Asana is not “Exercise”;  when it’s practiced properly there is no depletion of energy, so there is no need for “recovery”.           “BALASANA”

    But, if the practice has become one of strain, of the depletion of energy, if you feel that the breath or body are straining, practice “Balasana” (“Child’s Pose”), or call it “Adho Mukha Virasana” (Down-

ward-Facing Hero Pose”) if “Child’s Pose” sounds too “wimpy” for your Noble Effort!

    The breath is a prefect monitor of a good practice, or a bad one... whatever the breath is doing, so the energy flow in the body is doing. If the breath is straining, so is the energy flow. If the breath is free

flowing and exuberant, so is the energy flow. You don’t want to practice with stifled energy, leading to soreness in the body, but with free-flowing energy. If the practice has become “polluted” with strain, Balasana is the way to keep the practice one of Yoga, and not of self-abuse! Suffering is always a choice, and always the wrong choice.

    Support in Balasana can come under the shins, between the thighs and the chest, between the heels and the sitting bones, with blankets or pads; don’t allow this pose to be one of discomfort. The forehead rests on the floor, or a block or blanket -so that the head is supported and the neck doesn’t strain - and the nervous system can feel the gentle pressure on the forehead that tells it to “relax”...

    If you feel that, during the practice, the body has come under strain, come into Balasana for a few seconds, or up to a minute or two. This pose will ease that part of the body that isn’t “getting it”, that is confused, and it will release back into the flow of easy energy before it becomes an injury that needs to “heal”...

“SAVASANA”

“Corpse Pose”

    “Savasana” (Corpse Pose”) is the final Asana of the day’s practice. Either the Asana practice has been such an effective one that it is possible to lie motionlessly because the body is free from discomfort, or if not, allow yourself to lie motionlessly and the body will find ease in a few minutes. Use the props pictured to relieve the body of initial discomfort, or to create a “greater than horizontal” body posture that will be less likely to produce sleep and be a more “energized” relaxation.

     Remember  that “Asana” means “seat” - meant to make the body an appropriate “seat” for focus - whether that focus is meditation or not. The body is relieved of the distraction to pure focus that discomfort causes.

    As the body lies without moving, the nervous system, free from divvying out energy for movement, can draw in energy, literally “recharging the battery” of the nervous system. As the breath is allowed the freedom to find its own rhythm, of inhalations, exhalations, and pauses, without conscious control, the breath regulates and brings the nervous system into balance with that free rhythm. The pauses in the breath offer a wonderful experience of quiet mind...

    So in just a few minutes, better than rest or sleep, the nervous system can balance and regenerate...