For Beginners: Bharadvajasana I

A twist like this can bring release no matter what your level of ability.

By Denise Benitez

Okay, now be honest: Have you begun to pull yourself into the pose with your head, brain, or eyes? Instead, drop down into an awareness of your organs, especially your intestines. Ambition, and the desire to "get there" (wherever "there" is) can pull your head forward. So without hurrying, begin with every exhalation to rotate from deep in your belly. Can you have an awareness of rotating not just the bones of your pelvis, but the contents as well? When you lead with your head in twists, you cheat your spine out of the fullness of this movement. Bring the left side of your intestines towards the right, and let your head trail slightly behind.

Can you sense the delightful, undulating motion of your breath through your spine, and let the twist deepen as you exhale, so that the movement is characterized by ease, not force? Come to an awareness of your lungs, turning your left lung to the right and letting your spine ride the rhythm of your breath.

Then begin to consider where the center of this pose is. What are you spiraling around? What is turning? What is stable? I sometimes see the "center" of my spine like the eye of a hurricane in twists: Even though in reality I know that there is rotation in my whole spine, imagining the center of my spine as a still, quiet space my body turns around seems to deepen the pose for me. Ask yourself whether there is a tendency for you to push strongly into the front of your body, or to fall into the back of your body. Strive to be in the center of your spine.

Finally, after giving yourself a good minute or more to practice these movements, turn your head. And if you need an image to help you find the balance of your head over your spine, here is one that helps my students: Remember those little dolls that you used to see in the back of people's cars, their heads bobbing? Let your head balance that effortlessly over your spine. At the very end of the pose, turn your head completely, so you bring the stretch now intentionally into your neck, facilitating a fabulous neck release, and take both eyes into the right corners of your eye sockets. Throughout the entire pose, keep using the rhomboid muscles between your shoulder blades to draw your inner shoulder blades deeper and deeper into your back.

In the depth of the twist, and after releasing the pose, observe how delicious it is to let your brain relax into the back of your skull, to let yourself be led instead of forcefully leading. Practice twists anytime you feel distracted, anxious, fatigued, or agitated, for a deep renewal of body and spirit.

The founder of Seattle Yoga Arts, Denise Benitez has studied yoga for more than 25 years. She has studied primarily in the Iyengar tradition of hatha yoga, but is also informed by many other traditions of yoga, human movement, and spirituality.

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