PHYSICAL YOGA
Practice Safety in Twists
By Alyssa Pfennig
Twists. We love them because they make
us feel so complete by helping us release
the deepest layers of tension, both physically and psychologically. But many of us
don’t realize twisting improperly can really wreak long-term havoc on our bodies.
I especially used to love supine (lying
on the back) garudasana twist where
you shifted your hips over to one side,
crossed your legs and let your knees fall
to the other side. Often I would hear a
pop around my hip in this twist, but it felt
so delightful and my teacher understood
the musculoskeletal structure extremely
well, so I thought it was a good thing.
However, after I became a teacher myself,
I started seeing a correlation between
what I thought was a delicious twist and
some low back pain and my hips getting
out of place. So, I stopped teaching my
favorite twist.
Then, while completing my advanced
training in yoga therapy I realized my
hypothesis was correct and that twist was
in fact causing issues because of the way
the spine and pelvis are structured. Furthering my knowledge about anatomy
beyond a weekend at my first teacher
training and the realization that, as yoga
teachers, we are often passed down information that might not really jive with the
musculoskeletal structure of our bodies,
was mind blowing to say the least.
Get to Know the Spine
The next time you see a replica of a skeleton, make sure you take the opportunity
to explore it with your hands. Really get
to know the spinal column by running
your hand along its curves and twisting
the thoracic spine (mid to upper back)
and the lumbar spine (the curve that
is in line with your belly button). You
will literally see the difference in how
the facet joints move and how the ones
in the lumbar spine just do not twist
like the ones up above. Herein lies one
of the major issues with twisting from
the bottom up. The lumbar spine won’t
twist the way the thoracic spine will, so
instead, the pelvis might move to accommodate the shape you’re trying to
create. POP! While it may not necessarily mean major damage just happening once, that popping sound for many
people over time can cause a variety of
issues, including misaligning the pelvis
and creating destabilization in the sacroiliac joints, which is what happens to me.
Iyengar-certified yoga teacher and Stanford-trained scientist, Roger Cole, Ph.D.,
Safe Seated Twist
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INDIANA & YOGA MAGAZINE ISSUE I