In Prayer Twist do not let your knees or hips move. Keep your knees in one straight line and only twist from your spine.

No wonder so many people have developed a distaste for twisting yoga shapes! For years yoga teachers like me were telling students to fix their pelvis in place and isolate the twist exclusively to their spine.

Is there anything wrong with isolating a twist to the spine?

No!

Should we fix the pelvis in space always and forever when doing twisting shapes?

Probably not.

I remember working on Revolved Triangle with my teacher and instantly groaning. I do not enjoy the shape at all. There’s no sense of ease when I do the shape and do not ask me to take full breaths. I am simply praying that I only have to be in the shape for a few seconds. However, everything changed when I was told to let my hips move a little bit in the direction of the twist.

What? Excuse me? Did you encourage me to move my hips while twisting?

Sometimes in a yoga practice we unintentionally put parts of the body into their own compartments.

Twisting yoga shapes are all about the spine, right? Then that’s where we should isolate the movement, right?

Not exactly.

Your body is made up of many parts and all of those parts are somehow connected.

Asking your pelvis to stay in one fixed position while moving into a twisting shape disregards that the pelvis and spine are connected. It’s like twisting the head off a daisy and expecting the stalk of the flower to stay in one place. The two parts have a relationship and that should be considered when exploring twisting shapes.

So, next time you find yourself in Revolved Triangle and you’re twisting to the right, play with allowing your left hip to move slightly forward in space. How’s it feel? How’s your breath? Does it feel like something you could stay in for more than a few seconds?