yoga for core strength and awareness part 3: your sides (twists)
Olivia Marley
We’re continuing our look at core in class this week and staying working the sides of your body. Last week we were looking at side bends and side plank (vasistasana). This week we’ve shifted our attention to twists. The key posture we’ll be building towards is parsva bakasana or side crow/ crane pose.
There are a couple of different ways to do this posture – this video shows the variation that I find fires up my core muscles most and feels most buoyant once I’m in it. Differences from how you may have done this pose before include the placement of my hands; resting my hips on one arm not two; and the adjustment at the end to lift my feet higher. If you notice me pausing at different points in this video, the pauses align with the ‘steps’ I’ve written for you below!
The steps I go through in this video are:
Start in a squat with your legs together, heels lifted and your hands in prayer. Then twist to your right and hook your left elbow on the outside of your right knee
Take a couple of goes to get your elbow as far down the outside of your knee as you can. Holding your right thigh in place with your right hand might help you
Keep pressing your left arm against your leg and place your left hand on the floor so that your fingers are pointing in the same direction as your toes. Place your other hand on the floor shoulder distance away from the first hand (not too close together!)
Lift your hips
Shift your weight over towards your right arm and bend your elbows to a chaturanga-like position (see a post here about the posture chaturanga dandasana if you’re not sure what it looks like!)
Lean forwards until there is so much of your body weight forward of your hands that your feet start to get light and maybe lift
If your feet lift and you feel steady enough, try to roll your top hip forwards (so for me here that would mean towards the camera). Feel how this creates more twist in your body and lifts your feet higher.
If you can't get through all of these steps first time don't worry. Just pay attention to which step you get stuck on, because that might tell you something about your body. For example, if it's hooking your elbow on the outside of your knee that's difficult, you might need to work on your twists and outer hip mobility to get into this pose. If it's lifting your hips up that's tough it might be a lack of core strength, or if you feel like your arms can't hold you it could be upper body strength.
As always - please just ask any questions that come up!