Trikonasana/Triangle Pose

Triangle pose is one of the more interesting and complex of the common poses. It's thought of as a beginner pose, because pretty much everyone can do it to some extent. But even after years and years of doing trikonasana, I'm still figuring things out about it.

When they first start doing Trikonasana, most people think of it as a side bend, because they feel the side stretch on the top side the most. And sure, it is a side stretch. But then, teachers will tell you to extend the bottom side of the torso as much as the top side. This can be pretty confusing the first time you hear it -- obviously you're compressing the bottom side of the torso, and lengthening the top side. But the instruction should be this -- you TRY to extend the bottom side as much as the top side. In other words, you're trying to make your whole torso as parallel to the floor on both sides as possible. And at the same time, you're trying to make your pelvis as perpendicular to the floor as possible -- as if you were lying on your side. This is pretty much never going to happen for just about everyone, but that's OK -- what's important is your intention, the effort you make towards the goal.

So my revelation after a dozen years or so of doing Trikonasana is that what's really important in the pose is what's happening at the hip joint of the forward leg. I think the way to really take your Trikonasana places is to think only of what's happening at this joint, and pretty much ignore the rest.

Here's an image to consider. Imagine that instead of your torso heading towards parallel to the floor, you are maintaining it upright. If you replicate the torso/leg relationship (i.e. the action at the hip joint) with your torso in the upright position, where would your front leg be? Why, straight out to the side, lifted way up, with your foot up somewhere near shoulder or head level. Think of a ballet dancer standing on one leg, with the other leg straight and held up by the ankle out to the side. Note that her spine is totally straight, pelvis totally perpendicular to the spine. It's all flexion at the hip joint.

So the real action of trikonasana is a leg flexion of the front leg, completely to the side. It's like a hamstring stretch straight out to the side with your leg externally rotated as much as possible.

OK, I know this is all pretty abstract -- that's just how I am. I have to abstract things first, then come back to the real, practical world. So to get practical, here are some steps to follow for trikonasana.

1. First of all, there is no correct distance to spread your legs. And there's no reason to always have your legs the same distance apart. Try three feet apart one day, five feet apart the next day. The two poses will be very different. Neither is "right", they are just different.

2. Really, really externally rotate your front thigh as much as possible. You can even bring your top hand behind your back, grab the front of your thigh, and rotate it outwards. While you are rotating your thigh outwards, think of tucking your bottom/front sit-bone underneath you as much as possible.

3. Here's the most important thing -- push the bottom sit-bone back in space, towards the back of your mat, as much as possible. Here is where you think of making your whole spine as parallel to the floor to the floor as possible, and your pelvis as perpendicular to the floor as possible. Remember -- lying on your side.

Note -- by pushing the sit bone towards the back, you should feel the stretch in the hamstring increase. This is what you want. Your hamstring flexibility (unless you are a Gumby) should be the limiting factor in how far you can tilt your pelvis onto its side. If you can't get a hamstring stretch in this pose, you should experiment with lengthening the distance between the feet. If you still can't get a hamstring stretch, count your blessings.

4. Don't worry about where your hand is. Everyone is so goal-oriented in yoga, which is fine, except they choose the wrong goals. Bringing your hand to the floor is not the goal in trikonasana. Getting your spine parallel to the floor, and your pelvis perpendicular to the floor is your goal. Getting the hand to the floor may just mean that your're curving your spine to the side a lot.

Mind you, it's not the worst thing to curve the spine -- we all do it to some extend. And you do get the side stretch on the top side. But there are better ways to get a side stretch, and besides, what's really powerful and unique in the triangle pose is the sideways leg flexion in the front leg.

So, give it a try. Just focus on the hip joint of the front leg, trying to get as much of a stretch of all the muscles there as you can. Don't worry about the hands, the side stretch. It's all in the hips, baby.

My favorite standing forward bend

I like doing standing forward bends. For the whole time I have been doing yoga -- 14 years, I think -- I have much, much preferred uttanasana (standing forward bend) to pachimottanasana (seated forward bend). You are essentially doing the same stretch, but for me it is much more comfortable. The two main advantages that come to mind are (a) in uttanasana, you've got gravity pulling your torso towards the floor, which helps elongate the spine, and (b) because the weight of your torso is not pushing your pelvis into the floor, it's easier to rotate the top of the pelvis forward, thereby lengthening the backs of the legs, which is what you're trying to do in both of these poses.

And in fact, I think (a), the weight of the body also pulls at the pelvis encouraging the rotation that you're trying to do. Of course it's possible to do the same rotation in pachimottanasana, but it's just not as natural, not as easy.

Now, to my favorite version of the standing forward bend. Anyone who's taken my class a few times has probably done this with me. In this version, you stand in tadasana (mountain pose) with your heels 8-16 inches away from a wall, with good alignment in feed and legs. Then you lean your butt back onto the wall. Then, you come to a flat back, tryiing to get as much stretch as possible in the legs, before you round and stretch the back. And then, in this position, you bring hands to the wall, and push off just a half-inch or so and try to move your sit bones up the wall as far as you can. This tilts your pelvis forward even more, bringing as much stretch as possible into the legs. Then you go ahead and round the back, and relax into this pose.

One thing that's interesting about this variation, is that with your legs out like this you're effectively doing the standing forward bend with your feet somewhat pointed. (How pointed depends on how far away from the wall your feet are. This is a choice you have to make when you're doing the pose.) By pointing the feet, your relaxing the calf muscles, which in a leg flexion position like pachimottansana pull on the hamstrings, making the stretch harder.

This is one of the ways in which I'm somewhat of a yoga heretic -- I totally believe in doing hamstring stretch with toes pointed as well as with feet flexed. I don't just think that one's "easier", I think they're different, I think they stretch the hamstrings differently. I always encourage people to experiment with this.

I was doing this variation of pachimottanasana today, thinking about what makes it so great. One of the best things, i realized, is that since you're leaning your weight into the wall, you don't have to work to keep your balance. You're just kind of falling into the wall. So in this position you can relax all the muscles of your legs and torso much more than you can if you need to maintain your balance. It's a nice, gentle, slow forward bend, and I often hold this for quite a while, maybe two or three minutes.

Give it a try, let me know if you like it.