anandayoga's video: Introduction to Basic Yoga Twists and Forward Folds

Yoga twists increase the flexibility of your oblique or waist muscles, your abdominals and your back muscles.Yoga twists can help to mobilize the joints of your spine by rotating each vertebrae gently. To improve spine mobility, perform yoga twists in a slow but rhythmical fashion, rotating to your left and right.Yoga twists, according to yogic teachings, squeeze the internal organs and encourage the flow of oxygenated blood while eliminating toxins and metabolic waste products. The liver, kidneys, stomach, pancreas and spleen are all believed to benefit from the twisting poses of yoga. Twisting poses can also help reduce abdominal bloating and digestive discomfort. Perform at least one twisting yoga pose a day to improve the health of your internal organs.Yoga twists can help you eliminate tension from deep within your body. This physical tension can show itself as emotional stress. Yoga twists help the muscles of the chest, back and shoulder relax and, when combined with slow nasal breathing, allow stress to leave the body. The forward bend asanas or postures have a massaging action on the organs in the upper body. Forward bends open up your back, promote total exhalation of air from the lungs by compressing the chest and also help to calm down your mind. The forward bending asanas or postures bend the back to the shape it was when the body was in the womb that is also called the primary curve. This makes some space between the spinal vertebrae that improves the circulation around it and has overall beneficial effects on the body. The nerves from all the different organs in the body pass through the spinal cord and the improved circulation benefits all of them in a great way. The forward bend poses give an internal massage as well as improve the circulation to the various organs like the abdomen, pancreas, liver, intestines and kidneys. They also help to lengthen and strengthen the hamstrings, muscles of the inner leg, make the muscles of the back more supple and boost the strength of the legs and the knees.