Revolved Side Angle Pose

• Legs
• Ankles
• Groins
• Chest
• Lungs
• Shoulders
• Spine
• Abdomen

• Constipation
• Infertility
• Low backache
• Osteoporosis
• Sciatica

• Strengthens and stretches the legs, knees, and ankles
• Stretches the groins, spine, chest and lungs, and shoulders
• Stimulates abdominal organs
• Increases stamina
• Improves digestion and aids elimination
• Improves balance

• Headache
• High or low blood pressure
• Insomnia

If you have any neck problems, don’t turn your head to look at the top arm; instead look straight ahead with the sides of the neck lengthened evenly, or look down at the floor.

Beginners often have difficulty maintaining their balance in this pose, especially with the back heel lifted off the floor. To improve your balance, support your heel, either by standing it on a sandbag or thick book, or by bracing it against a wall.

You can perform this pose with your hands in a modified Anjali Mudra (Salutation Seal). Perform steps 1 through 4 in the main description above. Press the bent elbow against the outside of the bent knee, but don’t straighten the arm. Then bend the top elbow and press your palms together. You probably won’t be able to touch your thumbs to your sternum, as you do in traditional Anjali Mudra. Open your elbows wide, stretching your bottom elbow toward the floor, the top elbow toward the ceiling. Use the pressure of the elbow against the knee and the palms against each other like a crank to increase the twist in the upper back.

Here’s an exercise that will help you deepen the twist in this pose by modifying it in an unusual way. Perform steps 1 through 3 in the main description above, with a block underneath the bottom hand. Shift onto the outside edge (little-toe side) of the back foot, and walk the block away from the inner foot about 12 to 18 inches. Lean the torso back away from the inner bent leg, as if doing a backbend, and on an exhalation, twist the front of the torso to face up at the ceiling. You can press the free palm against the sacrum, or stretch the arm over the back of the top ear.

A partner can help you deepen the twist in this pose. Perform the pose with the outside of your back leg and hip braced against a wall (for the purposes of this description we’ll say you’re twisting to the right with your left leg and hip on the wall). Have your partner sit on the floor outside your right thigh and hip, facing you. She should press one foot against your outer thigh, just above the knee, and the other foot against your right hip (now the pelvis is squeezed between your partner’s foot and the wall). Reach your left arm out toward your partner. She should grasp the forearm and gently tug the arm toward her as she pushes her feet on the thigh and hip. Have her pull according to your capacity.

Most of the standing poses are appropriate preparations for this challenging standing twist, especially Parivrtta Trikonasana. You might also try wide-open groin poses like Baddha Konasana and Upavistha Konasana; thigh stretchers like Virasana and its reclining variation; and hip openers like Gomukhasana.

Parivrtta Parsvakonasana is a good preparation for a standing pose like Garudasana, and for sitting cousins such as Gomukhasana, Bharadvajasana, and Marichyasana III.

Advanced students will want to keep the back heel as much as possible on the floor. Be sure to rotate the back foot in more than you do for most other standing poses, about 45 to 60 degrees. Take a little support under the back heel if needed at first.