Twists bring calmness, mental clarity , a sense of being rooted and of open-heartedness.
Twists teach us an acceptance of what is. They make us connect with the joy that lies deep within us and which is our birthright. Twists teach us humility, they teach us to soften and to let go of our expectations. They teach us to invite the unexpected and to see what happens when we do. Like other yoga postures, twists enable us to know ourselves and to grow.
By doing the posture on both sides we become aware of any differences existing between the left and the right of the body. Twists help bring back balance, symmetry and harmony to the body.
Most of us suffer from tightness in the shoulders, upper back and chest, and we keep our hearts closed for fear of getting hurt. Twisting will gradually teach us how to undo this protective pattern by opening and broadening our chest, by inviting the breath into the tight corners of the body and by letting our heart expand and fill out the space we have created.
“It is impossible to be sad If your heart is open” Iyengar
Twists teach us gratefulness and open-heartedness by allowing the joy within to unfold;
How to do the pose
- Begin by sitting in dandasana, stick or staff pose, with the pelvis in an anterior tilt, legs straight in front of you, thighs rolling inwards, hands flat on the floor by the hips.
- Allow the energies to settle from the head downwards through the body and into the earth.
- Inhale into the earth, feel the broadness of your back, feel a sense of breath, a sense of being, you are calling yourself into you, you are having an in-the-body experience. Bring your mind in your body and connect with your breath.
- Imagine the four corners of the pelvis - pubic bone, tailbone, and both sitting bones - rooting firmly into the earth. The more you anchor yourself through the points of contact with the floor (hips, legs and hands), the more the spine can ascend effortlessly. It is important to create a solid foundation from which to twist.
- Let the grounding action creates a rebound lift through the spine. Begin to feel the lightness of the spine.
- The spine is like a sword of white light, let it shine and radiate outwards through the crown of the head.
- Now bend the knees, keeping both feet flat on the floor.
- Drop the knees to the left first.
- Exhale, keep lifting the spine, bring your right leg over your left, placing the sole of your right foot as close to your left hip as you can. Your right foot stays flat tucked in near your body pressing actively against the floor, right thigh pressing against your abdomen, right knee pointing towards the ceiling.
- Place your right hand behind your back as close to you as possible to prop yourself up.
- Place the left hand over your right knee and hold your right ankle if you can. Otherwise, put your bent left elbow over your right knee and use it to lever yourself up. Keep the right thigh as close to you as possible.
- Keep pressing the outside edge of your left foot on the floor to help lift the spine too.
- Make sure that both sitting bones stay in contact with the floor, keep elongating the tailbone earthwards. It is important to keep anchoring the opposite side of the body. Feel that you are lifting the spine from its base and spiralling it segment by segment to the right, like a corkscrew.
- Now turn your head to the right and look over your right shoulder but keep your gaze soft. Keep the head in alignment with the heart. You are leading with the heart, not the head. Keep the shoulders parallel to the floor. Stay long in the front of the body.
- This is not a posture that is achieved in just one breath. Take time to open the body, exploring further and further with your breath and gradually deepen the twist. Listen to your body, it is constantly giving you feedback, but we are always so busy in our heads that we do not hear it. Let not miss an opportunity to develop a creative dialogue between our mind and our body.
- Sitting half way between heaven and earth, sitting straight, without being rigid, lift the sternum, stretch the back, feel the kidneys moving in, feel that you are creating space between the vertebrae as you are inhaling and turn as you are exhaling whilst maintaining the spinal lift. Turn from the top of the thighs, visualize your navel spinning to the right whilst keeping the spine absolutely straight.
- Keep pressing the fingers and the feet firmly into the floor.
- It is important to twist at a right angle from the floor to respect the integrity of the spine and not grind it. You don’t just twist and compress the spine. You have got to feel that you are creating space in that area. You must feel that the twist is originating from your core centre and that the whole length of the spine is involved. You are trying to draw the energy up the spine and remove tensions along it, not create any.
- Stay with the posture even if you feel that not much is happening. Keep breathing mindfully.
- Practice yoga of the face: eyes soft and set deep within their sockets; facial muscles relaxed, throat and tongue soft, jaws unclenched.
- Keep the shoulders down moving away from the ears.
- Stay broad across the chest, heart wide open
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