My Favorite Twist -- The "Fire Hydrant Twist"

Twisting is one of the more complicated things we do in yoga. There's always a lot going on, especially in complicated twists like arda matsyendrasana or twisted marichi asana.

I look at people doing arda matsyendrasana (seated spinal twist) and just cringe sometimes. Teachers will always say 'make sure both seatbones are on the floor', and, really, almost no one's sitbones are both on the floor. It's just very hard to do this when tucking one leg under and crossing the other in front over the top. So pretty much no one's pelvis is level, and worse, most people aren't sitting up straight, they're rounding the back quite a bit.

I think the best way to find a deep twist while keeping the pelvis level and the spine straight is what I call the "Fire Hydrant Twist". I adopted this name because I frequently do this twist on the street using a fire hydrant. It's actually a twist that they do in Iyengar yoga all the time, only there they tend to use a chair or a stool next to a wall. But a fire hydrant works great, as does a chair, table, or anything about 12-24 inches high. (You should definitely experiment with the heights, to find a height that's comfortable for you.)

Here's what you do. You stand facing the fire hydrant or chair or whatever firm surface you're using. You step one foot onto the firm surface. The knee should be bent substantially, more or less at 90 degrees. All your weight is on the standing leg, and you should feel very stable on that leg. (When you first start to do the pose you often need to adjust where you're standing by an inch or two in one direction or another.) Stand up super-tall, feeling the spine really long and straight.

Place the hand opposite the lifted leg on the outside of the thigh, and rotate the torso. That's it. Use the front hand pushing against the leg to push yourself into the twist. Make sure you don't move the front leg when you're pushing against it. The back arm can be extended straight back (not recommended if you're using a fire hydrant), or wrapped around the back grabbing the front thigh, or just hanging.

Because you're standing, your legs and pelvis are really stable, and so all the twist takes place in the spine and torso. And it's also easy to keep the spine nice and straight as you push yourself into the twist. I think this twist is by far the most controlled twist.

I don't think that all twists need to be this controlled. The body's really complicated, and sometimes we twist it while raising one hip or curving the spine or whatever. But for a controlled twist, it's hard to beat the 'fire hydrant.'