Mystical systems
Savasana
Direct answer
Savasana: Savasana, the corpse pose, is the yoga posture of lying flat on the back, limbs loose and eyes closed, in complete stillness; most classes end with it.
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At a glance
- Also called
- shavasana, corpse pose, final relaxation yoga
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- Asana, Hatha Yoga, Sun Salutation, Pranayama
Savasana, the corpse pose, is the yoga posture of lying flat on the back, limbs loose and eyes closed, in complete stillness; most classes end with it.
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Why is it called corpse pose?
Shava is Sanskrit for a corpse and asana is a seat or posture. The practitioner lies face up with the legs a little apart, arms away from the sides and palms turned up, and lets the weight of the body go into the floor. Nothing is done. Breathing is left to itself, and attention rests on the body without directing it.
Teachers often call it the hardest posture because there is no effort to hide in: the task is to stay awake and stop adjusting. It is kept at the close of a class so that exertion can settle before the student stands up and leaves, and it is used on its own as a short rest.
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What sets Savasana apart
It is the only common posture defined by the absence of action. Other postures give the practitioner a shape to achieve; this one asks for the surrender of every shape, with the body arranged symmetrically so that no part calls for attention. It is also distinct from sleep: the instruction is to remain aware while the body lies as if lifeless. The old description is a single verse, and nearly all the detailed method taught today was written in the twentieth century.
- Sanskrit: shava, a corpse, and asana, a posture
- Other name: mritasana, the dead pose, in the Gheranda Samhita
- Earliest description: Hatha Yoga Pradipika, first chapter, about the 15th century
- Stated purpose there: removing fatigue and resting the mind
- Place in class: the closing posture, commonly five to ten minutes
Often mistaken for something else: Yoga nidra is a guided routine with spoken instructions, done lying down; savasana is the silent posture itself, with no script and nothing to follow.
The story behind Savasana
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, of around the fifteenth century, describes it in a single verse: lying on the back on the ground like a corpse, which it says removes fatigue and brings the mind to rest. The Gheranda Samhita, usually dated to about 1700, gives the same posture under the name mritasana, the dead pose. Twentieth-century teachers, B. K. S. Iyengar among them in Light on Yoga (1966), wrote detailed instructions for it and fixed its place as the end of a session.
Why Savasana matters
Savasana is the one posture the old texts recommend purely for rest, and it shows that stillness was counted as practice and not as a pause from it.
How to read Savasana
People take five to fifteen minutes in it after posture work, or lie in it alone at midday as a deliberate rest that is not sleep.
Savasana in practice: an example
After an hour of standing postures a class might lie in savasana for ten minutes while the teacher says nothing at all.
Where readings of Savasana go wrong
Lying flat is uncomfortable for some backs and in later pregnancy; a support under the knees, or lying on the side, is the usual answer.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- shavasana, corpse pose, savasana meaning, what is savasana, final relaxation yoga
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
Why is it called corpse pose?
Because the body lies as still as the dead: flat on the back, loose and unmoving. The name describes the outward stillness and, for some teachers, the letting go of every effort.
How long should savasana last?
Classes commonly allow five to ten minutes, and some teachers suggest longer after strong practice. The old texts give no figure.
Is savasana the same as yoga nidra?
No. Savasana is a posture of silent rest. Yoga nidra, as taught since the mid twentieth century, is a guided practice done in that posture, with a voice leading attention round the body.
