Savasana for the Average Unenlightened Barb
At the end of every yoga practice, there is a brief period of time spent lying still in Savasana, or the "corpse pose." The idea is that after you've done the physical practice, the body needs a chance to regroup or reset itself, so we spend some time (just a short period of time. Maybe five minutes or so in my particular class) turning our attention inward.
Here's a typical inner dialogue for me:
Instructor: Scan your body, beginning with your toes. Anywhere you feel tension, release it. Focus on your breath moving in and moving out. As thoughts come in, let them come and let them pass. Do not engage with any one thought.
Barb: I'm breathing in and breathing out. I'm focusing on my third eye. I'm breathing... that was kind of funny earlier when someone described Ujjayi breathing as Darth Vader breathing. It sounds just like that. Except Darth Vader isn't very yogic. Plus, I think he needed some sort of apparatus and that's why he breathed like that in the first place. I love how Star Wars is such a great tale of redemption and that, in the end, a father's love triumphed over all. Except it could have been stronger if George Lucas had made good on the opportunity to make Leia a stronger character --like when Yoda says, "There is another..." But I guess it was really sort of a product of the time it was made. Leia didn't do much more than flail about helplessly. If Lucas had made her like that Linda woman in The Terminator or Siqourney Weaver in those Alien movies, that would have been cool. It might have scared the kids, though, and it's definitely a kids' movie series. How else would you explain Jar Jar Binks? Gosh, I HATE that guy! Nothing more annoying than THAT guy. Really, if I never see the movie with Jar Jar in it ever again, I'll be totally FINE with that.
Instructor: Prepare to come out of Savasana...
Barb: Dang it.
Here's a typical inner dialogue for me:
Instructor: Scan your body, beginning with your toes. Anywhere you feel tension, release it. Focus on your breath moving in and moving out. As thoughts come in, let them come and let them pass. Do not engage with any one thought.
Barb: I'm breathing in and breathing out. I'm focusing on my third eye. I'm breathing... that was kind of funny earlier when someone described Ujjayi breathing as Darth Vader breathing. It sounds just like that. Except Darth Vader isn't very yogic. Plus, I think he needed some sort of apparatus and that's why he breathed like that in the first place. I love how Star Wars is such a great tale of redemption and that, in the end, a father's love triumphed over all. Except it could have been stronger if George Lucas had made good on the opportunity to make Leia a stronger character --like when Yoda says, "There is another..." But I guess it was really sort of a product of the time it was made. Leia didn't do much more than flail about helplessly. If Lucas had made her like that Linda woman in The Terminator or Siqourney Weaver in those Alien movies, that would have been cool. It might have scared the kids, though, and it's definitely a kids' movie series. How else would you explain Jar Jar Binks? Gosh, I HATE that guy! Nothing more annoying than THAT guy. Really, if I never see the movie with Jar Jar in it ever again, I'll be totally FINE with that.
Instructor: Prepare to come out of Savasana...
Barb: Dang it.
Comments
See, THIS is why I'm going to have to try those floatation therapy thingies where you just are in a dark box in water, because I swear to you, that's my mind EVERY TIME I try to meditate or do anything like that. I'm like, Jar-Jar Binks!?
... How do we even end up there??!
*giggle*
And really, what was Lucas thinking with Jar Jar?? My current working theory is that George Lucas is really an 11-year-old boy trapped in a man's body.
I'll bet Jar Jar would be really good at yoga, he looks bendy.
Yes I know you are yelling "POINT, EI! IT'S WAY OVER HERE!" - you have your Shavasana and I have mine.