Savasana

Lying on your back, arms a little away from the body, palms up, legs relaxed and turned out, eyes closed. Nothing to hold, nothing to lengthen. Despite being the easiest posture to describe, most people find it the hardest to do, because the instruction is to stop — and a body that has been working does not want to.

What it is for is integration and the switch into rest. Heart rate and blood pressure come down, the breath settles without instruction, and the nervous system registers the previous hour as something safe rather than as an alarm. Skipping it is why some people finish a class feeling wired rather than settled. Five minutes is the usual minimum; ten to fifteen is better, and a thin layer over you matters more than you expect, because body temperature drops fast once you stop moving, even in Bangkok.

In a KEO session, savasana is also where the sound arrives: in a yoga class the bowls begin once everyone is already lying down, for the last ten to fifteen minutes. A bolster under the knees is offered for anyone whose lower back complains, and an eye cover for anyone who wants the light gone. Then we sit up slowly and there is tea — standing straight up out of savasana is the one thing we ask people not to do.