Yoga Poem by Ananta Madhavan

Yoga is good for you, they said.
A master came to teach me how to breathe.
Bend the neck, rotate it, side to side will do.
Roll the shoulders, stretch the legs,
Pull the air from lungs to belly, back to lungs;
Levitate with your palms as props.
And here I cheat, my left foot touching ground.
Then the lying down on the stomach
And slowly raising the torso: a spinal curve of 'C'.

After exertions the master recommends
The posture of the corpse, 'S'avaasana';
Flat on my back, outstretched,
Utterly relaxed, each finger limp as dead,
Muscles all untensed,
My limbs inert, the mind ebbing to darkness.

Rehearsing - or pre-hearsing -
A life of toil and stress,
This hard-won pose of deathlike repose.