Yoga Pose Primer: Jathara Parivartanasana (Revolved Belly Pose)

Taoists call the belly the “elixir field.” In addition to the belly’s role as an assimilator of food, from before birth, the navel contains a reservoir of life force, a gift from our mothers. According to Chinese medicine, positive emotional qualities of a balanced stomach spleen include trust, honesty, acceptance, openness, and equanimity. At the same time, an imbalance might engender anxiety, worry, excessive thinking, obsessiveness, and doubt. The expression “butterflies in your stomach” perfectly describes the edgy agitation of anxiety and worry. Revolved Belly Pose might provide a soothing respite when worries and doubt beset us.

In yoga, Revolved Belly Pose (Jathara Parivartanasana) stimulates and tones the organs of the upper abdominal quadrants, including the stomach, spleen, liver, and pancreas, and can relieve low back discomfort. It is a spinal twist, a class of yoga poses generally considered soothing to the nervous system. Twists promote equanimity and balance, which help dispel the negative consequences of an imbalanced stomach and spleen.

How to Practice Jathara Parivrttanasana

1. Lie on your back on a mat or blanket with your knees bent and the soles of your feet resting on the floor. Extend your arms out at shoulder level so they are at a 90-degree angle to the body. Turn your palms upward.
2. Relax your back body into the floor, allowing your feet, pelvis, shoulder blades, backs of your arms and back of your head to settle into gravity each time you exhale. Observe how these contact points connect with the floor.
3. Lift your feet off the floor, drawing your knees toward your chest. If you feel your lower back beginning to press down into the floor, release your legs away from you a bit so that your lower back is curved slightly away from the floor.
4. With your knees bent, swing your legs over to the right side until they come to rest on the floor. Do not try to line your knees up with each other. Let the left knee rest on your right inner thigh.
5. Lengthen your arms out from your chest and widen the area between the shoulder blades. Turn your head gently to the left.
6. Extend through your arms, chest, and upper back as you inhale generously into your belly. Breathe deeply but without straining. Imagine sending the breath out from the navel center into all the limbs—arms, legs, head, and tailbone. Allow your body to relax around the movement of your breath. Stay for 5 to 10 breaths.
7. To leave the pose, bend your knees and roll your legs and pelvis back to the center. Place your feet on the floor and rest. Feel your back body again resting on the floor. Has anything changed? How are the contact points in your back body connecting with the floor? After a few breaths, repeat the pose on your second side.

Contraindications for Revolved Belly Pose

Revolved Belly Pose is pretty much safe for anyone in any stage of yoga practice. The one exception is in the first trimester of pregnancy when it’s important to avoid twisting.

Like all twists, Revolved Belly Pose helps to calm the body after practicing heating poses such as backbends. It is a great transition pose between backbending and forward bending. Revolved Belly Pose quietly nourishes the stomach and spleen, organs charged with nourishing the whole body. Remember to breathe deeply, letting the deep energy of the belly extend out into the far reaches of your body.