​Trikonasana – The Triangle Pose

Coming into the pose

• Stand with the feet spread apart at least twice as wide as your hips. Be careful not to spread too wide. Try it with different distances until one works particularly well for you.
• Bring the heel of the left foot out to the side a little and bring the toes in toward the center some.
• Turn the right foot to 90N.
• Keep the legs straight and turn the hips so they are squared forward as much as possible (not turned toward the right foot).
• Lift the arms up over head and stretch up tall to lengthen the spine. Now stretch the arms out to the sides – reaching out from the center of the heart, and pushing right through the finger tips. Be careful not to pull the arms back – just straight out to the sides. Draw the arms away from each other and the shoulders down from the ears.
• Keeping the legs straight and while pressing the feet into the floor (note that it is the pressing of the feet into the floor while holding the pose that makes the energy flow through the posture; this is an important element of the posture) stretch over to the right. The pelvis moves toward the left. Lean out to the right. Be careful to not let the upper (left) shoulder and chest or left hip shift planes, or lean forward. Keep them in the same plane as the two legs. Don’t be in a hurry to come down. Go over to the side so that your legs stretch even more, the upper thigh of the right leg presses into the hip, your right side and arm stretch out fully. Only at this point should you come down.
• Continuing to lengthen out from the heart through both arms, bring the right hand down to the leg. It is not important that the hand come to the foot. Keep the left hip pulling back some so the body remains mostly in one plane. If the hand does comfortably reach the foot it is nice leave it there.
• Keep the breath flowing gently through the nostrils.
• Turn the head to look toward the upraised left hand. Try turning the arm so you can see the palm of the hand. If this causes discomfort in the neck, rather than turning the head let it remain parallel to the floor.

Tips to energize the pose fully

• Press steadily through both feet.
• Keep the legs straight.
• Stretch out from the center of the chest through both arms.
• Feel a lengthening from the coccyx right out through the crown of the head.
• Again, remember to breath comfortably into the posture.
• (Many variations and extra elements may be included which we will feature at a later time in this space.)
• Gently raise back up while inhaling, relax the shoulders and chest, then shift the feet to turn the other way and work the other side. Enjoy.

Some of the benefits

• Opens the hips and chest, and elongates the spine.
• Stretches and tones the muscles of the legs.
• Stretches and develops the intercostal muscles of the rib cage.
• Strengthens the neck.
• Can bring relief to backaches and menstrual cramps.
• Gives a rare stretch to the sides of the body, bringing a sense of “opening.”
• Awakens the Anahata Heart Chakra.