Why Do I Hate Savasana So Much?

At the end of almost every Yoga Asana class, the room can often split into two camps. Some people sink into their mats as if they've been waiting for this moment for the entire time. Others start fidgeting, or rolling up their mat a little early.

Savasana, or corpse pose, looks like the easiest posture in yoga. You lie on your back, legs slightly apart, palms facing the ceiling, and do nothing, you don't even count the breath. Yet for plenty of people it's the hardest part of the whole practice.

If you've ever lain there wondering why you hate savasana so much, you're not doing it wrong. There may be a very good reason it feels so uncomfortable.

It was never about emptying your mind

One of the things I hear most as a Yoga teacher is: "I'm rubbish at savasana, my mind just won't switch off." Somewhere along the way, many of us picked up the idea that a 'good' savasana means a blank mind. No thoughts, no to-do lists, no replaying that conversation from Tuesday. Like you're some sort of heavenly angel, floating around in a mind that's all of a sudden a white blank empty room.

But that was never the point. Savasana isn't about emptying the mind. It's about observing it.

Thoughts will come, and that's fine. The truth is we're all lying there thinking 'What's for tea?' 'Did I remember to cancel that subscription?" 'I can really feel that warrior pose in my legs' The practice is in watching them arrive and drift off again, without chasing them or pushing them away. You don't have to switch your thoughts off (I mean that is impossible). You just have to notice them, a bit like watching clouds move across the fells.

Holding up a mirror

The yoga teacher Judith Hanson Lasater puts it beautifully:

"Savasana does not agitate you. It reveals how agitated you already are."

When we're moving, flowing through a sequence and focusing on breath and balance, there's enough going on to keep the mind occupied. Then the movement stops. There's nothing left to do and nowhere to put our attention but inward, and that's when it can get awkward as whatever we've been carrying all day, all week, or all year starts to rise to the surface.

That can feel uncomfortable. Stillness holds up a mirror to the mind, and we don't always love what we see: the restlessness, the worry, the tension we didn't realise was sitting in our jaw. It's tempting to blame the pose. But the pose is only showing us what was already there.

We've forgotten how to be still

Most of us spend our days rushing. Alarm, commute, inbox, school run, dinner, and then scrolling on the sofa, so that even our downtime is full of noise. Being busy has become our default setting, and sometimes a quiet badge of honour. It also keeps our mind distracted, keeps us feeling 'productive' and therefore 'doing well' even as a Yoga teacher and a people pleaser, I struggle with this still. The desire to do, but knowing I need to stop.

When we're asked to lie still for five minutes with nothing to do, the body and mind don't quite know what to make of it. It feels unfamiliar. Unproductive. Almost wrong.

That's exactly why it matters. Savasana is one of the few moments in the day when nothing is being asked of you. Learning to sit with that, and eventually to enjoy it, is a skill, just like all the other Asanas, but it's a skill of the mind. And like any skill, it takes practice (and kindness to yourself).

If savasana feels hard, try this

• Get properly comfortable first. A bolster or rolled blanket under your knees, a blanket over you, something soft under your head. Make sure you're warm enough too, cosy socks are my go to. A fidgety body makes for a fidgety mind.

• Try some gentle music. Soft music can help you feel less 'still' and this is my personal go to, it provides a sneaky distraction and allows you to drift into relaxation.

• Keep your eyes open if you'd rather. A soft gaze at the ceiling is completely fine.

• Give your attention somewhere gentle to rest. The breath moving in and out, the weight of your body on the mat, the sounds around you.

• Notice thoughts without judging them. When one shows up, you might quietly label it ('planning', 'worrying') and let it pass.

• You're always in charge. If something difficult does surface, it's absolutely okay to open your eyes, move, or come out of the pose. Stillness should never feel unsafe. And some days will feel harder than others.

  
  

An invitation

Next time you're lying on your mat and the urge to get up kicks in, see if you can stay just a moment longer. Not to force yourself into calm, but to get curious. What's here right now? What is the stillness showing you? See yourself as the observer of your mind.

You don't have to love savasana. But it might be worth getting to know it. Sometimes the pose that feels hardest is the one with the most to teach us.

Thanks for reading