Seated Spinal Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana) - Yoga Pose Guide Tutorial

Transcript

hi this is your pose guide for seated spinal twist to begin straighten your legs out in front of you into don'd asana press the big toe mounds together and separate the inner heels by about an inch place your hands slightly behind you and press them down into the floor drawing your low back into a curve press your thigh bones down don'd asana then lean a little bit to the left and bend your knees swinging your feet toward the right side of your body stack the right ankle over the left arch then grab your strap and make a small loop in it big enough to put around your shoulder so about like that okay I'll place the loop over my left shoulder then take the strap around the back into the right hand for your left hand place your block behind your back so the strap is going to give the body direction into the twist let's begin with a slight bend in the right elbow turn your body to the left inhale into the back of your body feeling the ribs pressed back against the strap and then exhale pull on the strap moving the head of the left arm bone back inhale make your back body full against the strap and wide toward the direction the right hand is pulling and then exhale feel the left shoulder rolling back note here that my left elbow is a little bit bent when we lock out the arm we tend to lock out the pose also notice that I'm not turning my chin too quickly rather working section by section to turn my spine from right to left and ultimately letting the chin follow the heart as the body opens more and more into the twist you might take your right hand over to your outer left knee for a little bit of a deeper pose again keep moving the inner body in the direction the strap is pulling then take a deep breath in and release straighten your legs out in front of you donned asana then let's move the strap onto your right shoulder bend the knees swinging your feet toward your outer left hip stack your left ankle through your right arch then take the straps around the back into the left hand place your right hand on the block before making an effort take a deep breath in exhale pull gently with the strap guiding the body into the twist so some key things to focus on here are breathing into the back of your body feeling that strap behind you pressing into your right hand and allowing the right shoulder to roll back keep breathing turning section-by-section the low belly the ribs the shoulders to deepen the pose move your left hand to your outer right knee and pull so we often turn the head faster than the spine so slow it down moving from deep inside your spine from left to right letting the head slowly follow the spine inhale and release stretch both legs out in front of you donned asana can take the strap off press your fingertips into the floor and lengthen your spine next cross your right ankle to the outside of your left knee bend your left knee bringing that foot toward the outer right hip squeeze the ankle in the knee firmly into each other and then lean forward placing your fingertips on the floor lift the hips up and inhale widen your left hip then sit back down notice now how both sitting bones are more evenly rooted into the floor turn to the right placing the right hand on the block and let's start out easy here so just wrap your left forearm around the front of the right knee and create some tension between the hand and the knee pushing them into each other that ultimately leads down into the strength of the outer right hip squeeze that in pulling the right femur deeper and deeper into the socket good then inhale into your back body making it full and then wide toward the left elbow exhale into the twist really pulling those right obliques back toward the right elbow good inhale lift your chest up widen your collarbones all the way out to the shoulders and then exhale roll that right shoulder back just like when the strap was around it finally turn your head and look to the right inhale and release exhale straighten your legs your spine donned asana second side cross your left ankle to the outside of the right knee then lean to the right bend the right knee and swing the foot back toward the outer left hip so it's often the case in this pose that when we start our foundation is a little bit unlevel so we want to level it up hug the knee and the ankle together lift the butt off the floor and widen it a bit to the right then sit straight down good place your left hand behind you on the block hook your right forearm around the right knee inhale lengthen your spine exhale push your knee and hand together to firm the outer left hip deeper into the socket keeping that inhale widen the right ribcage exhale pull the left ribs back into the twist section-by-section here inhale lift up and under the collar bones widening and then exhale roll the left shoulder back feeling the shoulder blade against the back inhale lengthen up through the back of the neck and then exhale turn the head and look over your left shoulder inhale and release exhale straighten your legs Donna Donna one more time bend your right knee taking the ankle to the outside of the left knee lean to the left pull your left foot towards your outer right hip good now as we get deeper into this twist which ultimately leads to a bind we need to move our knees more and more toward the center of the mat so I'm going to do that here to move my left knee so it's facing straight ahead like the bow of a ship and even pull the right ankle closer to the body so it's at about mid thigh and then we'll see what we can do okay so hug in with the legs lift the hips up widen the left sitting bone and sit back down now place your right hand behind you inhale reach up through the left arm twist twist twist then hook the elbow to the outside of the knee push the elbow and the knee firmly into each other in order to firm your outer right hip squeeze that in then push with the right hand inhale back body full left lung wide exhale twist inhale lift and widen your chest exhale roll the right shoulder back feeling that shoulder blade come onto the back and then inhale lift up through all four sides of your neck and exhale turn your head to the right inhale release exhale don'd asana straighten your legs straighten your spine second side place your left ankle to the outside of the right knee then lean to the right folding that leg back towards your outer left hip so here we want to get the bottom knee a little more straight forward that's it then lean forward and widen the right hip sit back down good place your left hand behind you on a block inhale reach up with your right arm turn the palm to face back as you twist twist twist and hook the elbow over the knee turn your palm to face forward good and create that dynamic tension between the knee and the elbow that helps you firm the outer left hip into the socket good keeping that pushed down through your back hand and inhale lift up and wide through the right lung exhale twist inhale widen your chest exhale pull the left shoulder back inhale lengthen the neck and exhale look over your left shoulder inhale and release exhale straighten your legs Donna