We’re all guilty of succumbing to our food desires, especially when it’s a holiday. Maybe you felt like having ‘just one more’ margarita, hot dog, brownie—or whatever unhealthy pleasure was calling your name. Sure, you only live once, but it’s important to give your body a rest from the junk-fest.
Yoga Poses
Luckily it’s a new day, and you can drink green tea, eat like a vegan, and do detox yoga poses to get yourself back on track! Here are four of my favorite yoga twist poses. They’ll wring out your organs and intestines to promote digestion and toxin removal and help cleanse your body (and soul).
Twisting Prayer Lunge
- Start in Lunge Pose: Anjaneya Sana (lunge) with your right leg forward. Bring your palms together at heart center. With your left knee lifted, push your left heel back and reach the crown of your head forward to lengthen your spine.
- Exhale and twist towards your right leg. Place your left triceps on your right thigh, attempting to get your torso as close to your leg as possible.
- Push your palms together to engage your arms and try to twist in deeper, sending your chest towards the sky and gazing upwards.
- Stay here for up to 1 minute. To exit the pose, unwind and place your hands down on the mat, then step back to Downward Facing Dog Pose. Repeat with the left leg forward.
Revolving Triangle – Parivrtta Trikonasana
- Stand in Tadasana. With an exhalation, step your right foot back, about 3 feet away from your left foot. Place hands on hips. Your right foot should be turned to the right about 45 degrees. Align the right heel with the left heel. Square your hips as much as possible with the front edge of your mat.
- With an exhalation, tip at the hip and lean/reach forward over your front edge of the mat and front toes with a flat back. Then take the right arm to the floor or a block, inside or outside the left foot, and the left arm to the ceiling, twisting towards the straight front leg.
- Turn the head and gaze up at sky. From the center of the back, between the shoulder blades, press the arms away from the torso. Bring most of your weight to bear on the back heel and the front hand.
- Stay in this pose anywhere from 30 seconds to one minute. Exhale, release the twist, and bring your torso back to upright with an inhalation. Repeat for the same length of time with the legs reversed, twisting to the left.
Seated Spinal Twist – Marichyasana III
- Sit on the floor with your legs extended.
- Cross right foot over outside of left thigh; keep right knee pointed toward ceiling.
- Place left elbow to the outside of right knee and right hand on the floor behind you.
- Exhale and twist right as far as you can, moving from your abdomen; keep both sides of your glutes on the floor. Stay for 1 minute
- Switch sides and repeat.
Supine Spinal Twist – Supta Matsyendrasana
- Come to lie on your back.
- Draw your right knee into your chest and extend the left leg on the floor.
- Drop your right knee over to the left side of your body.
- Open your right arm to the right side in line with your shoulder. Rest your left hand on your right knee.
- Turn your head to the right, bringing your gaze over the right shoulder. Work on releasing your left knee and your right shoulder to the floor.
- Hold 5 to 10 breaths before drawing your right knee back into your chest and repeating on the other side.
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