Lasagna Savasana
Sedef Dion who co-created our Pre-Grounded program shared with me the story of a four year old girl who in the cutest way mistakenly called Savasana….Lasagna. This inspired me to write a Savasana visualization with a Lasagna theme that I recently used to connect with our Fernbank Elementary Yoga Club students. After we did our practice complete with the Lasagna Savasana, one of our students..the Principal’s five year old daughter said…”that was so relaxing…this could help me fall asleep at night”. Since it was her birthday that day, we wanted to put together a recording that her parents could play for her as she settles down for a good night rest after a long day. The artwork in the slideshow is that of our Fernbank students expressing themselves after the Savasana.
{vimeo}33306907{/vimeo}
Prepare your body for lasagna.
Lie on your back with your legs out long in front of you.
Allow your feet to fall open.
Bring your arms out to the sides of your body, palms facing up.
Look ready to be baked. Close your eyes.
Settle and get heavy, descending your weight to the bottom of your pan.
Tune into the rising and falling of your breath. Create long, deep warm breaths.
Focus on a point in the middle of your forehead between your closed eyes. Imagine a rectangle in this spot and slowly begin to expand it with each breath that you take.
As you continue to breathe, your rectangle begins to grow and grow, getting larger and larger, until you and the rectangle are one.
Become aware of any frozen or congealed sensations in your feet…legs… belly…, chest…, shoulders…., back…..arms…, elbows…, wrists…, hands…, neck.., jaw…, face…
Notice any fears, doubts, attitudes, quandaries, conversations, or memories that are uncomfortably stored or perhaps even bubbling up to the surface.
Imagine a cardboard box next to your pan.
Silently, allow any bitter, stale, or sour bits of ingredients to emerge one by one.
As each bit appears, put it into the box until you feel softer. Knowing that the sweetness is still inside of you. Your box of course will be recycled into healing compost.
In the space of your rectangle begin to sense the ingredients that represent your highest, best self.
Notice the tomato red stability across your base, followed by the flow of carrot orange creativity below your belly button, above is the shiny pineapple yellow of confidence, bright leafy green love at your heart center, the solid blueberry truth at your throat, indigo black berried imagination between your closed eyes, and pomegranate purple connection to something bigger at the top.
Invite in delicious warm sauce to coat you. Top with a heavy layer of noodles. Drizzle heaps of delicious white love on top.
Experience your inner colors, textures, smells, sounds, and how your body feels in this place and in this time.
Continue to layer more of what you need…until you find the place inside where you are steady, heavy, and held by something bigger.
Soften every noodle. Settle, secure and grounded in the lasagna of your presence. Know that you are completely and totally supported in the Universal Oven, as you lie here warm and cozy.
In your final baking moments of lasagna notice what could bring out your individual flavors more fully. Add them to jazz yourself up Notice how sweetly melted you are below your eyes, your throat, your heart
Notice how delicious you smell, how hearty you feel and how tender you are.
Keep your eyes soft as you bend your knees into your chest and sweetly roll to the side. You are still cooking Press up with your hands to a seated position. Keep your eyes soft and place your hands together in front of your heart.
Serve.
Charlotte’s Web is a celebration of the quiet virtues. It reminds us to keep a soft tender heart, accept our true nature, and value the unique gifts of our friends. The two main characters of Charlotte’s Web, Charlotte and Wibur, highlight the awareness of our own unique inner story.
Have you ever felt not worthy? Maybe you lacked Self-love or maybe you didn’t surround yourself with goodness at the time. Who we surround ourselves with is who we become. If we surround ourselves with downers we begin to feel down. If we surround ourselves with happy, joyous, and delightful people we become more happy and joyful. If we were to eat junk food every single day we would begin to feel down and ucky. When we eat healthier we experience delight and Self-love. Honor Your Self! Surround yourself with goodness. “The first step toward awareness is being willing to look at yourself and your life without judgment or self-criticism.” (Iyanla Vanzant) Awareness opens the heart to new possibilities.