“…lying full length on the back like a corpse is called Savasana. With this asana, tiredness caused by other asanas is eliminated; it also promotes calmness of the mind.”
~ Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.32
Shavasāna (Sanskrit: शवासन; transl. “corpse pose”) is an asana in hatha yoga which is often used at the end of a series of asanas for deep relaxation and meditation.
References
Thönes, S., & Wittmann, M.. (2016). Time perception in yogic mindfulness meditation—Effects on retrospective duration judgments and time passage.. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 3(4), 316–325.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1037/cns0000088
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“Over the last few years, several studies investigated possible effects of mindfulness meditation on the perception of time. however, these effects have been investigated only by means of prospective duration judgments in the millisecond-to-second range before and after meditation. there are no studies probing for time perception of the meditation session itself. thus, we investigated the effects of yogic mindfulness meditation (shavasana) on retrospective judgments of elapsed duration and the subjective experience of the passage of time during a meditation session. in comparison to a control condition, in which the same subjects listened to relaxing music, retrospective duration judgments were shorter but more accurate in the meditation condition. the subjective passage of time was significantly faster in the yogic meditation session and positively correlated with the level of experienced relaxation. generally, the yogic meditation led to higher levels of experienced relaxation. these results are discussed with regard to an embodied theory of time perception focusing on bodily awareness and with regard to the contextual change model. (psycinfo database record (c) 2016 apa, all rights reserved)”
Paranjape, S. D., Sahu, R.J. and Bhole, M. V.. (1978). Shavasana as a contributing factor to pratyahara- some preliminary findings. Yoga Mimamsa
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“Work out- put in terms of finger ergography after shavasana of 15 minutes was significantly less in comparison to ordinary rest for the same period indicating reduction in neuro- muscular activity than muscle fatigue.”
Janowiak, J. J., & Hackman, R.. (1994). Meditation and College Students’ Self-Actualization and Rated Stress. Psychological Reports, 75(2), 1007–1010.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.2466/pr0.1994.75.2.1007
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“This paper concerns the efficacy of meditation and relaxation in promoting self-actualization and changes in self-reported stress among 62 college students. two groups were given mantra meditation and a yogic relaxation technique referred to as shavasana. pre- and posttest measures were taken on the personal orientation inventory and the behavioral relaxation scale. both groups showed significant increases in scores on self-actualization; however, no differences were found between groups. meditation training was associated with larger gains in scores on measures of systematic relaxed behavior than of the relaxation training.”
Bera, T. K., Gore, M. M., & Oak, J. P.. (1998). Recovery from stress in two different postures and in Shavasana – A yogic relaxation posture. Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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“The recovery from induced physiological stress in shavasana (a yogic relaxation posture) and two other postures (resting in chair and resting supine posture) was compared. twenty one males and 6 females (age 21-30 yrs) were allowed to take rest in one of the above postures immediately after completing the scheduled treadmill running. the recovery was assessed in terms of heart rate (hr) and blood pressure (bp). hr and bp were measured before and every two minutes after the treadmill running till they returned to the initial level. the results revealed that the effects of stress was reversed in significantly (p < 0.01) shorter time in shavasana, compared to the resting posture in chair and a supine posture.”
Sundar, S., Agrawal, S. K., Singh, V. P., Bhattacharya, S. K., Udupa, K. N., & Vaish, S. K.. (1984). Role of yoga in management of essential hypertension.. Acta Cardiologica
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“Twenty five patients of essential hypertension were studied. of these, 20 patients were not given any antihypertensive drug treatment (group a); other 5 had to be put on antihypertensive drugs before including them in the study (group b). these patients were demonstrated ‘shavasana’ and trained to perform it correctly. shavasana therapy was continued for six months. there was a statistically significant fall in both mean systolic and diastolic pressure of both groups. further, there was a significant reduction in doses of antihypertensive drugs, being given to patients of group b. in 65% patients of group a, blood pressure could be controlled with shavasana only and no drug was needed in them at all. blood pressure rose significantly to pre-shavasana levels in patients who left practising yoga. thus, with use of yoga (shavasana) in therapy of hypertension, requirement of antihypertensive drugs may be significantly decreased and in some cases may be totally dispensed with and it may be an useful adjunct in treatment of hypertension.”
