Some inspiration for Savasana

A common phrase that I hear when I take yoga classes (or am the recipient of unsolicited advice!) is "let it go". Sounds simple enough but if it was that easy would we really need to be reminded of the idea each time we lay down at the end of class?  Mary Oliver is one of my all time favourite poets as she draws inspiration from nature on how to approach life and hits the mark each time. Below is her poem "in blackwater woods" where she unpacks the idea of "letting go" a bit. She advises to love deeply, take it all in and then release adding depth and process to the need to "let go". Next time you are in savasana or advised to "let go" add in these few steps and see if you can get closer to surrendering.
in blackwater woods. mary oliver.Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,

the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders

of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is

nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.