Yoga_Journal_USA_Special_Issue_-_Yoga_Today_2017

A FEW YEARS AGO, some friends and I performed an eye-opening

experiment. We painted the body’s major organs, glands, nerves,

and muscles on a long white unitard. Then one of us donned the

outfit and moved through a series of yoga postures as the rest of us

watched. We observed the kidney area being squeezed in backbends,

the stomach being compressed in forward bends, and the ribs and

lungs being gracefully stretched in sidebending actions.

Watching my friend move through a series of spine-wringing

twists was the most illuminating of all. Twist ing seemed to alternately

Do the

Tw i s t

DO keep the knee of the bent leg

anchored on the floor. Use a blanket

if necessary to fully anchor the knee.

DO keep the sides of the neck

long as you relax and draw the

shoulder blades down the back.

Create suppleness

in the spine as

you tone muscles and

stimulate organs.

74 YOGAJOURNAL.COM YOGA TODAY

twists by Claudia Cummins