Pose of the Month: Trikonasana - Triangle Pose
By Juliana Cole, Yoga Instructor & Yoga Heights Studio ManagerHello Yoga Heights! I am currently rounding the corner into my third week of bedrest and on crutches after breaking my leg/ankle. I miss being able to move freely; I miss being called to my mat to engage in that beautiful practice where we stretch, move and listen to our bodies. I miss it so much that I dream about it. What’s the next best thing to doing? Writing about it!Welcome, Yoga Heights reader, to the Pose of the Month post on Trikonasana, Triangle Pose. This is unequivocally my favorite pose. It’s like the sneak attack of poses because it’s a shape that is relatively simple to make (when all your limbs work as they’re intended to work) and has lots of subtle variations, but with the slightest adjustment of how your body works in this pose, it can be like reaching samadhi (enlightenment) all at once. There’s so much going on in your body in this active pose. There are so many subtle cues that can be given to find the desired alignment for this pose. I always recommend taking time when you arrive in Trikonasana to tune in deeply and notice the slight adjustments that make this pose so sneaky and amazing. I have a student who I always give a slight adjustment to in this pose, when she’s leading with her left foot, and I hear her spine satisfyingly align, crack, and pop and she gives me that sigh that tells me she feels better. The word Trikonasana is broken down to mean: tri “three”, kona “angle”, asana “pose”. So in this three angle pose, or triangle pose, your body forms a triangle. In fact, you make various triangles when doing this pose, which can be a fun detail to investigate next time you’re in this pose - “how many triangles am I making?”. Part of what makes this a sneaky pose is that it can appear fairly straight-forward but there’s so much going on: your hips are in both a closed and open position; you are toning the pelvic floor while creating length for the spine; you’re engaging in a subtle twist of the spinal column, helping to gently massage the inner organs; you are opening the chest and engaging your core in order to stay lifted and relieve stress in the neck; and finally, you’re stretching through the full extension of all four limbs.Benefits of this eureka pose:
- Increase flexibility and strength in the legs and the joints of the lower body
- Strengthen your core muscles
- Opens the chest
- Improves Digestion
- Helps to relieve lower back pain
Let’s build the pose from the ground up!Trikonasana is a standing posture that provides an intense stretch along the entire underside of the leg that is leading the posture- the leg that points in the direction your torso will go. *Scroll down to the bottom of this section for modifications if you are experiencing sharp pains in your hamstring and posterior chain.
- The front foot points directly forward, which directs the stretch along the underside of the leg, and the back foot is either parallel to the back edge of the mat or the toes are turning slightly inward towards the front of the mat. In this posture, the thing of the back leg is internally rotating (turning the back toes in slightly can help this internal rotation), encouraging that hip to stay in a closed position, whereas the hip connected to the front leg is opening up.
- This foundation positions the hips in such a way that you can comfortably move the torso, which helps to strengthen and tone the pelvis.
- With your arms extended out to the side, parallel to the ground, you start the movement of the torso from your hips. The hips move on one plane towards the back of the mat. It’s important here to keep the hips moving linearly on one plane, instead of allowing your bottom to start to stick out. As you move find this movement, notice the sensation in your inner thighs and pelvic floor. This area should feel like it’s starting to engage and draw in. This is the important part of the foundation that allows you to feel lifted and allows the torso to move more fluidly.
- Reaching with the arm extended to the front, move the torso forward staying in that same linear plane as the front leg. This is when you start to feel the full length and the deep stretch in the front leg.
- Moving the arms at the same time, the front arm reaches down for the ground and the back arm and fingers reach through towards the ceiling.
- The bottom hand can rest on a block if it doesn’t reach the ground, the index finger and middle finger can wrap around the big toe, or the bottom hand can rest on or against the front shin. If the hand is on a block, press into the block while you stretch through the fingers of the top hand. If the hand is on or against the shin, gently press into that hand while you stretch through the fingers of the top hand. If the peace fingers are wrapped around the big toe, connect the thumb to the ti of the peace finger, press down through the big toe and stretch through the fingers of the top hand. Whatever is happening with the bottom hand, the idea is to stretch the arms in opposite directions in order to open and stretch the chest.
- Draw the bottom of the shoulder blades together slightly and down the spine so that the tops of the shoulders and neck relax.
- Turn the head to gaze towards the top hand. *If you experience vertigo or dizziness, turn to face the ground.
- To feel the fullness of this pose, work towards keeping the hips and pelvis in the same line as the shoulders. You can do this by drawing the tailbone down towards the inner arch of the back foot while the pelvic floor continues to contract and pull forward. Continue to draw the shoulders back and feel as though the center of the chest is turning upwards towards the ceiling.
Modifications for pulled hamstrings*If you have hamstring or any posterior chain issues (that area including the glutes and where the glutes meet the hamstring muscles) this can be a really gentle stretch for this area. You can completely straighten the front leg and relish in feeling the length of the limbs without feeling that sharp jabbing pain that you may feel in forward folds. If overstretched hamstrings or glutes are starting to fire up in this pose, use a block underneath the bottom hand and change the height of the block to get the torso to a place where there is less of a pull on the hamstrings. I always encourage the use of blocks in this pose because we tend to reach too far for the ground, which make the hips and bottom start to come out of alignment. If the torso can stay parallel to the ground, you have more range of motion to feel the extension of the limbs, the openness of the chest and the subtle twist of the spinal column. When doing this at home, start with a block at the highest height, and slowly change the height of the block. Simply notice the difference.Case in point, a seemingly straight-forward pose has so much happening! This is one of the first poses that most people learn when practicing asana and it is used as one of the most fundamental AND foundational poses. From Trikonasana, you have the right foundation to start to explore balancing poses, deeper twists, internal and external rotation of the hips and way more. Sit in this pose for a while and then explore variations with binds of the arms, strengthening activities for the core muscles and obliques, and fluid movement either back to standing or into a balancing pose like half moon pose.As always, move mindfully, move gently, move slowly when you’re exploring and listen to your body above all else. Enjoy!
Take classes with Juliana:Tuesdays at 10:00 am - Takoma, All Levels FlowTuesdays at 12:00 pm - Georgia Avenue, All Levels FlowThursdays at 7:45 pm - Takoma, Restorative YogaSaturdays at 10:45 am - Georgia Avenue, All Levels Flow