Death as Inspiration for Life

This week, I’m adding to last week’s post about savasana.

Besides simply teaching the body and mind how to relax, release, and let go, savasana - Corpse Pose - is a reminder of inevitability of death.

We fear death and dying, fighting against it, fighting the idea of it, until we develop complexes and anxieties around staying safe, staying alive at all costs - but, regardless of what actions we take in our lives, death is the final transformation for all of us. To paraphrase the famous quote, we begin dying the moment we’re born.

As with everything in yoga, there’s a deeper psychoemotional purpose behind savasana: to prepare us for death, allowing us to become comfortable with the idea of it or even befriend the reality that we will eventually die. The philosopher/guru J. Krishnamurti wrote in his book Freedom From the Known:

Most of us are frightened of dying because we don't know what it means to live. We don't know how to live, therefore we don't know how to die. As long as we are frightened of life we shall be frightened of death.

As scary and grief-filled the idea of our own death can be, embracing death can be a wonderful motivator for being fully alive. People who have near-death experiences often make huge life-changes in the aftermath: changing careers, moving, becoming more connected to their family or community. Experiencing and accepting the reality of death inspires them to make the most of the limited time they have in this life.

As a pose that asks us to embody death at the end of each practice, savasana prompts a meditation on life and death which Mary Oliver beautifully encapsulates in her poem “The Summer Day”:

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

The next time you’re in savasana, embodying the release of death, consider this question. Allow it to percolate in your body, mind, and soul. What does it inspire you to shift in your life?