Welcome back to our ongoing series dedicated to living your yoga! This series explores yoga as a lifestyle through a dose of my four favorite twists coupled with four muses on the guidelines of yoga. All of our everyday activities — work, relationships, play — can be yoga when practiced mindfully. Yoga is a conscious effort to ensure that our thoughts, words and actions contribute positively to others. Sound noble and doable? Great, now let’s do some twisting.
Today’s pose is a seated twist — probably the most popular of twist poses in this series as you’ll come across it in most yoga classes. This pose should be avoided on a full stomach — especially post-pasta. Trust me on that one! As you’ve probably experienced, twists do amazing things for the body. They wring out toxins and random tweaks in your lower back, they lengthen the spine and they feel quite yummy.
Begin seated on the floor with your legs out in front of you. Stack your shoulders on top of your hips and take a few deep breaths in and out of your nose. Place the right foot to the outside of the left knee with your right knee pointing up to the sky. If comfortable, bend your left knee and place the left heel to the outside of your right hip. Stay here only if you feel both sitting bones on the floor. Otherwise, keep your left leg extended straight ahead. Same benefits, just slightly different setup.
Inhale, extend your left arm along your left ear and place the elbow to the outside of the right knee. Exhale as you cartwheel your right arm behind you for a seated twist. Keep your head moving in the direction of the twist as you gaze lovingly over your right shoulder. Generate the twist from the base of the spine. Take five to 10 deep breaths here. Then slowly unwind back to the center. Stop for a moment to observe the difference on both sides.
Ahhhh, now repeat on the other side by extending the right leg, placing the left foot to the outside of the right knee, and, if possible, bending your right knee and bringing your foot to your left hip.
Omwork
Have lower back issues like so many chair-and car-bound Americans? Try this pose daily for a week and watch some of the discomfort fade away. Twists can be incredibly therapeutic and are a gentle way to launch into a regular practice of yoga.
Kimberly Wilson is the founder of Tranquil Space Yoga and Tranquil Space Foundation and
author of “Hip Tranquil Chick.” Visit kimberlywilson.com.
