Feeling Comfortable Doing Absolutely Nothing: What the Corpse Pose Teaches Us About October Living

October arrives with an energy that is both a deep invitation and a dizzying demand. Welcome to the enchanted half of the year, the eerie season where the veil feels thinnest, and the air is thick with the scent of woodsmoke. Our intuition craves a shift toward quiet, personal routines—a period of nesting, warm blankets, cosy fires, and inner retreat.

But the reality of modern life often dictates the opposite. The dizzying demand comes from the rush towards half-term breaks, the earliest appearance of Christmas decorations in the shops, and the pressure to pack in all our socialising before the deepest dark of winter. This year, this transition is amplified by the Supermoon on October 7th, a powerful event that, some say, symbolically and energetically pulls on our deepest emotions, often leaving us feeling ungrounded or overstimulated.

We end up resisting the season’s quiet invitation, which only leads to an energy crash later. This struggle is real: the reduced daylight and colder weather can disrupt our mood and energy levels, a phenomenon that has a scientific basis. Look outside: Nature has started to transition into its deep, essential rest, conserving energy for the long winter ahead. The wisdom of October is the same wisdom you find in the deepest, most necessary posture in all of yoga: Savasana, or Corpse Pose.

Savasana: The Neuro-Scientific Art of Doing Nothing

For many of us, Savasana at the end of yoga class, feels like “bonus time” after the real work is done—a few minutes to fidget, make a mental shopping list, or remember an important email. We are wired to do, and when we lie flat on our back, still and silent, we can feel like we are failing at relaxation.

But Savasana is not simply a rest; it is the ultimate integration pose, backed by a strong scientific framework.

When you move your body through a yoga practice, you are intentionally engaging your sympathetic nervous system (your “fight or flight” response) by creating physical challenge and releasing stored tension. Savasana is the critical moment where you consciously engage the parasympathetic nervous system (your “rest and digest” mode). This is done through the conscious activation of the Vagus Nerve—the longest cranial nerve, which is the body’s superhighway for calm.

Without this conscious, total surrender, your nervous system never gets the clear signal that the effort is over. You leave the mat still carrying a low-grade stress response, which keeps your cortisol (stress hormone) levels unnecessarily elevated.

The October Principle: Surrendering the Rush

This principle of feeling comfortable doing absolutely nothing—a phrase I often use in class—is the core lesson Savasana offers for your autumn self-care practice. Rest is not an indulgence; it is the essential practice required for all genuine physical and mental recovery.

Just as your yoga practice is incomplete without Savasana, your year is incomplete without a season of deep rest. Resisting the natural, inward-turning energy of autumn sets up an unnecessary inner friction. When you push through burnout, ignore your need for sleep, or over-schedule your free time, you are actively choosing rush over calm.

This need for Savasana becomes especially vital during major celestial events like the Harvest Supermoon on October 7th.

While folklore often attributes mood changes to the moon, modern research offers a more tangible connection: sleep disruption. Studies on the lunar cycle have consistently suggested that, in the days leading up to a full moon, many people experience a delay in falling asleep and a measurable reduction in deep (NREM) sleep. One of the primary theories attributes this to the simple science of light exposure.

A Supermoon appears larger and up to 30% brighter than a standard full moon because it is at its closest point to Earth (perigee). This increased nocturnal illumination, though subtle, can interfere with the body’s natural production of melatonin, the hormone that signals the brain it’s time to rest. When your sleep quality is reduced, your nervous system is already starting the day in a slightly more activated, fight-or-flight state.

The intensity of this brighter celestial event, whether felt psychologically or biologically through disrupted sleep, calls for intentional grounding, not frantic activity. In your life off the mat, your Savasana moment is any conscious pause where you stop doing and start being.

Off-the-Mat Savasana Practices:

To consciously signal to your nervous system that the effort is over and to fully embrace the cosy wisdom of October, try incorporating these pauses:

• The Digital Corpse Pose: Non-Attachment from the Screen. Consciously leave your phone in a separate room for an hour before bed. Instead of endlessly scrolling, watch the flame of a candle, read a physical book, or listen to the rain. This simple boundary practice gives your mind the stillness it needs to quiet down.
• The Non-Negotiable Pause: Schedule Savasana into your day, even if it’s only five minutes. Lie on the floor, on your bed, or sit still at your desk with your eyes closed. Do not use this time to plan or process. Simply let the weight of your body be held by the earth. This conscious release mirrors the total relaxation on your mat.
• The Boundary of Stillness: October demands that we start saying “No” to things that drain our battery. Each time you decline a social commitment that doesn’t nourish you, you are practicing self-care toward your own energy. You are choosing your inner stillness over the demands of the outside world, especially as the days grow shorter and the need for warmth and rest increases.

The Power of Conscious Surrender

The greatest lesson of any physical yoga practice is found not in the movement, but in the stillness. Savasana teaches us that by truly resting, we are allowing our nervous system to process the physical, emotional, and energetic work we’ve done.

Mentally, this stillness creates the quiet space necessary to see clearly what unnecessary burdens, like resentment or a constant need for productivity, you are still carrying.

This October, let the natural world and the wisdom of Corpse Pose be your guide. Give yourself permission to feel comfortable doing absolutely nothing. Lie down, breathe deep, and remember that sometimes, the greatest strength is found in total, cosy, essential surrender.