Spinal Twists — Detox And Reset

In this gentle yoga sequence, we are focusing on spinal twists, which are a great way to support our digestive system in the detoxification process. It's a brief practice to use when you feel sluggish or if you've been sitting too long. No experience necessary.

Transcript

In this short video, We are going to work with some spinal twists. Very gentle. I'm assuming you're not warmed up, So we're going to be very gentle about this. But twists are beautiful to realign our spine and to kind of squeeze out our inner organs a bit. So it's very detoxifying. It can support your digestive system. And also if you're feeling sluggish, A twist can be a nice way to kind of come back to that. We're going to do two different ones, One seated and one reclined or lying down. So just come into any kind of seated position. So I'm sitting cross-legged here. You could also sit up a little bit to have a bit of hip support or you could even sit more like on your knees if you prefer. So sitting cross-legged for me. I'm simply going to bring my right hand to my left knee and then bring my left hand behind me. And as I do this, I rotate my upper body and really lifting my spine. So I'm not like crunching in any way. Um, My spine is very tall and then I'm twisting from there and that allows me to safely twist without kinking anything or pulling on anything. And this might be enough or it might just feel like that you can go deeper with every exhale. Whenever you inhale, Straighten up a bit. Whenever you exhale, Rotate a little bit more. Allow your shoulders to be fairly relaxed. Not too much tension there. We're not pulling on our knee like crazy either, We're simply pulling. Allowing it to help us, Guide us to bend this twist. I'll take one more full cycle of breath. Inhale, On your next exhale, Come back to center. On the next inhale, Move to the other side. So we're going with my left hand is on my right knee and my right hand behind me. With every inhale, I lengthen my spine. With every exhale, I twist a little further. And one more full cycle of breath here. Inhale and exhale coming back to center. Now from here, Come back to lie on your back. No matter how you get down. Roll down. And then bring your feet together. Cup closer to your body. And bring your left foot over top of your right foot. And it doesn't have to be completely perfectly on top of each other, But we don't want it to be like a figure four. We want the knees to sort of be stacked more or less. From here I'm going to bring my hips to the left a little bit. It gives me a bit of space to slowly bring the knee down. And if you have a block, You can have it underneath as well because you might not be able to reach the floor and that's okay. It is more important that your left shoulder remains on the mat or the floor than that your left knee touches the ground. That's not necessarily the goal. But if it's uncomfortable floating in the air, Have a block or even like a pillow or a blanket underneath it. I like to have my right hand on top of my knee just to support it. And then see if you can look up. So our upper body's here. Or essentially like my left shoulder is still touching the ground and then it's my whole upper body all the way down my lower body to my knee is twisted to the other side. So this is a stretch as well, Like you might feel it in your shoulder, In your hip, Or even in your leg. And it is a beautiful supine twist. Find your breath here. Feel into your hip. Healing to your core that's being run out here. One more full cycle of breath. And then on your next inhale, Gently bring your knees back up. Bringing hips back into the middle and uncross your legs. Just feel into your body here for a moment. Now that we've done one side, You might feel that there's some unevenness, So we're going to even this out. So bring now your right foot over top of your left. I scooch my hips to the right, Making a bit more room for my legs to come down. And again, More important that my shoulder remains on the floor and that the knee touches the ground. I just heard a crack in my spine and that might happen to you too. Does happen occasionally that's okay as long as we're not experiencing sharp pain. We are very safely moving here very gently and slowly. We're not pulling on our knee or anything. I just have my hand there for support. And my gaze is up so that I remain centered on my mat with my shoulders and my head. Again, Feel into your body here, Feel into your hips. Feeling to your core. It's being run out here like a towel. Like a wet towel you're trying to dry. You might feel it over the outside of your hips and your glutes as well. It's a nice stretch while also being a beautiful twist. Take one more full cycle of breath here. Next inhale coming back to center. Across your legs and just stretch out your legs here for a moment in Shavasana. Like a final resting pose. And the reason why this is such an important pose is because we do a lot of integration here. So just feel into your body and see if anything has shifted. See if you notice a difference at all. And when we started, This is a very short practice, But it can be unbelievably impactful. I actually noticed that my digestive system has been activated. It's gurgling. So I find that quite fascinating how quickly your body responds to these practices. When you're ready. Roll to your right side. Press yourself up gently. And come back to seated position the way you started. And carry on with your day.