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Turning Point

Once you find your center, you can move in new directions.

By Rachel Brahinsky with Charles Matkin

As your yoga practice deepens, complex asanas become more

than just interesting shapes to strive for. Often, the real juice
comes during the learning process, when you pick up lessons
that you can apply when you're off the mat, too.

Charles Matkin, yoga teacher and cofounder (with his wife, Lisa)
of Matkin Yoga in Garrison, New York, believes that learning the
inner workings of Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana (Revolved Head-of-
the-Knee Pose) provides guidelines for weathering life's
difficulties. "It's a backbend, a forward bend, a side bend—and a
twist," he says. Winding yourself into all of those shapes at the
same time requires moving from a place of deep solidity. Once
you find your center in Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana, you can extend your spine and limbs
safely. Then, when life presents challenges, you can remember that sense of center,
steady yourself, and expand outward and face things with ease. "If you stay true to
your essence, you can balance yourself when you're being pulled in a million different
directions," Matkin says. "You'll be able to flip over backward without losing your sense
of who you are."

As you work your way through Matkin's sequence, you will create the foundation of
Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana by establishing a stable pelvis. Once you have that solid
base, you will open the hips and hamstrings to help you expand into the final pose with
grace and steadiness. It may seem as though some of the preparatory poses are more
difficult than the final asana. That's no mistake. "In North America people work and
work and work and work, with no end in sight," Matkin says. &qut;There's very little
time for pause. But in this case, all the hard work you'll do goes toward a deep stillness
that is delicious."

If you're unable to extend into the final pose right now, remember that the heart of the
sequence is about connecting to your core and your pelvis, Matkin says. "These poses
give you an opportunity to find out what's at your center. You'll begin to feel your
potential to bend over backward out in the world, while developing the support you
need to stay there."

Benefits Aids digestion; Stretches intercostal muscles (improving respiration);

Increases circulation to the spine and relieves back pain; Helps stabilize the lumbar;
Stretches the hamstrings, groins, quadratus lumborum, and chest

Contraindications Sacral instability or injury; Knee instability or injury; Torn

hamstrings, groin pulls; Lower back strain or spinal disk injuries

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Twisted Fan Pose

This pose appears simple, but it can be challenging to

hold your center. Stand with your feet parallel and
about a leg's distance apart. Work with your knees
slightly bent and firm the hamstrings against the
quadriceps to avoid hyperextension. Squeeze your legs
toward each other isometrically—as though you were
riding a horse.

On an inhalation, lengthen the waist. Then exhale and

tip the torso forward, keeping it long. Walk your hands
forward as far as you can while keeping the spine long
and even. Stay stable: You should be able to lift your
hands off the floor without falling. Inhale and draw the
shoulder blades together; as you exhale, press the
navel toward the spine.

Before you twist, bring your right hand onto your lower
back to check what Matkin calls the "temperature" of
your spine. If you overextend the lumbar, you'll have a
spinal dip that's too deep, which he calls a "hot spot."
If, however, the area is not extended enough, it will feel
a little "cold." So if your lower back is rounded toward
the ceiling, make it "hotter" by arching a bit more, or
you can "cool it down" by lengthening the tailbone
away from the waist. Finding a balanced "temperature"
will feel like a relief if your hamstrings are
overstretched.

Maintaining a long axis from your left hand through the

spine, twist and grasp your left ankle with your right
hand, and look under your left armpit. To keep stable
in your core while opening, allow the twist to feel
expansive and luxurious, but don't let the pelvis rotate
too much.

Stay in the pose and work with your breath long

enough that, as Matkin puts it, instead of "doing" the
pose, you start "being in" the pose. Don't push right
away to your edge; it's more advanced to start where
it's easy and explore without pushing. When you're
ready to come out of the pose, reach your arms
forward and, keeping the waist long, try the other side.

Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose)

Of all the poses in this sequence, it's most challenging

to stabilize the pelvis in Parivrtta Trikonasana. It's a
pose that requires you to find your stability and stay

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honest about your limitations while you extend over a

fully stretched front hamstring and twist without
toppling over. But here's some motivation: When you
learn to keep the pelvis even and aligned in this pose,
you'll access a profoundly deeper twist in the upper
spine.

Instead of aligning your feet heel to heel, Matkin asks

that you be a little "spicy" by using a broad stance,
keeping the feet directly aligned with the hips.

To get there, stand sideways on your mat with your

legs wide and point your right foot to the front of your
mat. Turn your left foot in to a 45-degree angle and
square your hips. Then step your left foot to the left, so
that your feet are wider apart than your hips.
"Challenge yourself to find the most benefit, rather
than the hardest variation of the pose," Matkin urges.

From here, exhale and draw your legs together

isometrically. Inhale as you pull your shoulder blades
together and stream your spine forward and down your
midline as far as you can go while keeping the spine
long. Spend a few breaths finding an even
"temperature" through your spine before twisting.

Then, bring the left hand to the outside of the right

foot, and bend the right knee just a little bit (this makes
the pose easier for those with tight hamstrings and
offers a new challenge to advanced yogis). As you lift
the right hand to the ceiling, draw the right hip back,
spin your chest forward, and arch your upper back.
Draw the arm bones into their sockets and lift your
chest away from the pelvis, along the axis of your
lengthening core.

Keep the pelvis square to the front of the mat and keep
the shoulders aligned vertically. If you feel unstable or
can't find the twist, either drag the fingers of your left
hand against the floor and toward you for a little extra
traction, or rest the hand on your shin. You can turn
your eyes to the ceiling, but don't crank your neck.
"Inchworm" the spine longer and longer with each
breath.

Typically, this pose tests one's ability to stay centered.

One reason for this, Matkin says, is that this asana
works to untie the brahma granthi, the psychic "knot"
that yogis say is located in the top of the lumbar area,
where the fibers of the diaphragm intermesh with the
fibers of the psoas muscle. "This is where you start

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tugging on your fixed sense of who you are, what you

think you can and cannot do," Matkin explains. The
trick is to stay true to your center while you twist and
turn your spine backward, he says.

Come out of Parivrtta Trikonasana as you exhale.

Before doing the other side, first flow into Baddha
Trikonasana, keeping the right foot forward.

Baddha Trikonasana (Bound Triangle Pose)

Baddha Trikonasana foreshadows Parivrtta Janu

Sirsasana, because the torso mimics its shape: The
front hip flexes deeply, and when you bind the pose,
you'll experience the challenge of the torso remaining
fixed against the front thigh while you simultaneously
try to twist the torso open, toward the ceiling.

To get into the pose, shift your left toes back so that
the foot is at a more open 15-degree angle, and line up
the right heel with the arch of the left foot. Bend your
right knee a lot, as if you were going into Utthita
Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose). Then,
roll your right shoulder down to the inside of your right
knee. Reach your right arm underneath your right thigh
and your left arm behind your back until you can clasp
the left wrist with your right hand. Straightening the left
arm will shorten the left waist, so if you can't clasp the
hands while keeping the arm bent—or if you simply
can't do the bind—put your left hand on your sacrum
and your right hand on your shin. Matkin prefers that
you don't use a strap as a prop for this pose so that
you don't fixate on the goal of binding.

Exhale as you work your right hip beneath you; inhale

as you arch your spine. Then, exhaling, open your
belly and chest toward the ceiling, and straighten the
right leg while lengthening the right waist. If you feel as
though your lower back is jamming, you've gone too
far.

Breathe in Bound Triangle and feel the pose emerge,

focusing on how it feels, rather than being hung up on
its shape. When you're ready to move on, release your
wrist and spin your toes to face the other end of your
mat. Widen your feet for a stable base and flow into
Revolved Triangle, then Bound Triangle, with the left
leg forward.

(One-Legged King Pigeon Pose II, variation)

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Before heading into the delicious opening of the final pose,

use this low lunge variation to deeply open the quadriceps,
the psoas, and the hip flexors. First, though, do a few rounds
of Sun Salutations to build heat for the backbending, and
come into Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog
Pose) for a few breaths.

From Down Dog, step your right foot between your hands and
set the back knee on the floor. Take a long stance so that your
weight moves forward toward your thighbone, not directly on
the kneecap. Once again, keep your knees at least as wide as
your hips, which will provide more space for the hip and sacral
area to move. Hug your legs toward each other, spin your hips
toward the front of the mat, keeping both hip bones at the
same height and the sides of the waist even to avoid
compressing the lower back.

Once you've established your base, use your left hand to

draw your left foot toward you. Reach straight back with the
left hand, keeping your thumb pointed upward. Externally
rotate your left arm so that your shoulder blade stays
connected to the back of the ribs. Lift the left shin off the floor
and grab the inner edge of the left foot. With the top of the
big-toe knuckle in the center of your palm, pivot the fingertips
forward and firmly clasp your hand over the top of your toes,
pointing your elbow to the ceiling. As you draw the foot in,
don't worry about how far it goes. Instead, focus on squaring
the hips and lifting out of the low back.

Continue lifting up while you exhale and settle deeply into the
lunge. Press your front knee forward while pulling the front
foot toward you isometrically. Draw the chest and pelvis
vertically away from each other to give extra length to the right
waist. As you inhale, send your breath high into the chest.
Exhale and draw your abdominal muscles in toward your
spine to even out your lumbar and to build a sense of lifting
energetically and muscularly, as if water were flowing up the
spine. Feel for that same lifting sensation as you move back to
Downward Dog and into the lunge with the left leg forward.

The King Pigeon lunge is a key preparation for the final pose.
"Opening all sides of the pelvis prepares you for a deep seat
and a free lumbar spine," Matkin says. "If this pose doesn't
get you started with surrender, we need to talk."

Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana (Revolved Head-of-the-Knee

Pose)

Take a few moments again to cultivate your sense of being in

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the practice, rather than doing all you can to push into the
final pose. In Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana, Matkin says people
tend to grab for as much as they can get, rather than
acknowledging where they really are. "If you seek to
understand what's going on in your body rather than fixing or
changing it, you shift your perspective," he says. So instead of
blindly pushing yourself beyond your limits, choose to
become curious about the truth of what's currently happening.

This is key for your emotional well-being, but it's also key for
protecting your hamstrings and spine from injury. As Matkin
points out, "This is delicate equipment you're working with.
You have to take time to find the pose that feels right for you.
The pose that is the most beautiful is the one with the most
integrity."

Sit with your legs in a wide straddle. Bend your left knee and
bring the left foot toward your pubic bone. Use your hands to
roll open the flesh of the hamstring and calf toward the
ceiling; this external rotation will encourage the knee to roll
away from the pelvis. Then lay your bent leg on the ground.
The farther your knee points away from your straight leg, the
harder the pose will be. Engage the straight leg toward center
to rotate it internally.

To prepare, reach your hands to the floor behind you and lean
your torso back, lifting the chest and lengthening the spine.
Then establish the first of two twists that build the foundation
of this pose. Lean back and twist toward the bent knee, with
the chest open. Take a few breaths to ground both the left
sitting bone and knee into the floor.

Come back to center, then flow into traditional Janu Sirsasana

by twisting toward the straight leg. Ground both sitting bones
as you come into a forward bend over the right leg. Stay here
for a few breaths, focusing on lengthening your spine before
moving on.

From here, get ready to flip the spine open. Grab your right
foot with your right thumb and first two fingers. Keep the palm
facing up. Plant your right elbow against the inner right shin
or calf. Roll your bottom shoulder back and underneath you
as much as you can. Reaching the left arm out and overhead,
open into a deep twist. If you can do it without compromising
the twist, move the right hand onto the arch and grab the toes
with your left hand. Keep the bent knee rolling way out and
keep it grounded.

Matkin suggests working this pose with a wavelike breath that

pulses through the asana. As you exhale, roll the chest down
toward the floor; as you inhale, roll it up toward the ceiling so

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that you're moving from twist to countertwist: "That's the

action that lengthens the spine. That's the inner pulse that the
breath connects us to," Matkin explains. Do this three or four
times before switching sides, so it isn't a one-shot deal. "It's
like going back for dessert time and time again," he says.

As you melt into the pose, you will apply the alignment that
you've worked with through this entire sequence. You will
bend forward and lengthen your spine down the line of the
leg as in Twisted Fan Pose and Revolved Triangle. Then you
will flip the spine open as you did in Bound Triangle, all the
while accessing some of the lift of the King Pigeon Pose
lunge.

"The challenge," says Matkin, "is taking an asymmetrical

position and trying to make it as symmetrical as possible.
You've done neutral, reverse, and bound twists in the three
prior poses; now you're mixing all three of those flavors. The
taller you work your hip crests, as you did in the King Pigeon
lunge, the more access you get to both sides of your waist."

For Matkin, it's the complexity that makes Parivrtta Janu

Sirsasana so beautiful—and helps reveal deeper wisdom
about your practice, both on and off the mat. "Often, people
think they have to strain or struggle to do a pose correctly. But
in yoga you get to just keep showing up—again and again.
The process is the reward. And the more you do it, the more
intimately you'll get to know yourself."

Charles Matkin began his formal study of yoga and meditation at the age of five.
He studied biology, theater, and Ayurveda at Maharishi International University,
and his yoga training includes certifications from the Yoga Zone and Jivamukti
schools, plus extensive education in Iyengar Yoga and Viniyoga. Rachel
Brahinsky is a writer and yoga teacher in San Francisco.

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