Twists: Anatomy, Asana, and Energetics

In this course with Judith Hanson Lasater, you will learn how to practice yoga twists safely and effectively to receive the benefits of these powerful yoga poses. Judith will explore how you can use twists to promote a healthy balance for the organs in the chest and abdomen, as well as explore the theories of why yoga twists work.

Also learn about the common drawbacks of twisting postures, particularly in regards to the sacroiliac joint.

Twisting poses are a leading cause of SI joint injury in yoga, and Judith will discuss how to safely anchor yourself before moving into your next twist.

The course focuses on specific twisting poses that create a healthy balance of the organs in the chest and abdomen, and explores the theories of why they work. You will come away with some wonderful new insights into one of yoga's most beneficial posture groups, which often takes second stage to its cousins, the glamorous backbends and soothing forward bends.

Are you interested in connecting your yoga practice with the deeper streams of energy in your body? Do you want to connect more deeply with your yoga practice and explore exciting new ways of practicing familiar yoga poses? 

Yoga twists are poses that slow us down and make us move with great care and intelligence. They stretch the muscles of the sides of the body and can be very useful for “changing gears” after both backbends and forward bends. Twists allow the long muscles of the trunk - the muscles along the spine and sides of the waist - to release their habitual holding. Twists also affect the abdominal organs in powerful and healthy ways.

With Judith’s expert guidance, this course will explore familiar standing, sitting, and lying twists, discussing what they have in common, how they differ, and what benefits they each create. This course will give you the tools to create intelligent class sequencing that prepares you and your students’ bodies to experience the abundant benefits of yoga twists. 

This course will also discuss the practical aspects of practicing and teaching: how to sequence spinal twist asanas for beginners and for more advanced students, the common mistakes and pitfalls to be avoided for a successful twist practice, including to make sure your sacroiliac remains happy during the practice, and where to twist in the spine to maintain joint integrity. 

The course focuses on specific twisting poses that create a healthy balance of the organs in the chest and abdomen, and explores the theories of why they work. You will come away with some wonderful new insights into one of yoga's most beneficial posture groups, which often takes second stage to its cousins, the glamorous backbends and soothing forward bends.

Also Enjoy Our Great Bonuses!

Bonus #1: Judith Hanson Lasater: Practicing for the Whole Self: The True Nature of Yoga Asanas

We tend to think of asana as a purely physical practice. In fact, as Judith Hanson Lasater shows in this bonus talk, asana is so much more than that.

Asana teaches us to get more in touch with our body. They invite us to feel the sensation of the pose and to stay present with that. In the process, we begin to develop greater body awareness, greater interoception and greater kinesthetic intelligence.

What we are doing with asana is radically shifting our perspective through the avenue of the intelligence of the body. We’re giving the stomach, the liver, and the heart new information which the brain then organizes or interprets, Judith shows. And when that information becomes strong enough it breaks through our consciousness and we’re aware of it. 

Judith shows how listening to the sensation of the body can open our awareness to a wholeness of vast and deep and primordial intelligence that we are not usually in touch with. 

Bonus #2: Moving from the Organs - The Other Side of Twisting Postures with Judith Hanson Lasater

We often focus on practicing poses from the spine, arms and legs, notes Judith Hanson Lasater in this talk. But the ancient teachings of yoga also dealt with opening and quieting the organs of the body, like the heart, kidneys and liver that are found in the “kunda” or vessel holding these organs.

In this bonus video, Judith Hanson Lasater focuses on specific twisting poses that create a healthy balance of the organs in the chest and abdomen, as well as explore the theories of why they work.