Free Your Pelvis

Strengthening your side waist muscles may not eliminate your love handles, but it will unlock your pelvis and protect your lower back.

By Julie Gudmestad

To keep your left ribs and waist from lengthening and curving excessively when you do Trikonasana to the right, your left flank muscles must contract to pull the ribs and pelvis closer together; this is how these muscles are strengthened in Trikonasana. The quadratus lumborum and the lateral fibers of your obliques bear a large load. To understand how this works, you must consider how gravity pulls on your torso. The weight of your torso is about half of your total body weight. When you are upright, that weight is centered over the bony structures of the pelvis and legs, but as you begin to tip to the side, much more weight must be held up by your flank muscles. And all this good strengthening work is happening without compressing your lower back.

To get the maximum strengthening benefit for the flank muscles, however, you must also create the proper movement of the pelvis. If the bowl of the pelvis stays upright and you bend to the side, all of the bend must come from the spine, and one side of your back will lengthen while the other side shortens. If, on the other hand, the pelvic bowl tips to the side, the spine can actually remain relatively straight as it becomes more parallel to the floor. This tipping movement seems to be a challenge for many students when learning Trikonasana. One reason for this difficulty is that tipping the pelvis to the side is not a movement you use in your everyday activities, so that it's just not in your movement repertoire. Another limiting factor is tightness in the hamstrings, on the backs of the thighs and adductors, on the inner thighs. These muscle groups originate on or attach to the sitting bones. If they are tight and short, the ability of the pelvis to tip to the side will be limited.

If you do have tight hamstrings and adductors, you would be wise to stretch them before working on Trikonasana. An excellent way to open up the range of motion that you will be needing for Trikonasana is to practice a supported version of Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Extended Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose) with your leg out to the side, instead of in front of you. Stand with the right side of your body a few feet away from a chair, so that your left leg is directly under your left hip, and put your right foot up on the chair seat. A chair seat is generally about the correct height to use if you have moderately tight legs, but if you are a little more flexible, you might be able to use a higher prop. Whatever height you do use, make sure that your pelvis is level; if you put your foot up too high, your right pelvis will be higher than the left. Also make sure that your foot and your kneecap point to the ceiling. To open your right hip, stand tall and gently rotate your abdomen to the left. Take care that you don't let your right knee turn forward; keep it pointing toward the ceiling. The gentle stretch that you feel in your right hamstrings and/or inner thigh, if you practice this pose regularly, will make it easier to tip your pelvis sideways in Trikonasana.

Extending Your Triangle Pose
Now let's integrate all these awarenesses into Trikonasana. Stand with your back against a wall and position your feet near the wall with your right foot turned out and your left foot turned in. (Using the wall as a prop is not mandatory, but it is a very valuable tool for learning the correct movement of the pelvis.) Your right buttock should be lightly touching the wall, however your left buttock should not. If you force your left buttock to the wall, your ability to tip your pelvis to the side will be severely limited. So allow the left pelvis to stay forward a little during your transition into Trikonasana; this position also helps keep your right knee properly aligned, with the kneecap pointing over the center of the foot. Now place your right hand at the right hip joint, which is the crease at the top of the thigh where it joins the pelvis. Inhale, and as you exhale, apply pressure with your right hand so that your right hip and thighbone slide to the left. You will be able to feel your right buttock slide on the wall, your pelvis will tip to the right, and your hamstrings and adductors will lengthen.

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