The first time I felt true parasympathetic rest, I was ten minutes into legs up the wall during a restorative workshop, and the entire outline for my book The Athlete’s Guide to Recovery dropped into my head, fully formed. I had no idea this state was even available to me for free—and once I felt it, I understood why so many well-meaning restorative classes miss the mark.

Telling students to relax doesn’t make them relax. The nervous system doesn’t respond to verbal instructions—it responds to conditions. In this episode, I’m naming the most common ways teachers accidentally short-circuit a restorative practice, even when the props are perfect and the lights are dim.

I walk through the difference between a class that looks restful and one that actually delivers rest, what parasympathetic activation requires, how to hold space during long holds without filling silence, and how to plan a restorative sequence using the 6–4–2 framework as your structural checklist rather than a Pinterest mood board.

Get the free guide Best Savasana EVER, which shows you how to set up the Six Supports that inform every restorative pose: https://www.comfortzoneyoga.com/savasana?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ytc_e90_czc

This episode is a preview of the June Comfort Zone Conversation, Restorative Yoga That Actually Restores, on Thursday, June 25 from 2 to 3 p.m. Eastern—a free hour for members of the Zone, my community for yoga teachers. If you want the full framework with CEUs and a complete pose library, that’s inside the Fundamentals of Teaching Restorative Yoga course.

Listen now and bring your next savasana, gentle class, or full restorative offering up a level.

Join the waitlist for the July cohort of Mastering the Art of Yoga Sequencing: A Mentorship Membership (MMM): sagerountree.com/mentorship

Want to become (almost) everyone's favorite yoga teacher? Get in the Zone at Comfort Zone Yoga, my virtual studio focused on teacher development. I have a ton of Sage advice in there for you—let's chat there!

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