Triangle pose is one of my favorites. You’ll find most teachers including it in yoga classes in many different styles.
I tend to include it in every class I teach. It has many benefits and can be used as a warm-up, or as a working pose. Here are some of the things you can do with this great asana.
To get into the pose we will start with the right side. Of course, you would want to do both sides for approximately the same amount of time each.
Step your feet wide, a little wider than half your height. Have your right toe pointing to the right and your left foot turned in better than 90 degrees if at all possible. Always adjust if something is uncomfortable or if there is pain.
With an inhale, bring your arms up to parallel. As you exhale reach long out over your right side shifting your hips to the left. Take your right hand down to the right let and reach your left arm overhead.
Keep the torso straight only bending at the waist keeping the ribs long and not rounded. Look up towards the upraised hand as you rotate the torso in the same direction.
Have the torso in the same plane as the legs. It can be hard to tell if this is the case or not. Doing the pose with your back to a wall will help. Have your left heal touching the wall and the right foot about four inches away. In the pose one of your gluts will be touching the wall — it depends on how much your body rotates, and your left shoulder would also be touching the wall. Have your right hand high enough up on the leg so that you can do this comfortably.
Work the pose from the ground up. Start with the feet, keeping yourself grounded. Activate the left leg so that the thigh rotates back pressing the outside edge of the foot into the ground. Activate the right leg so the thigh rotates back. The arches of both feet will rise with this activation, especially the right foot. Keep the base of the big toes pressing into the ground so that the foot doesn’t roll all the way out. The arch develops more of an arch when the feet are activated this way. This will help develop the arch for those with feet that have little or no arch.
Rotate the hips back. The whole torso is rotating up towards the sky, and this starts with the hips. You can help increase this arch by taking your left hand down behind your back to the thigh. Grab the leg and draw yourself deeper into the arch, or just reach the arm down. Bring your right arm back up again.
Keep the torso actively elongated. You’ll have a well rotated upper body that is also very long. Keep the neck elongated as well with the spine of the neck in line with the rest of your back. There is s tendency to arch the neck or let the head drop.
Reach your arms long spreading the shoulder blades away from each other. The right hand is only touching the right leg so you can reach the arm long and the shoulder reaching down which is countered by the left arm reaching long and upward. Keep your spine lifted.
Breathing is predominately diaphragmatic with triangle pose. That is, breathing in the belly only. This breathing practice helps relieve stress and relaxes the body. From time to time you may need to take a deep breath though. You have held the pose too long if you have to hold the breath to hold the pose.
By: Kalidasa Brown
About the Author:
There are many benefits to triangle pose. The spine is made more supple, the muscles strong. The lower back will often adjust with triangle pose. The organs of the belly are massaged, especially the kidneys since that is the area that is bending. The intestines, liver and spleen also get a nice rub down due to the action of the twist.
Yoga and meditation are one. As a practice, it is best hyperlink to meditate in the pose with a focus on a sense of Self — soul or spirit, your breathing, where the different parts of the body are, your grounding and on yoga itself — the union of the Self with All That Is.
This is the basic work for triangle pose. There are many other ways to work different aspects of this wonderful pose, not to mention some wonderful variations.
More information on the energetic aspects of yoga poses can be found at http://YogaWithKalidasa.com where you can get a free book, find yoga DVDs, and there is lots of information about yoga and meditation added all the time.
