The Big Savasana
In the morning when my four year old wakes up I'm lucky enough to still be requested first thing. Once I crawl into his bed with him, it's cuddle time. Sometimes the cuddles only last for a couple of minutes but that's ok. I'll take it.
The thing I find the most interesting though is how my son has so many stretches, and rolls, and back to stillness, and repeats it all over again before he's up and at em'.
I started doing exactly what he does and randomly stretching different parts of my body. Little by little I feel more awake and ready to get out of bed.
This morning ritual sparked a thought in comparing the gentle prompting I do after savasana to my students (this is the deep relaxation that follows a class) so that waking the body up slowly creates less shock to the system and is a great means to get back in touch with each part of your body. The natural and beautiful mindfulness needed to start the day has been activated when you apply this same "rule" to waking up from your big night sleep.
Savasana is the rest period after a yoga class and is an essential part that lets the body assimilate all the activity executed during the class. There is breathing, warm ups, more in dept postures and a meditation to complete a full yoga experience. Ideally, the savasana at the end of the class is meant to have the practitioner become completely aware of how the class has affected him/her, usually feeling a calming and grounding sensation.
As much as our night rest is important to regenerate tissue, muscles, the nervous system, our brain and all systems for an optimal body, it is also a good time for our thinking caps to be turned off.
There's still brain activity when we sleep of course, but the overall benefits to sleep are immeasurable. We all know that we need a good nights sleep to feel refreshed, to fully enjoy the new day. This makes perfect sense since it's just like in a yoga class. You do all this "stuff" during the day, so after the day is done, a rest is necessary for you to integrate and process all that you've experienced.
Not to be confused with Yoga Nidra, what's known as "sleeping" yoga, where in a one hour or 90 minute class the practitioner will be aware of the whole experience (at least that's what one aims for), our night time sleep is different in so far as 6 to 8 hours are usually recommended for most adults to wake up feeling well rested, whereas one hour of Yoga Nidra is equivalent to 4 hours of regular restorative sleep. The difference comes as you are in charge and aware of the work your body is doing to regenerate.
Just the same, the point I'm trying to drill in here is that our body needs downtime or parasympathetic nervous activity for our overall system to function properly and be in balance. After your body and mind has had this down time you are free to go back to all the fun stuff you love, i.e. running, cooking, sailing, walking, you name it. What's amazing about waking in the morning is the sensations you feel in your body, when you stretch, roll around, and lounge a bit more, it's all part of getting ready to enjoy the day with conscious effort.
I love being continuously reminded of our natural processes by my son. He is still so in touch with his natural rhythms and goes on instincts and what feels just right all the time. Instead of rushing him out of bed in the morning, I start the day with an ultimate hug and stretch. I'll take it.
The thing I find the most interesting though is how my son has so many stretches, and rolls, and back to stillness, and repeats it all over again before he's up and at em'.
I started doing exactly what he does and randomly stretching different parts of my body. Little by little I feel more awake and ready to get out of bed.
This morning ritual sparked a thought in comparing the gentle prompting I do after savasana to my students (this is the deep relaxation that follows a class) so that waking the body up slowly creates less shock to the system and is a great means to get back in touch with each part of your body. The natural and beautiful mindfulness needed to start the day has been activated when you apply this same "rule" to waking up from your big night sleep.
Savasana is the rest period after a yoga class and is an essential part that lets the body assimilate all the activity executed during the class. There is breathing, warm ups, more in dept postures and a meditation to complete a full yoga experience. Ideally, the savasana at the end of the class is meant to have the practitioner become completely aware of how the class has affected him/her, usually feeling a calming and grounding sensation.
As much as our night rest is important to regenerate tissue, muscles, the nervous system, our brain and all systems for an optimal body, it is also a good time for our thinking caps to be turned off.
There's still brain activity when we sleep of course, but the overall benefits to sleep are immeasurable. We all know that we need a good nights sleep to feel refreshed, to fully enjoy the new day. This makes perfect sense since it's just like in a yoga class. You do all this "stuff" during the day, so after the day is done, a rest is necessary for you to integrate and process all that you've experienced.
Not to be confused with Yoga Nidra, what's known as "sleeping" yoga, where in a one hour or 90 minute class the practitioner will be aware of the whole experience (at least that's what one aims for), our night time sleep is different in so far as 6 to 8 hours are usually recommended for most adults to wake up feeling well rested, whereas one hour of Yoga Nidra is equivalent to 4 hours of regular restorative sleep. The difference comes as you are in charge and aware of the work your body is doing to regenerate.
Just the same, the point I'm trying to drill in here is that our body needs downtime or parasympathetic nervous activity for our overall system to function properly and be in balance. After your body and mind has had this down time you are free to go back to all the fun stuff you love, i.e. running, cooking, sailing, walking, you name it. What's amazing about waking in the morning is the sensations you feel in your body, when you stretch, roll around, and lounge a bit more, it's all part of getting ready to enjoy the day with conscious effort.
I love being continuously reminded of our natural processes by my son. He is still so in touch with his natural rhythms and goes on instincts and what feels just right all the time. Instead of rushing him out of bed in the morning, I start the day with an ultimate hug and stretch. I'll take it.
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