According to Yoga Explained: A New Step-by-Step Approach to Understanding and Practicing Yoga by Mira Mehta –
“The unfamiliar actions involved in the [yoga] postures need to be assimilated into the body’s ‘memory.’ This needs time and a period of stillness. Corpse Pose (Savasana) provides such a setting. Lying down quietly, without mental or physical distractions, makes body and mind receptive to the imprints of what has been learned.”
Mira Mehta is also co-author of Yoga: The Iyengar Way.
According to Yoga Journal Mentor Maty Ezraty, “Transitions from pose to pose are often neglected in yoga classes. Students tend to rush, forgetting to take time to get in and out of postures…. It is also in the transitions, or the pauses, that we can learn the most about yoga. These pauses create times to reflect and consider the effect of each pose. This is one reason why your teachers have you pause before coming up from Savasana. Staying in touch with the calm and focus of a deep Savasana is much easier if you do not jump out of the pose. Take time to stay with that feeling of relaxation as you slowly pause on the way back to “normal” life. This is the real yoga – bringing your experience from the mat into the rest of your life.”
It’s finally Spring – time to open the windows, air out the house, and do a little spring cleaning. And while you are cleaning, don’t forget your yoga mat.
The Whole Body Spa – the studio where I teach – has it’s own “green” recipe for a mat cleaning spray. Students are requested to clean their mat and any other equipment used after each class.
P.S. It really is a good idea to clean your mat regularly – perhaps weekly – or, in the summer, after each use.
The Yoga Librarian 