Sound Bowls, Sutras, and Silence: What Exactly Is Your Yoga Teacher Doing While You’re in Savasana?

(Photo: Magnific) Even as students shut their eyes in Savasana, yoga teachers are still working. Longtime yoga teacher and teacher trainer Rachel Land, co-host of the Yoga Medicine podcast, explains all the options that teachers have for continuing to create a soothing experience for teachers along with the benefits and drawbacks of each. For every person who considers Savasana, the final resting pose in yoga class, to be profoundly restorative, there’s another who is just as likely to find it incredibly challenging. And that doesn’t pertain just to students. Yoga teachers can also find that space of stillness and quiet to be tricky to navigate. Even as students’ eyes are shut, teachers are still working diligently to ensure the environment is supportive of everyone feeling at ease. There are various approaches they can take to Savasana, each with benefits and drawbacks, and none are wrong. (Aside from scrolling on a phone, that is. Although even that is sometimes necessary to adjust the volume on the music or find a reading to share aloud.) Although no single decision will cater to the specific wants and needs of every student in the room, that’s not necessarily what’s being asked. The objective was never perfection, but rather a genuine attempt to get it right and a surrender to the process. And that applies to everyone in the room. Whether a teacher chooses to actively lead others through Savasana or create space for stillness depends on a number of factors, including preferred teaching style, students’ observed needs and preferences, and the norms of the studio or other practice space where class is being held. Teachers also sometimes combine a couple approaches. For example, spending the first few minutes offering a guided relaxation and then falling into silence supports both those who need a little distraction and those who want quiet. If you’re a yoga teacher, you can find permission to do something differently in the ideas that follow, and if you’re a student, you can begin to understand some of the reasons behind what’s happening while you’re at rest. Some yoga teachers remain seated on their mat, quiet but alert, eyes open so they can keep watch on students and the surrounding space during Savasana. Pluses: The peace and quiet of the final resting pose can be interrupted by any number of things. A student fidgeting when they feel uncomfortable or cold and get up to fetch a prop. Someone cracking the door and looking for the class in the back of the studio that’s about to begin. Remaining outwardly focused means the teacher is ready to respond should action be required, whether quietly providing a blanket or other prop or signaling to the person at the door. The teacher being alert means that students don’t need to be. Minuses: Not everyone feels comfortable closing their eyes in Savasana. Glancing up and seeing a teacher with their eyes open could leave some students feeling a sense of being watched rather than watched over. The perceived lack of privacy can result in a sense of unease or an inability to fully unguard. Providing verbal guidance throughout some or most of Savasana can look like leading students through a meditation, reading a poem, sharing a visualization, or taking them through a progressive body scan, yoga nidra-style. Pluses: Not all students are comfortable in stillness. The extended lack of stimulus in an unguided Savasana can lead to more, not less, tension and agitation. Sharing some verbal structure for wandering minds gives students a gentle focus while they try to relax. Minuses: Some students prefer a less-structured finish to class after hearing a teacher talk them through literally every other pose in class. Unstructured silence where they are provided the time and space to integrate what they’ve experienced can provide soothing to an overburdened nervous system. It’s not uncommon for teachers to create a sound experience as backdrop to Savasana, such as playing an instrument or chanting. Pluses: This approach is different from talking. That’s important because processing words requires focus, which can cause relaxation to elude some students. In contrast, sound that doesn’t require that kind of processing can provide enough of an anchor to hold a wandering mind without demanding the same level of mental engagement. Minuses: Aside from the fact that not all teachers have musical aptitude, sound can be polarizing for students. What one person loves, another loathes. There’s also the opportunity cost of losing the chance for students to experience undisturbed quiet time. Some teachers prefer to spend the duration of Savasana in silent seated meditation. Pluses: For students, a teacher in meditation models quiet presence, which can help everyone else feel more comfortable closing their eyes and moving into stillness. For teachers, some time in mindful meditation can help them be ready to provide calm closure for students at the end of class and help them be receptive to any questions or comments that students share afterward. Minuses: With eyes closed and attention turned inward, the teacher is not immediately aware of potential issues inside or around the room. If students struggle or interruptions threaten, it will take more time for the teacher to notice and respond, potentially disrupting the student experience. There are yoga teachers who prefer to move quietly around the room and provide subtle hands-on assists to consenting students in support of releasing lingering tension. Pluses: Touch is undeniably powerful and one of the most basic ways humans show connection with each other. Its therapeutic potential can be especially pronounced in today’s increasingly isolated and digital environment. It can also provide perspective, helping students become aware of places in their bodies where they were holding tension without realizing it. Minuses: The potency of touch has its downsides, including the potential to mean very different things to different people. Although intended as nurturing, an adjustment in Svasana can feel uncomfortable or invasive to some students. IIt can also feel like being “corrected” in a pose that is all about the internal experience and not the external alignment, even for students who generally appreciate hands-on adjustments. There are also downsides for those in class who are not on the receiving end of touch in Savasana. Moving around the room, even quietly, creates some level of disruption amid the stillness of Savasana. And since there’s not always time to offer hands-on assists to everyone, someone might feel disappointed at being left out. Optics also matter. A hands-on assist that feels terrific, such as a teacher squatting alongside a student’s head and gently pressing on their shoulders or gently lengthen the back of their neck, might seem questionable adjustment when seen from someone else’s vantage. There is always the option for teachers to settle into Savasana themselves after they guide students into stillness. Pluses: Participating in the pose not only creates an avenue for demonstrating how props can be used to support the body or enhance comfort, it also offers teachers another way to model the very behavior they’re asking of students. Namely, a willingness to slow down and relax. Minuses: Taking part in Savasana means teachers are less likely to be aware of possible problems in and around the practice space, even more so than sitting in meditation. Also, depending on the time of day, lying down comfortably with eyes closed creates the very real risk of teachers falling asleep! Hopefully that doesn’t happen, although if it does, it simply means the practice is working. Keep Exploring