Let's twist!
''This sadhana is not something esoteric or mysterious. It is simply a way of awakening knowledge about ourselves.''*
I never really liked twists. And I did not know why and did not ask myself why. When I heard the instruction 'twist /turn to your right/left' during a yoga class, I got blocked. Twisting was a torture for me.
Twists are first and foremost about the spine. If you are 'blessed' with a disc injury, like myself, you are certainly forced to pay more attention to your spine. Now I consider myself lucky to have that injury because from mere pain it transformed itself to a learning process. I had to learn about my relation to my body, to pain and to my practice. And I also had to learn about twists because they are considered to be the 'cure for lower back pains, lumbago and they help to have a healthy spine in general'.
Why are we afraid of performing certain asanas? Why are we afraid of performing anything at all in life? I think, first of all, we are afraid of the unknown and of finding out about our own limitations. This applies to our life in general and also to yoga. Regular practice and yoga studies have taught me that knowing more about asanas helps us to understand more about ourselves too. The relation between practitioner and yoga definitely profits form a regular practice. When we learn more about an asana or certain type of asanas (like forward bend, back bends or twists) our fear slowly diminishes and in the long run we even get to like them. The more you taste it, the more you like it!
What certainly counts in liking an asana is doing it well. To do it well does not mean that we have to do it perfectly but to do it with concentration (ekagrata) and with breath. If you allow your own breath (prana) to penetrate your body during a posture, it creates space and you can almost 'float' into that pose. Movement becomes easier, it happens naturally with the rhythm of your breath.
In twists, it is extremely important to create space in the spine to allow to twist it. Space is created in the vertebrae by elongating the spine before and by deep breaths during the twist. This perhaps seems obvious but we do not always follow attentively our teacher's instructions. Sometimes it is the obvious which is not heard because we are more occupied by other thoughts… But then we really miss out on something because without the elongation we cannot twist much and we become stiff. We also have to anchor our hips to have a solid base for the twisting spine (both, in seated and standing twists).
If we set ourselves up so with a mindful alignment, we are ready to twist. (Of course we could talk more about alignment; the relationship between head and shoulders and shoulders and hips, for example.) The immediate benefit we feel with twist is that they are really relaxing because they effect the parasympathetic nervous system. By compressing the abdominal organs, in the long run, we benefit from a detoxification of the body without any strain. Furthermore, they are definitely beneficial in the process of curing back problems (lumbago, slipped discs) and helping to keep the spine healthy.
Twists have other then physiological benefits. I have pointed out these so far, because I think they are more felt by most people at first. When I started feeling the benefits of twists on my own body I started liking them. The more I incorporated them in my daily practice, the more I liked them.
Twists effect the vayus, the animating force of prana. They touch the Apana (pelvic floor), Samana (navel, abdominal area), Prana (heart area) and Udana (collar bones and throat area) regions in the body along with the Svadisthtana (base of the spine), Manipura (navel, solar plexus), Anahata (heart) and Vishuddha (throat) chakras. (I have to mention, that the Prana Vayus** have several different interpretation in yoga literature, regarding their place in the body and their functions. Here, I'm using one of them.) Of course, these can vary from asana to asana. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika defines one of the aims of yoga to draw Prana (+energy) and Apana (- energy) together in the Samana (neutral) region and merge the energy of these two vayus. When they are brought together in the Manipura Chakra (Samana region) '' there is an explosion of energy and the energy forces its way through the Shushumna Nadi '' (p. 84). That's what can happen in Matsyendrasana according the HYP. When the 'vital capacity of Manipura' is increased, Kundalini wakes up and can rise up in the Shushumna Nadi***.
If one can experience the physiological benefits of an asana, one may experience the spiritual benefits also. However, the spirituality of an asana is probably less obvious than its physical aspects. In my personal experience, all asanas have a certain spirituality or rather emotional or mental effects. However, at this stage of my practice, I have to truly admit, that I have experienced little spirituality of an asana (here, twists) and this does not happen all the time. Nonetheless, during a twist practice, I feel more centred and more close to 'True Self' or 'Purusha', if you like, and this is one of the spiritual aspects of twists. I am content with what twisting practices have given me so far and I am patiently waiting for more. If twists will help me with untying 'the knots and problems of life', they are welcome. If they simply cure my back problem, that's fine too. Recalling the beginning, if "it is simply a way of awakening knowledge about ourselves'" that is great.
The beauty of yoga is that is a continuous learning process which includes welcoming new experiences and letting go of attachments, pains, Samskaras****. I am not scared any more of twists and I am not afraid of snakes either, though I have not yet tamed them. Kundalini? It may arise one day.
Notes:
*the quotation is from Coulter, H. David: Anatomy of Hatha Yoga;
Tapasvi Baba, from a lecture given at the Himalayan Institute
Prana Vayus**: Current pranic air. Prana: smallest unit of energy; vayu: force or wind.
Shushumna Nadi***: Main energy channel in the body along the spine between Muhladara and Ajna chakras. Ida Nadi on the left, Pingala Nadi on its right cross the Shushumna Nadi.
Samskaras**** : Memories, habits, emotions stored, imprinted in body and mind.
Bibliography:
Iyengar, B.KS., Light On Yoga; Schocken Books, 1966
Hatha Yoga Pradipika, commentary by Swami Muktibodhananda; Bihar School of Yoga, 1998
TT of Yoga du Marais handout on twist
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