SEATED TWIST
I haven't a clue what this pose is called in Sanskrit. It's one of my favourite twists as it stabilises the twist and really moves the twist higher up the spine. It can also be used to tone your deep core line if you work on hugging the knees together and pressing down into your big toes. Here is how to do it.
STEP-BY-STEP
1. Sit with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Move the flesh off the sit bones and ground them down as you lift in and up the pelvic floor, lower belly and lower back.
2. Wrap your left arm around your knees (or to go deeper, take your left elbow to the outside of your right knee but only do this if you can maintain a nice long spine and keep your shoulders from rounding forward) and place your right hand on the floor, behind and close to your right buttock.
3. Breathe into the belly to settle, and breathe out drawing the lower belly in and up. Keep the belly lifted and breathe into the chest and the upper back.
4. Continue to ground down through the sitbones and the 3 points of the feet (big toe and little toe mounds and the centre of the heels). Hug the legs in toward each other and soften the ribs. This will help to activate the deep core line, keeping the lower back spine happy too.
5. To come out, slowly release and turn to centre on your in-breath and repeat to the other side.
Keep practising. With regular practice, you might just find that you can get more of your arm to the outside of the leg, allowing you to want to learn the Side Crow! Enjoy.
STEP-BY-STEP
1. Sit with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Move the flesh off the sit bones and ground them down as you lift in and up the pelvic floor, lower belly and lower back.
2. Wrap your left arm around your knees (or to go deeper, take your left elbow to the outside of your right knee but only do this if you can maintain a nice long spine and keep your shoulders from rounding forward) and place your right hand on the floor, behind and close to your right buttock.
3. Breathe into the belly to settle, and breathe out drawing the lower belly in and up. Keep the belly lifted and breathe into the chest and the upper back.
4. Continue to ground down through the sitbones and the 3 points of the feet (big toe and little toe mounds and the centre of the heels). Hug the legs in toward each other and soften the ribs. This will help to activate the deep core line, keeping the lower back spine happy too.
5. To come out, slowly release and turn to centre on your in-breath and repeat to the other side.
Keep practising. With regular practice, you might just find that you can get more of your arm to the outside of the leg, allowing you to want to learn the Side Crow! Enjoy.