(oo-TEE-tah trik-cone-AHS-anna) utthita = extended trikona = three angle or triangle
Step by Step
Stand in Tadasana. With an exhalation, step or lightly jump your feet 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.
Turn your left foot in slightly to the right and your right foot out to the right 90 degrees. Align the right heel with the left heel. Firm your thighs and turn your right thigh outward, so that the center of the right knee cap is in line with the center of the right ankle.
Exhale and extend your torso to the right directly over the plane of the right leg, bending from the hip joint, not the waist. Anchor this movement by strengthening the left leg and pressing the outer heel firmly to the floor. Rotate the torso to the left, keeping the two sides equally long. Let the left hip come slightly forward and lengthen the tailbone toward the back heel.
Rest your right hand on your shin, ankle, or the floor outside your right foot, whatever is possible without distorting the sides of the torso. Stretch your left arm toward the ceiling, in line with the tops of your shoulders. Keep your head in a neutral position or turn it to the left, eyes gazing softly at the left thumb.
Stay in this pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Inhale to come up, strongly pressing the back heel into the floor and reaching the top arm toward the ceiling. Reverse the feet and repeat for the same length of time to the left.
A partner can help you learn how to move into this pose properly. Have your partner stand in front of your forward foot, facing you. Inhale the forward arm up, parallel to the floor. Your partner can grasp your wrist and wedge his/her big toe into the forward hip crease. As you exhale, have your partner pull on your arm and push into your hip crease, stretching the underside of your torso.
I love your website and magazine. As I yoga teacher I find them both to be great references. I have noticed though that a lot of the posture descriptions don't match the pictures. Ie. In this posture, you say to have the right foot forward, but in the picture it's the left foot. Don't know if there is some reasoning behind it, but I think it could be of greater benefit if you could have the descriptions match the pictures. Thanks!
Ann
Triangle can be problematic if practiced the traditional Iyengar way, the way it used to be taught, "between two plates of glass" . That position endangers the sacro-ilial joint. Allow the top hip to come forward, as noted above. Judith Lasseter has written an entire article on this!
Michelle from UK
These demos are absolutely brilliant. Do you think you could add some more for other postures too?
Stand in Tadasana. With an exhalation, step or lightly jump your feet 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.
Turn your left foot in slightly to the right and your right foot out to the right 90 degrees. Align the right heel with the left heel. Firm your thighs and turn your right thigh outward, so that the center of the right knee cap is in line with the center of the right ankle.
Exhale and extend your torso to the right directly over the plane of the right leg, bending from the hip joint, not the waist. Anchor this movement by strengthening the left leg and pressing the outer heel firmly to the floor. Rotate the torso to the left, keeping the two sides equally long. Let the left hip come slightly forward and lengthen the tailbone toward the back heel.
Rest your right hand on your shin, ankle, or the floor outside your right foot, whatever is possible without distorting the sides of the torso. Stretch your left arm toward the ceiling, in line with the tops of your shoulders. Keep your head in a neutral position or turn it to the left, eyes gazing softly at the left thumb.
Stay in this pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Inhale to come up, strongly pressing the back heel into the floor and reaching the top arm toward the ceiling. Reverse the feet and repeat for the same length of time to the left.
