How much comfort do we really need in yoga?

When I first bought my puppy home, in the car journey she was distraught and anxious. She was in a cardboard box and jumping up, whining, sniffing around, and very agitated. Then all of a sudden, she collapsed in a heap and didn't move.
 
Oh no! Is she still breathing? I checked and looked, and it turns out she had exhausted herself and fallen into instant sleep. No pre-amble, no sniffing around, no time for landing comfortably, no settling into just the right spot. She stopped exactly where she was and stayed there for about half an hour. In hindsight, it's funny. At the time I thought we'd lost her. 

Savasana 
Savasana, the lying rest pose in yoga, rather unromantically translates from Sanskrit into 'corpse' posture.
 
A cessation of movement. A resting from all effort. A stopping of 'doing'. Pausing into an awareness of simply 'being'.
 
Over time we learn to be fully present in an otherwise resting body, and then notice all that remains when you land there.
 
 
Tune in
Perhaps you can tune into subtle sensations of your heartbeat, your breath, and the open presence and aliveness that we can sense more deeply when we are still.
 
It is often a hard posture to get the hang of and a stark contrast to the rest of our lives. It isn't sleep. It isn't Yoga Nidra which is another practice again, even though from the outside they look similar.
 
 
Pause & be curious
 It is a pause from being busy and fidgeting, from being lost in thought, from reacting to impulses to adjust our hair or our clothing. We are letting our nervous systems relax and rest, along with our limbs, and our tensions.
 
Be curious next time you are invited to Savasana about what it translates into for you. It is nothing like what my puppy did. That was a scarily abrupt. But on the other end of the spectrum, sometimes the process to get ready for the pose takes longer than the pose itself. Donning socks, jumpers, blankets, having a drink, adjusting hair, getting 'nested'.
 
 
How much comfort is enough?
 A level of comfort is helpful for the body to relax. And sometimes if we are feeling anxious or agitated, these preparations are as close as we get. They are important ways to sooth and care for ourselves, and allow us to feel able to approach the pose. This is all part of the process of our yoga which over time, if our practice is working for us, get easier.
 
If it is a 10 minute Savasana then more comfort can be helpful. But lying in mild discomfort can bear its own fruit too. A curious openness to how reactive often are. And how deliciously freeing it can feel when we discover that we can let go of all of that.
 
We can even start to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, which is one of the many gifts yoga can offer us.
 
 
Build tolerance & patience
Savasana is one of those precious poses that we gradually get used to, and build up our tolerance to. We can't rush this process. But we could sleep through it. 
Be patient and curious along the way.