Anybody I’ve spoken with about my first experience of Vinyasa Flow Yoga will have heard me use phrases like ‘inspiring’, ‘amazing’, ‘life-changing’ and various other effusive terms to describe it. It came during a teacher training with a teacher called Shiva Rea in Venice Beach, California.

Suffice it to say that the class was exactly what I needed when I needed it. I am forever indebted to Nicky Knoff and James Bryan for the firm foundation their certificate training provided, to Lynda Miers-Henneveld for the vast knowledge, love and support her wise mentoring offers and to the wonderful family of Wellington yoga teachers and students with whom I am fortunate enough to explore yoga on a regular basis. All of those influences plus my continuing quest for self knowledge prepared me for the boundary-shattering experience that was that class.

For a couple of months before I went to Shiva’s training, I was in a place that felt tight and constricted. Emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally, everything was at low ebb. My personal yoga practice was less than satisfying. Looking back now, I can see that it was because I was practicing someone else’s yoga.

To cut a long and emphatic story short, after my first Vinyasa Flow class I felt like I had been let out of a cage! Vinyasa Flow combined the Yoga postures that I had come to love with the creativity of flowing movement I had experienced as a dancer. I found that the music the teacher played during the class helped me to have a deeper and more focused practice while the fluid movement gave me the freedom to explore my own expression of the Yoga postures.

I left that first class utterly changed and exhilarated. To be honest though, that was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Over the remaining hours of the training, I was to be taken on an absolute whirlwind of experiences, inundated with information I will be absorbing for years but most importantly of all, I was allowed to step out of the cage in which I had imprisoned myself and my creativity. I learned at the absolute deepest level of my experience that being strong (emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally) must be balanced by being flexible.

Over time, my daily sadhana (or practice) has become an adventure in exploring and expanding my own boundaries. Free to move around in postures and listen to my body’s own inner wisdom, I am finding new levels of strength and flexibility as well as a deeper sense of connection to myself and to others.

In my Vinyasa Flow classes I hope to act as a river guide for you as you explore your own flow and create your own personal practice. I offer you information and strategies to enhance your experience and to keep you safe but at the same time I give you some space so that you can discover the poses for yourself. The classes can be challenging since we are nudging at boundaries but there is always the option to take it at your own pace. Please join me to go somewhere new within yoga and perhaps, yourself.

~ Kelly Fisher

Lying down and relaxing sounds so simple, but Savasana (corpse pose) can be a challenging part of your Yoga practice because it requires your full attention. When your body is still, your mind can become distracted. The mind loves to skip into the future, planning activities and making lists of things to do.

According to meditation teacher Sally Kempton

“…the ordinary mind, liked an untrained puppy, will always try to dart away from stillness, from sinking inward, from being present.”

Another obstacle to a satisfying relaxation pose is exhaustion. Collapsing with exhaustion is not the same thing as practicing relaxation! Falling asleep in Savasana could be a sign that you are sleep deprived, and that you need to spend time in this lovely pose more often.

Savasana concludes most Yoga sessions. In this basic relaxation pose you observe your breath and allow your body to relax completely. This conscious relaxation of mind and body allows you to fully absorb and maximise the benefits of the asana practice. It allows you to create a cellular memory of the postures, and by letting go of tension you reduce the chance of muscle soreness.

Practicing Savasana regularly can bring about physiological changes in the body, which help to reduce every measurable indicator of stress. Restorative postures create an opportunity to return from doing to simply being. Initially you may need the guidance of the teacher to remind you to return to the breath each time you drift off. You will learn to scan your body for any tension or holding you can let go of. With practice, you will find it progressively easier to drop into the relaxation soon after you lie down.

Setting up

There are many versions of Savasana, including lying flat on the floor in the basic pose, as well as various supported options using blankets and bolsters. Your teacher will usually choose a variation that works well with the rest of the sequence you have worked through in class, but you are always free to choose for yourself once you are familiar with the options.

The position of your head is crucial in any variation of Savasana. Keep in mind that the forehead needs to be a little higher than the chin, as if you are glancing down along your body. This position of the head will help to quiet your mind and take your focus inward. It will also help you to soften and relax the throat and neck. Any support under the head should lightly touch your shoulders, so that the neck is fully supported.

The main thing to keep in mind is that you are trying to minimise distractions as you settle in, so it’s important to create symmetry in the body and to be comfortable. Ensure your arms are equidistant from the line of your spine, and that your legs are too. Create length in your lower back by extending your tailbone towards your feet. Removing your watch, glasses and jewellery will help you prepare to let go mentally as well as physically.

Letting go

Savasana is more than an opportunity to let go on a physical level. Corpse pose is so named because it allows you to die to your old habits, your negative self images, your obligations, your problems, and your opinions. As your attachment to the physical body is relinquished, what is left behind is that which is at the core of your being, your true Self.

Last month we shared the reason we chant “OM” 3 times at the beginning and end of some of our classes and the meaning of “OM”. This month we’d like to share the meaning of some of the other greetings you might hear in a Yoga class.

“NAMASTE”: Some classes finish with everyone saying Namaste accompanied by a bowing gesture with the hands at the heart in prayer position (anjali mudra). This means: I honor the place in you in which the entire universe dwells. I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light and of peace. When you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, we are one.

“ONG NAMO GURUDEV NAMO”: We say this mantra three times to tune in at the beginning of each Kundalini class.  The phrase is repeated each time on one breath. In Gurmukhi it means: I call on the infinite creative consciousness. I call on the divine teacher within and without.

“SAT NAM”: This mantra can be used as a quiet, internal mantra by repeating internally Sat (on the inhale), Nam (on the exhale) or at the end of a Kundalini class by chanting long Sat, short Nam (Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat Naammmmm). Sat means Be or that which truly exists and Nam means bow or submit, so you are bowing to Truth or to the essence of Being. It is usually explained as: I am Truth, Truth is my identity.

“OM SHANTI, SHANTI, SHANTI”: Om is considered to be the primordial sound, the sound from which all other sounds are formed. Shanti means peace. So “Om Shanti, shanti, shanti” in an invocation to peace.