Finishing Postures: The Gateway to Immortality.
From Salamba Sarvangasana to Uplutihi, these 12 postures provide a great source of grounding, restorative energy -but they are also among the most commonly skipped over or rushed postures in the practice! Let’s explore why these 12 poses should be some of your favorites, and definitely a priority.
The Upanishads talk of a psycho-spiritual substance called Amrtabindu, which is a peculiar part of the yogic body. In the same school of thought as nadis, granthis, bandhas and chakras, Amrtabindu is not an energy but a “nectar”, stored in the pineal gland. This incredible substance is said to be the vital life force, which can be regenerated or depleted during our human life -when it is completely depleted, the physical body dies.The Amrtasiddhi teaches that this vital nectar is what animates the body, and is the “essence of everything”. According to ancient texts, it takes 32 days to create a single drop of blood in the body, and it then takes 32 drops of blood to make one drop of Amrtabindu. If we are not living in harmony (i.e. eating poorly, acting selfish/mean, harming the body, harming nature etc) some of our Amrtabindu is lost. Fortunatley we can regenerate this magical juice with our Ashtanga Finishing Postures!
Lino Miele writes about the importance of these poses in his book “Astanga Yoga Book - The Yoga of Breath”, explaining that these poses help us to regenerate blood in the body. When we are inverted, blood is flowing back towards the heart with the help of gravity. Our breathing slows, and we require less oxygen, the heart can slow down and work less. In theory, this supports the creation of new blood, and the regeneration of Amrtabindu.
On the less esoteric side of things, Ashtanga is, for the most part, a very stimulating practice. It is ragastic in nature and causes heat in the body. We also work with the nervous system in our asana practice, revving it up and turning it back down (hopefully). The finishing sequence helps us slow down and bring some cooling energy to the body. Especially after the intense work of backbending, it is important to find equanimity in the body before finishing practice. If you have a habit of skipping finishing postures, you might find you are more excitable and ungrounded those days, you may even have physical pain especially in the lower back. These 12 poses give us the time to rebalance the nervous system as well as rounding out all the backbending we just did!