Shavasana is practised at the conclusion of all other asanas, that is, it should be the last asana to be performed, because its main purpose is to relax all the limbs, and the nerves and muscles of the body.
‘Shava’ in Sanskrit means a corpse, or dead body. Hence in this asana, a person lies down, as if after fatigue, like a dead log of wood, lying with all his limbs loose and without any motion, with no perceptible breathing.
For this asana, spread a carpet and lie down flat on your back. Keep your feet apart and arms thrown out loosely, keeping palms upwards on the ground. Close the eyes and breathe with no apparent motion or sound.
You are to think as if you were lying lifeless on the ground. But this has to be done systematically beginning to think a sense of lifelessness right from the toes to the knees, the hip, the abdomen, the hands, the arms, the shoulders and lastly the head.
In doing so with your eyes closed try to see with the eyes of your mind, the inner eyes, on each part of the body in succession from the toes to the head, ultimately going into a ‘mudra’, a state of complete rest of the mind, and the body already achieved.
A tendency of sleep may like to overcome you in this process, but you are to avoid it and keep, otherwise, fully awake. Keep yourself in this pose for 5 to 10 minutes, till you feel completely relaxed in body and mind. After relaxation, have a deep breathing before coming to normal breathing.
This asana is very useful in relieving mental strains. Thus, it can be practised otherwise also at any time when one feels like doing it to relieve one’s fatigue or sense of worry.
It is very useful for heart patients and patients of blood pressure. It restores blood circulation and purifies blood, the body and mind caused by relaxation of muscles, organs and nerves.
It gradually trains the mind to relieve itself of mental worries, by learning to keep itself away from senses.