Turning toward mortality: yoga's savasana as a salutogenic practice for engaging with death anxiety.
Lori Rubenstein Fazzio, Anne Pitman, Shelly Prosko
Frontiers in Public Health 2026 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1771782 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | General population |
| Intervention | savasana (corpse pose) |
| Topics | Anxiety |
| Keywords | Sense of coherence Death anxiety End-of-life care Mortality salience Salutogenesis Savasana Yoga therapy |
| Key points | Proposes that savasana, practiced intentionally and upstream across the lifespan, may serve as a salutogenic practice to support adaptive engagement with mortality by surfacing existential concerns and fostering reflective meaning-making. |
Abstract
Death anxiety is prevalent across many modern cultures and is associated with significant psychological, social and economic costs, including avoidance of advance care planning and the overuse of life-prolonging medical interventions at the end of life. From a yogic perspective, this pervasive clinging to life reflects abhinivesha, one of the five kleshas (mental afflictions) described as a potent contributor to human suffering. This Perspective proposes a conceptual shift from pathogenic models focused primarily on life-extension and symptom reduction toward a salutogenic approach that emphasizes meaning-making and adaptive engagement with mortality across the lifespan. Antonovsky's salutogenic framework highlights Sense of Coherence (SOC)-comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness-as a psychosocial resource that supports wellbeing even in the face of profound existential stressors. We suggest that cultivating conscious mortality awareness may strengthen SOC by supporting individuals to relate to death with greater understanding and existential coherence. Drawing on yoga philosophy, contemplative practice and public health scholarship, we propose savasana (corpse pose) as an embodied contemplative practice that may offer a structured experiential engagement with impermanence. Rather than positioning savasana as a treatment for death anxiety, we frame it as a salutogenic practice that can surface existential concerns and support reflective meaning-making over time. When practiced intentionally and upstream across the lifespan, savasana may provide an accessible, low-cost compassionate approach to facing death anxiety through embodied conscious awareness of our own mortality.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on anxiety, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychedelics as Medicines: An Emerging New Paradigm General population | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Learning to Let Go: A Cognitive-Behavioral Model of How Psychedelic Therapy Promotes Acceptance | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Taking Psychedelics Seriously | 2018 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How could MDMA (ecstasy) help anxiety disorders? A neurobiological rationale | 2009 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Embedding existential psychology within psychedelic science: reduced death anxiety as a mediator of the therapeutic effects of psychedelics | 2019 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 11
- Resilience, sense of coherence, purpose in life and self-transcendence in relation to perceived physical and mental health among the oldest old Aging & Mental Health July 1, 2005
- Healing, spirituality and integrative medicine. Annals of Palliative Medicine July 1, 2017
- Mindfulness to enhance quality of life and support advance care planning: a pilot randomized controlled trial for adults with advanced cancer and their family caregivers. BMC Palliative Care September 28, 2024
- Training the embodied self in its impermanence: meditators evidence neurophysiological markers of death acceptance. Neuroscience of Consciousness 2025
- Mindfulness on Symptom Control and Quality of Life in Patients in Palliative Care: A Systematic Review. The American journal of hospice & palliative care July 19, 2023
and 6 more in the library