All About The Triangle Pose, Utthita Trikonasana: Essential Yoga Pose

In Sanskrit in the text: Utthita Trikonasana.

Utthita Trikonasana is the famous posture of the triangle.

Not a yoga class where you didn’t see her. But too often it is done mechanically, as a necessary step to move towards other more complex postures.

A bit like a roadside break in a trucker to eat before taking out holiday clothes the next day and going to dinner in a three-star restaurant. Well no!

It’s a magnificent yoga posture, a 3 star in itself! To learn more about beneficial yoga poses join Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh from www.yogateachertraining-india.com. YTTI Rishikesh is the best yoga school in Rishikesh.

The benefits of the triangle on the body

This yoga pose is part of the family of standing yoga poses.

Of course, we will work the feet, ankles, legs. at the articular and muscular level. But not only: it is a posture that will stretch the sides of the bust, thus also affecting our internal organs:

• the stomach stretches
• the kidneys at the back of our body
• liver
• the spleen
• the pancreas
• lungs.

And, since the entire spine stretches one side and then the other, we create space between each vertebra.

This yoga posture, therefore, helps us to remove tension in the back:

• in the buttocks
• the sacrum, and the lumbar
• higher between the shoulder blades
• then on the trapezoids.

Utthita Trikonasana: a complete posture

So fundamental!

Its energetic foundations

In the triangle posture, you are firmly planted on your feet. Yes, but the legs are wide apart: it is very beautiful, this notion of balance to be found, the feet firmly on the ground, and at the same time the legs apart to let the energy of the Earthrise all along the spine.

The bust is stretched to the side, in a notion of lengthening the spine. Like the stem of a flower which rises, which stretches out and which will bloom at the very top, with the head. The sap rises through the stem, as prana rises from the pelvis.

Our hips, our pelvis, is the matrix. Vital energy, prana, is processed in the second chakra, swadistana chakra, in our lower abdomen. This prana flows through our vertebrae, like the sap that will bring out the flower, our head.

There is not just one, but multiple triangles in this Utthita Trikonasana :

• a global triangle
• a smaller one between the legs
• yet another between the thigh of the front leg, bust and front arm
• finally another triangle, very stretched, between the two elongated arms which form its base and the head which forms the top.

When we lean like this on one side, then the other, we massage our vital organs, the energy diffuses, floods them, waters them and delivers us.

Look how beautiful this line formed between the 2 arms is: the lower hand towards the ground, the upper hand towards the sky. The man between heaven and earth, anchored towards the earth which gives him his security, his calm, and raised towards the sky. The pole that gives it elevation and consciousness.

The head is turned towards the sky, the gaze towards the hand. When you are experienced enough, experience looking beyond, with your hand, to the sky. The balance is less easy to maintain, but what happiness! A feeling of joy and uplifting arrives.

Utthita Trikonasana in detail

• Stand in the mountain pose, Tadasana
• Inhale, and jump by spreading your legs about 1 m 20, 1 m 30; The taller you are, the wider your legs are. The feet parallel to each other
• At the same time as you spread the legs, the arms form a large reel and stretch out horizontally, to open the chest and expand the heart
• Turn left foot 30 ° inward, right foot and right leg 90 °
• Raise the quadriceps, push the left thigh back, and turn the right thigh outward
• Absorb the tailbone
• Breathe calmly, and feel how you can lift and open your chest

All standing yoga postures promote centring and balance. They structure the whole body, at the muscular, articular and respiratory levels.

• Stretch your arms out from the centre of the chest, and come down to the side.
• Grasp the ankle, stretch the upper arm skyward to the tips of the fingers. The kick, ankle, knee and mid-thigh
• should be aligned to allow the body to stretch into a good position, and energy to flow.
• Check that the quadriceps remain well mounted, and absorb the coccyx well inwards
• lengthen the lower edge and the outside edge of the bust evenly
• Tuck in the lower scapula and roll the lower shoulder back
• Stretch the back of your neck and turn your head to the sky
• Relax the glottis and throat and breathe deeply, opening the chest
• Stretch the arms, inhale and come back by the force of the back arm
• Do the same on the other side

Your hands and fingers are like antennae that capture energy: stretch them out well.

To conclude on the triangle – Utthita Trikonasana

This posture strengthens the legs and is very beneficial for the lower back.

It roots us, and at the same time, helps us to open our chest, and to relieve the stress when we breathe deeply. All the geometric figures of the triangle that we draw with our body in this posture help to create a feeling of harmony and balance.