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Updated on: 14th February 2025
For some, Savasana can be the hardest posture of any yoga class. Being still can be extremely challenging, especially in our fast moving and busy lives. But when you are able to tap into into it in any posture, the rewards of stillness are myriad. We're pleased to have the wonderful Annie Carpenter share her experience of finding transformation through stillness.
“Lately (the last 10 or 12 years), in my Asana practice I’ve been choosing poses that I can hold — in stillness — for longer periods of time. They may even be easy poses, rather than the fun, more challenging ones. In fact there are just a few that I can hold for 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes. Of course there are supported restorative poses—and yes, I love those too. But in my heart of hearts, it is Sarvangasana, Shoulder-stand, and Sirsasana, Head-stand, that really are my loves.
I have had a love-hate relationship with stillness my whole Yogic life. I love to move! The 5 breaths in (and out!) of poses a la Astanga Yoga, the vinyasa (movement with the breath) of flow and even the art of adjusting and aligning the body just so in the alignment practices, have enraptured and sharpened my attention for many years.
And so the fascination with stillness continues to surprise me, even as it delights. In the stillness of the body, I am engulfed with the movements of the mind. These vritti (mental movements) can be joyous or sad, helpful or frustrating, soft or maddeningly loud. Some days they swarm like angry bees who have lost their queen; others they calm and settle and my drishti (gaze) rests in effortless awareness of both outer and inner in steady poise.
For me, stillness summons an ever subtler awareness of what is—including all the little urges to fidget and fix, and wishing and regretting — and the possibility of allowing, and releasing. Of Let; and its necessary partner, Go. And in the gap that follows: Peace."
Annie Carpenter is the founder of SmartFLOW Yoga and has more than two decades of yoga teaching experience. Widely regarded as a ‘teacher’s teacher’, Annie lives and teaches in San Francisco, California.
Find out more about Annie at http://anniecarpenter.com/
And you can find Annie on Instagram @anniecarpentersmartflow or on Facebook @annie.carpenter1.
Photo thanks: Allyson Pfeifer
