Feeling Twisted?
Host a Revolution - In Your Own Body:
Why, how to and what revolved, twisted or rotated yoga postures are… and how to safely include them in your practice
You might have heard that specific poses have specific benefits and wondered how you can apply that to your (fill in the blank: knee, back, digestion, anxiety, lethargy, foot, head, burnout…). Well, that’s true, and not true. In this article, I’ll outline some specific benefits of twists, or revolved poses, and also tell you how there’s more to it than that - and how you can apply this to your Personal Yoga Practice.
What are Yoga Twists
Revolved poses like Twisted Angle, Twisted Side Angle, Twisted Triangle, Seated Twists, Revolved Wide Legged Forward Folds, Twisted Plank, Twisted Downdog, Twisted Pigeon all share a common feature: the spine revolves - one vertebrae a little over the other. This causes the second feature: the ribs and pelvis end up facing different directions, up to ninety degrees offset. The neck may also turn, though that’s best left to last. More on that later.
The turning of one of the masses of the body relative to the other (chest and pelvis) creates relative pressure differences and spatial compressions inside the entire torso. The pressure and compression create less space in some areas for blood and lymph, massage the structures in those spaces and exert forces through the entire region. They also create subtle freedom and even shift into the complementary areas. For instance, in Right Facing Revolved Side Angle (From Warrior I with right knee forward, revolve the torso toward the front knee), compression can be felt in the left belly and openness - or at least a different capacity - in the right.
Depending on the degree of the twist (did the belly come all the way to the thigh or is the twist more open? Is the right shoulder lifted above the left for a full revolution or is it shifted right, resulting in a curve?), the compression and shift will be felt differently. There’s nothing inherently wrong with either degree: they’re just different and have different effects. This is the first way that benefits can differ for different people and different times.
Benefits of Yoga Twists
In general, due to the shape and what it does to internal spaces, these effects - usually benefits - may be felt with practice:
Reset: Moving abdominal contents: this can support digestion, prevent and address adhesions or stucknesses, lubricate the digestive organs, clear ducts, move fluids (like bile), dislodge particles and generally allow for a reset.
Relieve - or at least move! - gas.
Move poop. Can help with and in some cases resolve constipation.
“Detox”: Compress abdominal contents: this will result in a transient decrease in space for lymph and blood, moving these fluids past these spaces. When released, a bolus (or larger quantity all at once) of the same fluids will be able to move in. This can result in more complete circulation, the origin of the saying that they “detoxify” the abdominal organs. There may have been less mobile spots which then get fluids pushed through them, resulting in washing out sludge and bringing in new hydration and nutrients.
Circulation: Create a relative abundance of circulation/fluids in the opposite area, again creating pressure that - along with the physical displacement of organs from their habitual resting places - can saturate the tissue more completely than usual and lead to transient, minor chemical changes at the tissue level. (You want them to be minor, that’s not a diss. Major changes result in damage and the changes that movement creates, to be helpful, need to be small, gradual and repetitive.)
Muscle work: Both work and stretch the muscles of the low and mid-back, abdominal wall and paraspinal muscles (those little movers around your spine), psoas, and diaphragm. This is one of the reasons for care (see Tips, below).
“Deepen the breath”: Restrict and redirect the expansion and contraction of each breath. Doesn’t sound like a benefit, right? Restrict? Again, it’s relative, transient and means that the lungs and heart also receive a little massage, along with the muscles between your ribs (intercostals) - remember ribs are more like fingers and less like a cage, around your ribs (think lats, the big muscles of your back), even pecs and rhomboids, depending on how far up the spine the twist is created and felt.
“Spinal flexibility”: You don’t actually want your spine to be too flexible, but the basis of this benefit is the combination of working the muscles around the spine while moving them through their available and natural (not enhanced) range of motion.
Not for nothin’, feels really good when you’re hung over. Is this from the “detox” effect clarified above? Maaaaaybe, but you’re also breathing more fully and you’re at yoga - that’s gotta help!
Cautions
Now for the “not true” part. It’s not so much not true, as it’s “dose dependent.” Dose dependent for our purposes means that the benefits not only depend on the degree to which your body twists today, but also length of practice in the posture: 3 breaths, 12 breaths, 20 breaths…. Even more than that, however, the lasting effects of all postures are accrued by repetition. Practice requires repetition. Over days, weeks, months and even years.
So, will a twist “detoxify” your liver? Not really. Will including twists in your practice support liver health over time? Yes. Will a twist give you the ability to breath 20% more? No. Will practicing twisted postures three times a week for several month increase your ability to breathe deeply and even increase the amount your lungs habitually hold? Yes.
Revolved poses are helpful in every single practice. They are their own counterpose. Practiced properly, they enhance the spinal column’s health, support healthy digestion, breathing fully and lung health through circulation, moving and strengthening the supporting muscles through an appropriate range, and changing the size, shapes and pressures of the internal spaces for little time.
Tips for your practice of Revolved Poses (Twists):
Move with the breath - every breath. Moving into a twist isn’t just one and done affair.
Every inhale creates a little length from tail to head - expand, even if it means coming out of the twist to some degree.
Every exhale is an opportunity to revolve - a little. As the muscles contract for the exhale, they are able to support the masses in moving out of habitual positions.
Start at the base of the twist (usually the pelvis, but can be shoulders as in the Mermaid version of Twisted Plank and the knees to the side version of Down Dog). Twist minimally through the abdomen: this is the easy part - but also the part that needs the most support. Remember: the back of the belly is just the front of the back - the low back. So don’t go too fast, get all your twist here and then hang out - your low back will not thank you. Remember, each exhale is a little revolution.
Every exhale, focus your efforts to twist a little further from the base. This way you get even revolution (or as near as possible today for that segment) through the spine.
Most twists aren’t primarily for the neck. In fact, turning your head first will give you a mistaken feeling for how far you’ve actually twisted the other parts of your body. Keep your nose in line with your sternum until the end, and then (if at all), turn your head. Apply the same breath principles and don’t necessarily turn it all in one breath: inhale, lengthen, exhale, revolve - a little at a time.
When turning the head (neck twists):
Lift through the top of your head on the inhale: this both extends but also aligns your neck. If your head is forward (“work” posture) your twist may not feel too good and could even create some zingers - ouch!
Focus on a smooth rotation through the neck.
Keep the head level - not forward or curving to one side.
Don’t pull. Use your abdominal and torso muscles to move the pelvis or the rib cage - and to stabilize the one that’s not moving. Move from the inside. When you find your bind - where your arms or hands anchor - only apply gentle pressure if it feels good. This is an add on - not the origin of the revolution.
Use your upper back - the Cobra - muscles. When you get to the ribs, use the muscles around your shoulder blades (rhomboids, yes, but also serratus, teres… all the muscles) to create subtle and powerful motion throughout this harder, but more important and beneficial - to revolve area. The motion, or offset, you create will be very small, as it should be. And that small motion has outsized effect.
Warm Up. Don’t twist as your very first posture of the practice. Start with simple mobile postures like Cat-Dog, Plank Waves, Sun Salutations. Practice a few standing poses that aren’t yet revolved. Then twist one of those. Only then, seated poses and twisted seated poses. There are some gentle, simple twists you might include in your warm up, but never as the first movement out of the gate. Think the twist from the Joint Freeing Series we do and Empty Coat Arms.
Starter Twists
Here are some starter twists to include in your Personal Yoga Practice right away. How do they make you feel? What are your favorite twists? Drop a comment and share in community around your yoga practice.