My Yoga Online has a comprehensive, intelligent collection of articles dealing with yoga anatomy and alignment, health, nutrition, meditation, and much more. I visit them daily for insights into safe yoga practice. Injuries, unfortunately, can happen in yoga class if the teacher is unaware of alignment principles, or if the student doesn’t follow instructions properly, pushing themselves into an unhealthy posture in order to look more flexible.
By Kregg Weiss
Regardless of the position of the Yoga twist (lying, sitting, standing, or inverted), I follow a simply principle: the spine should not be in a forward bend, back arch, or side bend in any form or degree prior to twisting. The twisting Yoga pose should not be combined with /involved in another position or plane. If the spine is in another plane (ie back arching), the spine has reduced space along one edge of the vertebrae. Adding a twist to the uneven space can lead to acute or chronic injury. For those with spinal disorders like scoliosis, this principle is even more important. If the spine is already moving into another plane and then one twists into a pose that is adding the transverse plane motion, the vertebrae can be experiencing severe blockages and may worsen the condition of the spinal disorder.
Twisting Yoga poses like Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Twist pose), Parivritta Trikonasana (Revolving Triangle pose), and Parivritta Parsvakonasana (Revolving Side Angle pose) create joyous benefits. The twisting motions increase mobility in the vertebral column, massage internal organs, massage nutrients in and through the spine, aid in moving material through the digestive system, tone back and core muscles, and balance energy flow throughout the main energy channel (Sushumna)that travels along the line of the spine.
In order for all these physical and energetic benefits to occur, we need to apply proper preparation and alignment prior to rotating into the transverse plane of the spine. I like to imagine twisting like turning a screw into a bolt. If you are just slightly misaligned, the threads do not match, the threads endure grinding pressure, and the motion is limited or even impossible to occur.Just like lining up the threads of the screw and bolt, I like to take time to line up the vertebrae in the most spacious placement. From this alignment, the vertebrae rotate evenly without pressure going into the intervertebral discs and without adding further blockages into the body.
[...] Read more at My Yoga Online
