Supported Twist

Transcript

welcome everyone to the vivo Resource Center my name is Christina your yoga therapist today I'm going to show you a pose called supported twist this pose is beneficial when you're in times of stress it is also used in restorative yoga and yin yoga quite often and the premise of both yin and restorative yoga is to relax the overactive sympathetic nervous system and activate that parasympathetic nervous system or relaxed aware state so if you have props this is a yoga bolster you can also use towels or stacked blankets or even pillows or pillow off of your couch that would work fine too you'll come to sit on your yoga mat and have your knees stacked like this you'll place the bolster or whatever it is you're going to use to recline on parallel to your hips place your hands on either side of the bolster and you want to start taking the twist here so before you start going all the way down let's start by moving and twisting into the pose so take a deep breath here lengthen the spine and on an exhale start to twist closer to your bolster and then maybe take one more deep breath here and then as you exhale slowly start to come down almost draping your body over the bolster over the pillow or blankets and allow your forehead to rest here and this pose you want to stay in for a couple of minutes breathing in and out through your nose we're in a twist here so this is going to help support digestion and also our torso is compressed against the bolster which will start to facilitate that relaxation in the body it's also very comforting for a few more deep breaths and then when you're ready to get up place both of your hands on the opposites of the other sides of the bolster press yourself up and don't forget to do the other sock and so you literally just switch sides [Music] and again before you go down make sure that you're twisting in your deep breath on the inhale lengthening exhale to twist one more time inhale to lengthen and then exhale twist a little bit further and start to drape your body over the bolster give it a little squeeze remember to breathe in and out through the nose staying on this side for a few minutes as well and when you're ready to get up framing the bolster pressing your palms into the earth coming to a seated position you wanna uncross or cross your legs now perhaps you want to extend your legs out wide and take a little bit of a forward fold to reset the spine take a few moments to close your eyes and feel feel your new relaxed aware state it's been a pleasure moving with you today my name is Christina I'll see you again next time [Music]