yoga pose deliciousness (or preventative medicine never felt so great)

photo from here

If I had to choose my second favorite pose in yoga (after legs up the wall) it would be this reclining twist.

I do these two poses pretty much every night and I think they are the most delicious of the yoga poses. And, in my opinion, two of the most beneficial. With legs up the wall you get improvement in immune function and circulation, relaxation of tired muscles and de-stressing (among other things). And with the reclining twist, you get a wonderful de-toxifying effect as well as a gentle stretching of your muscles and connective tissue.

Think about it, when you twist, that middle part of your body is being squished and compressed. What's in that middle part? Your digestive systems and waste removal systems. When you compress those organs, they 'squeeze' out toxins. So this simple, non-impact pose can help cleanse your body of the stuff that leads to infections and headaches and a host of other crap we have to deal with. And then on top of that benefit, the pose just FEELS good as those muscles stretch and lengthen.

Who doesn't want that???

There are a ton of variations to this pose that you can see here and very few contraindications (risks). Basically, if you have shoulder or hip issues that this pose irritates, back off. If you do this pose, make sure you do both sides to get full benefits and I was taught that for best form, keep your shoulders on the ground (or close to the ground)-your legs don't have to make it to the ground to get the benefit of the pose.

And speaking of pure deliciousness, I will be assisting in a two hour restorative workshop this weekend in Dallas. Restorative yoga is all about these no impact, therapeutic poses and it has become one of my favorite ways to experience yoga. Come join us! You can see the details here.

Happy stretching!