Reclining Twist For Beginners

Try gently wringing out your body to enjoy a deep sense of renewal and rejuvenation.

By Claudia Cummins

A few years ago, some friends and I performed an eye-opening experiment. We painted the body's major organs, glands, nerves, and muscles on a long white unitard. Then one of us donned the outfit and moved through a series of yoga postures as the rest of us watched. We observed the kidney area being squeezed in backbends, the stomach being compressed in forward bends, and the ribs and lungs being gracefully stretched in side-bending actions.

Watching my friend move through a series of spine-wringing twists was the most illuminating of all. Twisting seemed to alternately squeeze and stretch the entire contents of the torso—muscles, nerves, glands, and organs—from the pelvis all the way up through the neck. After seeing this unitard demo, I'm not surprised that twists are renowned for their balancing and toning powers, and for their ability to cleanse the body from head to toe.

Twists are often taught as balms for sluggish digestion, low energy, stifled breathing, and a variety of muscle aches and pains. Best of all, they feel good from the inside out. Reclining Twist offers an opportunity to feel the power of wringing out the body from its core. It can improve breathing, ease back and neck tension, and soothe frazzled nerves. Its reclined position lets us linger in the posture's curves and spirals, inviting the twist to penetrate deep into the spine. If you're anything like me, this pose will leave you feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, and rinsed clean.

Ease into the Earth

To begin, lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet comfortably on the floor. If your neck and shoulders feel tense, or if your chin juts upward toward the sky instead of settling comfortably toward your chest, elevate your head a few inches with a folded blanket or pillow.

Take a few moments to make sure the back body is long. Roll gently toward your left side and slip your right shoulder blade down toward the hips to create additional space between the ear and shoulder. Repeat this action on the other side.

To relax the lower back, lift the hips off the ground and gently draw the tailbone toward the heels. Maintain this length as you set the pelvis back down. Let a few soft breaths ripple through your body as you surrender to gravity's embrace.

Consider the sensations in your back body. If you notice that you are at all kinked up or wrinkled, adjust your position until you feel as if you are resting atop a well-made bed rather than a tired and lumpy mattress.

Invite the skin of the back body to spread and soften, settling with ease and relief into the earth. Try to let go as you rest quietly here, breathing comfortably and drawing your awareness inward.

Move with Mindfulness

When you feel the urge to move, grab hold of the back of the right thigh or the shin with your hands and draw the right knee toward your ribs. (If you find it difficult to reach your leg, wrap a strap behind the knee, hold one end of the strap with each hand, and gently bring the knee toward you.) Rock gently from side to side to massage the lower back, and invite your exhalations to lengthen.

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