TODAY: TWISTING.

Chances are you just got back from a long weekend visiting the family back home for the usual Thanksgiving holiday and, unless you took your yoga mat with you, you might feel a little stiff around the abdominal walls and spinal area: too much eating and sitting around. Nothing could be more beneficial than some spinal twists to get you back on track before winter break.

Twisting poses are in fact known to be very powerful detoxification postures. By squeezing your organs, they are cleansed of blood filled with metabolic waste, leaving space. Once we release the twist, fresh, oxygenated blood necessary to repair tissue and nourish the muscles nourishment flows back.

Spinal twists are also very good for postural adjustment: they strengthen and lengthen the spine by forcing the spinal cord to rotate while at the same time providing a great stretch for the abdominal oblique muscle.

Observer photo by Maryam Riazian
Federica Valabrega demonstrates Revolving Crescent Lounge or Parivritta Alasana.

Hint: Twisting can throw you off balance so make sure to keep a gaze straight forward or downward before getting into the posture. This will aid your final success.

Revolving Crescent Lounge or Parivritta Alasana:

· Inhale and stretch your hands above your head.

· Exhale and forward fold and let your tummy rest on your knees.

· Inhale and place your hands to the top of the mat.

· Exhale and kick the left leg back keeping it straight and standing on tiptoes while leaving the right leg bent at a 90-degree angle at the knee on the top of the mat.

· Inhale and release the hands to your heart center, palms facing each other and elbows pointing outward.

· Exhale and twist from the waist up to the left side of your right leg so that your left elbow will rest on the outside of the right knee.

· Inhale and push the palms into one another creating pressure and continue to push the elbow to the knee to ultimately reach the chest to face the ceiling of the room. You may choose to gaze up or down.

· Take five breath cycles here and then release the posture.

Modification: If you feel like you are having a hard time keeping balance, you may bend the back leg at the knee and rest it on the mat and also place the hands on the inside of the front foot.

Benefits:

The posture offers a great stretch for the hamstring muscle of the front leg, while determining the release of the left leg quadriceps muscles.

The pressure created by pushing on the outside of the right knee determines chest opening and therefore aids respiration. The upper twist squeezes the kidneys, intestines, and all the other digestive organs, facilitating their revitalization and cleansing process.

Prayer Twist or Parivritta Utkatasana:

Observer photo by Maryam Riazian
Valabrega demonstrates a Prayer Twist or Parivritta Utkatasana.

· Inhale, sink your hips, bend your knees and stretch your arms above your head, palms facing each other.

· Exhale and adjust your tailbone to point down as if you were to sit into an uncomfortable chair and keep the tummy engaged to sustain the lower spine.

· Inhale and reach your hands to your heart center, palms facing each other.

· Exhale and twist from the waist up to the left side of your right leg so that your left elbow will rest on the outside of the right knee.

· Hint: Make sure the knees are aligned with one another and neither the left or the right is trying to creep ahead of the other. Feet are also kept close to one another.

· Inhale and push the palms into one another creating pressure and continue to push the elbow to the knee to ultimately reach the chest to face the sealing of the room. You may choose to gaze up or down.

· Stay in the posture for five breath cycles and then release.

Benefits:

The squat sculpts the gluteus muscles, and strengthens the thighs and the lower back muscles.

The pressure created by pushing on the outside of the right knee determines chest opening and therefore aids respiration. The upper twist squeezes the kidneys, intestines, and all the other digestive organs facilitating their revitalization and cleansing process.

Half Lord of the Fishes Pose or Ardha Matsyendrasana:

· Inhale and stretch your hands above your head.

· Exhale and forward fold and let your tummy rest on your knees. Sit down with your legs straightforward.

· Inhale and slide the left leg underneath the right one, making sure the knee is all the way underneath it. Bend the left leg and point the sole of your foot to the back of the mat.

· Exhale and cross the right leg on top of the left, keeping the foot planted on the mat.

· Inhale and open your chest and slightly twist from the hip placing the left elbow to the outside of the right knee straightening your left arm.

· Exhale and reach the left arm to the floor behind the right gluts, and gaze back.

· Inhale and adjust the posture by applying more pressure from the elbow to the knee.

· Stay in the pose for five breath cycles.

Benefits:

As a seated twist this pose is less invasive on the legs, but it still provides a fair gluteus and quadriceps stretch. Meanwhile, the twist squeezes the kidneys, intestines, and all the other digestive organs facilitating their revitalization and cleansing process.

Observer photo by Maryam Riazian
Valabrega demonstrates Half Lord or the Fishes Pose or Ardha Maysyendrasana.