Learn Savasana Inside and Out

Help your students fully experience the benefits of Corpse Pose, through the exploration of their anatomy.

By Julie Gudmestad

Fine-Tune

As you scan the room, take a look at your students' head and neck position as well. When the chin is higher than the forehead, the neck is usually hyperextended, or overarched. Cervical hyperextension while lying supine may be due to tight, short pectoral muscles in the chest, or tight muscles in the neck, including the sternocleidomastoid in the front and the upper trapezius and levator scapula in the back. As in the lower back, hyperextension in the cervical spine can cause pain and discomfort due to tight muscles and compression of the small joints on the back of the vertebrae. This head and neck position is also relatively energizing (think backbends) and invites the inner gaze to look up and out. Correct this position by placing a firm, folded blanket under the head and upper neck—not under the shoulders, which would push them forward. This lift under the head will drop the chin, lengthen the back of the neck, and invite the inner gaze down toward the heart.

And speaking of the heart, positioning your students with an open chest not only deepens their relaxation but also makes room for the heart to pump blood and the lungs to fill more freely and with less effort. Study your students as they lie on the floor. Many students set themselves up with their shoulders curling forward and in toward their chests, especially if their arms are pulled in close to their sides. The chest drops and, again, there's the sense of compression and a limit to the ability to expand. Instead, while your students are settling in to Savasana, ask them to place their arms in the 90/90 position, which means 90 degrees at the shoulder (humerus, or upper arm bone, is on the floor and sticking straight out from the side), while the elbow is also at 90 degrees (the forearms are on the floor and parallel to the body, and the hands are resting, palms-up, beside the head).

This 90/90 position places the shoulder blades in an optimal position, which remains as you ask your students to straighten their elbows and sliding the arms down a closer to their sides (but not touching the side ribs),. Coming into the pose this way leaves the palms naturally turned up and the chest effortlessly open. The spacious chest makes an open heart possible, and in the relaxed comfort of Savasana, your student may deeply experience ahimsa, nonharming for all beings.

Julie Gudmestad is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher and licensed physical therapist who runs a combined yoga studio and physical therapy practice in Portland, Oregon. She enjoys integrating her Western medical knowledge with the healing powers of yoga to help make the wisdom of yoga accessible to all.

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