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| Seated Spinal Twist |
Ardha Matsyendrasana: Seated Spinal Twist
You have done a very powerful yoga practice. Congratulate yourself on your progress through this yoga session. Breathe, relax, and center yourself for the practice yet to follow.
You have performed an impressive warm-up and overall conditioning round of exercises in the Sun Salutation series. You have helped increase flexibility to your spine while strengthening your back and bathing your spinal column and nerves in oxygen-rich blood with standing and balancing poses and forward and backward bends.
You are now ready to perform a powerful twisting posture. Twisting movements help bring greater mobility to the sides of the body. Backward and forward bending postures help develop strength and flexibility in extending and flexing the spine up and down. Spinal twisting postures help to increase the ability to rotate the torso laterally, helping to strengthen the muscles on the sides of the spine and the rest of the torso. In addition, when we perform twisting movements, we “squeeze” our internal organs, massaging them from the inside out. This helps to stimulate all of our internal organs, assisting to cleanse them of toxins that may have built up and promoting optimum functioning of such important organs as the liver, kidneys, lungs, and spleen— not to mention our organs of digestion and elimination. So, have fun as you twist and turn your way to better health the yoga way.
Ardha matsyendrasana literally means “Half Lord of the Fishes Pose,” and is often referred to simply as “Seated Spinal Twist.” This pose is a comfortable way to provide a complete and potent twist to the entire body. To prepare for this twist, assume a comfortable seated position on your mat or on a padded surface. Hold your torso, neck, and head erect, with your legs straight out in front of you and touching. Your arms are straight out at your sides, palms pressing down into the floor at the sides of the hips to help you achieve as erect a posture as possible. Leaving the left leg stretched out straight in front of you, bend the right leg at the knee and place the sole of the right foot firmly on the ground outside the left knee. Your right knee is flexed and your right leg forms an inverted V shape relative to the floor. If you are a beginner, hug your right leg around the area of the knee with your left arm (see Fig. YPS.10). If this position is easy for you, or if you are more advanced in your yoga practice, try moving your left arm and hand so that your left upper arm is on the outside of your right thigh. Grasp the shin, calf, or knee—whichever you are able to—with your left hand. Check the alignment of your spine, and if necessary, adjust your placement so that your torso, neck, and head remain as straight and erect as possible. As you inhale, take your right arm and place the palm or fingertips of your right hand on the floor behind you as you twist gently, but firmly, to your right. Try to place your right arm and hand in line with the spine. Keep your head erect and turn your neck to look as far behind you to the right as you comfortably can. Breathe fully and deeply in complete respirations. With each inhalation, lift your spine higher; with each exhalation, twist a little further to the right.
Continue to breathe fully and deeply as you maintain your body in this powerful spinal twist. To help you achieve the maximum twist, try adjusting your position by rotating your right shoulder to twist it back and around even a little more toward the right.
Press into your right hand to help stabilize you. Feel the twist originating all the way down from the base of the spine and the lower abdomen. The lower vertebrae of the spine have less flexibility in rotating to the side than they do in bending forward and back; take advantage of this position to rotate your lower torso as far to the side as possible. Allow your stomach and the other internal organs in the solar plexus to twist even further to the right
as you provide a deep, compressing massage to your internal organs: They are quite literally your vital organs, responsible for maintaining your health and vitality.
When you are ready to release from this twist, exhale and gently release your body back to center. Allow yourself to rotate your torso past center and a little to your left as a countertwist, and then come back to center. Release your right leg back to the floor. Take a few moments to breathe, center, and relax. Then repeat the asana on the other side of your body by executing a spinal twist to your left.
When you have performed Seated Spinal Twist on both sides of the body, lower your back, neck, and head to the floor. If you feel a need to rest, stretch your legs out in front of you and assume Corpse Pose. Take time to breathe, center, and relax.
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