the surface as a result of strenuous asana practice.
The way we perceive the body shifts in savasana. The seemingly solid contours of the physical shape melt into the ground and what is hard is allowed to be soft. Solidity itself is revealed as a concept and not a reality.
In savasana we pay attention to softening and releasing the inner ear. It has been highlighted that through the sense of sight the world seems solid and unchanging but through hearing we perceive things as they truly are, in constant flux, ever changing.
The boundaries between the internal and external space may dissolve. We quite literally become one with what arises in every given moment. There is no longer a difference between what arises internally and what arises from the outside world.
Non-duality being one of the long-standing tenets of my yoga practice; I am constantly searching for this softening into reality. I seek to become aware of the resistance, the habitual holding, the tensions. These attachments are often rooted in the way I perceive the world at times, as threatening and violent. Some are deep seated, habits of old.
When the violence of the world overwhelms you, take to your practice; channeling the emotions into the asanas and then surrendering to the sweet release of savasana.
We are not solid beings. Solidity is resistance to softness. Violence often stems from resistance that in turns becomes the cause of inaction. We want to be warriors of peace, we want to help, to heal and to sustain a vision of oneness and harmony but we need to start and continue with ourselves.
In savasana allow yourself to be intimate with the present and let presence reveal itself to you. Know that your relationship to your body is your relationship to the world and to the present moment.
To finish, a quote from the Tao Te Ching, the last word on the way of softness and immediacy:
A man is soft and weak when living.
But hard and rigid when dead.
The myriad creatures and grass and plants, when living, are soft and fragile.
When dead, they are dried and withered.
That is why the hard and the rigid are the disciples of death, the soft and the weak the disciples of the living.
Therefore an army which is inflexible cannot win.
A plant which is hard will break.
The strong and hard will fall.
The soft and weak will overcome.