I listened to a great interview with Max Strom this week in which he said he knew he’d taught a class well if the students didn’t fidget in savasana…because it meant that their nervous system was calm enough to lay in stillness.

I think this is a great philosophy and one I buy into whole heartedly - for me down regulation of the nervous system is such an important aspect of our practice.

We spend so much of our lives subjected to low level chronic stress, not to mention the many acute stressors that bring us into the ‘fight, flight or freeze’ state…our practice is a great opportunity to bring our nervous system back into balance by stimulating the ‘rest and digest’ response so that we can see with greater clarity and connect to a fuller sense of Self.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that our practice won’t be challenging at times - but if we move slowly and with awareness and if we harness and work with the breath in the right ways* it allows us to remain calm, centred and grounded as we move through our practice.

This is also why I’m no fan of super fast ‘crash bang wallop’ yoga classes - if I’m not able to remain centred in my breath, you can bet that my nervous system will start to ramp up fairly quickly and I’ll start to feel agitated.

So next time you come to practice maybe make a note of paying attention to how challenging or easy it feels to lie still in savasana at the end of class…it could be quite revealing! Let me know how you get on.

* a good start is to work with a soft, light, slow inhalation (feel the ribs expand outwards as you draw the breath in) + a long, complete exhalation (out breath longer than the in breath) + gentle ujjayi pranayama…always through the nostrils! 👃