Surviving Savasana
The hardest pose for me in yoga has always been Savasana (corpse pose.) I remember setting New Year's resolutions several years in a row to “stay present" in Savasana for two minutes and then spending the rest of the year struggling like crazy to meet my resolution. My mind always wants to jump ahead to what I needed to do to get dinner on the table, what work emails I had not sent out, what I needed to do the next day, what I didn't do that day, you get it. My mind wanted to be ANYWHERE but in the room being present with my breath.
The whole point of Savasana and meditation is to quiet the mind, to be present in the moment and to just let go of everything. It is such a wonderful idea in theory, but in practice, it can be extremely difficult, especially for those Type A personalities like myself.
Lucky for me that all changed several years ago.
Several years ago, I had the pleasure of attending my first Sound Bath, hosted by the amazing Dr. Suzi Lee of HeartSong Sound Bath who has a talent beyond — she also sings with the bowls, which is heavenly. I was a bit nervous, the idea of spending an hour meditating sounded like pure hell to me. During my first Sound Bath, I still found myself having to come back to breath about 3,000 times. Despite my trouble with being present, however, I left feeling more relaxed, and I did manage to go at least one minute being present. I decided to make the Sound Bath a regular practice, trying to get to one every couple of weeks. I found that each time it became easier to be in the moment, pass over the chatter in my mind, concentrating on the breath and sound of the wonderful bowls. I have to admit Sound Baths are like a drug, once you start coming, you keeping coming back, and leaving feeling amazing! With each Sound Bath, I was able to spend less and less time bringing myself back to present. I started to become only aware of the sounds in the room, recognizing the person snoring next to me, or the siren outside, observing it and just letting it go. It is really quite remarkable when you can allow the mind to rest. The feeling is so freeing!
After several Sound Baths, I decided to purchase my first three bowls, which the Crystal Tones team did a lovely job of pairing together — D# Rose Quartz, F# Ocean Indium and C Aqua 24k Gold. I bought them in the hope of bringing some of the serenity I was experiencing into my own home. I have them out in my office, so they are there for my kids to play (supervised), the cat comes up and sits in the middle of them, requesting her own private Sound Bath, and I will just get up from my desk and play them to bring a little quiet calmness back to my day. I even started bringing them to yoga class for the teachers to play during Savasana. I swear when the bowls are played in class the "OM" at the end of class sounds so much sweeter after the bowls have had a chance to wash us in their harmonious sounds.
Fast forward, I now I have a full set of Crystal Singing Bowls, sell Crystal Singing Bowls, and have been performing public Sound Baths for several years. After my first Sound Bath workshop, I knew I was onto something — seeing the look of relaxation on everyone's face is so amazing and inspiring. That was the moment I knew I had to make this a bigger thing; I needed to share this with more people. The difference of the energy in the room completely changes during the Sound Bath, and you can feel the sense of tranquility. Everyone leaves calm and relaxed, even those that were struggling the entire time to find their stillness.
The best part of all of this, is I find myself struggling less in Savasana, sometimes, I even manage to stay present the entire 120 seconds!
Want to experience a Sound Bath? Check out our podcasts!