Through pragmatic experimentation, one can make extraordinary new breakthroughs. A couple years ago, stuck in a tight airplane seat on a long flight, I made the calculation to stay put rather than wake the immovable sleeping human on the aisle. Stretching but staying within my seat’s alloted spatial confines, I discovered the awesome “seated open-arm twist pose.”
Here’s how it works: sit down, lean forward, twist torso, spreading out arms diagonally (AKA “airplane” arms :). Lower arm presses against the inside knee of one leg, upper arm lifts up to the sky. Here’s the same pose, but performed in the traditional squat.
Once in the pose, here are a bunch of suggested wiggles to try, switching sides as you like:
–arch the rib cage, gliding the lower arm further down to the floor. Then curl the torso, receding the body and arm back. Go forward and back, arch and curl.
–actively lift the top arm, as if someone is pulling you up by the wrist. Allow the torso to follow this cue, by rising up. Arch the top arm across the body, over the face and twist the torso to the right. Retract and reverse same motion.
–Push the heel of the lower arm into the ground, and left the opposing ribs up and back.
–Lift the back of the head toward the ceiling, and fan the torso open to the ceiling in an even greater twist. Look up at the top arm, pushing the lower arm against the lower leg.
Perfomed on the porcelain throne, I find this pose extremely helpful. It massages the abdomen, and probably facilitates waste going around the bends of the intestine. Breathe, wiggle, arch and curl…play with variations of motion you discover within my favorite terlet pose.