Think of your spine as a long sponge hardened and crusty from days of sitting, slouching, overloading, and driving to work. The kind of twist you get when you properly perform the Reclined Spinal Twist Pose is like wringing out the sponge. The water is really your tension, anxiety, and built-up compression. Therefore, the stretching, lengthening, and relaxing power of this pose cannot be overstated!

Read on to learn the benefits you can get from regularly performing the Reclined Spinal Twist Pose, as well as a step-by-step guide on how to easily do it. I use this pose to break out of my dormant tension and release the anxieties of my busy day. If you find yourself frustrated at work or your relationship, give this pose a try to relieve some angst instead of letting it build up.

 

Benefits of Reclined Spinal Twist Pose

Like the best yoga twists, Supta Matsyendrasana stretches the muscles in your back, as well as your glutes and major thigh muscles. These areas get a massage in this pose, which helps relieve tension, as well as releasing and enervating the area around your spinal disks.

Reclined Spinal Twist Pose has become known as a great pose for detoxing due to its ability to massage your vital organs at the same time that it strengthens the muscles in your abdomen. Toxins that build up in your core can affect functions in all your major organs. Therefore, massaging and energizing those functions can have a similarly far-reaching benefit.

Just one such benefit is that the pose improves blood flow to your digestive system, which helps your immune system, metabolism, and even the tone of your waist. By stimulating and detoxifying your major organs, you can use Supta Matsyendrasana to blast away frustration and tension. If you indulge in holiday food and feel sluggish and tense during the busy season, use the Reclined Spinal Twist to get your energy back.

 

How to Do the Pose

Supta Matsyendrasana begins with you on your back, knees bent up with your feet flat and your arms resting evenly at your sides. If you feel pain in your neck in this position, use blankets or a pillow to make yourself comfortable.

As you breathe out, hold your knees to your chest. You should feel a release of tension and energy in your lower pelvis. Keeping your right knee against your chest, extend your left leg on the floor. As you do so, extend your right arm straight out to your side with your palm flat on the ground.

You should be able to bring your bent knee to the floor on the opposite side. Shift your right hip while exhaling with your left knee pulled over your body and your right hand on that knee. Turn your head over on the floor away from your bent knee as you press your shoulder blades down and towards your feet. You should feel your gaze becoming soft. Don’t be confrontational with your body; be at ease with it. Accept this position (so long as you don’t feel pain). Give in to gravity.

After some experience with this pose, you should be able to touch the toes of your right leg to the floor. Breath in from one to two dozen times, comfortably. As you breathe in the last time, bring your knees back to your chest as you untwist. Breathe out and re-extend your legs. Take a moment to feel your body as you prepare to do Supta Matsyendrasana on the other side.

After twisting for both sides, bring your knees to your chest and take comfortable, relaxing breaths. Exhale one last time as you extend both legs to the floor and mentally leave the pose.

The Takeaway

After a busy day or a stressful week, Supta Matsyendrasana can help you decompress your spine, stretch your hips and back, and bring your day to a close so you can have a restful night. The decompressing and stretching actions do wonders for pent-up frustrations as well as energizing your major organs. With more energy and better functioning, these systems can continue to reduce your stress. Even in a busy week, find a state of peace through Reclined Spinal Twist Pose.