Updating Triangle Pose may cause long term rebellion of prescriptive alignment rules that look aesthetically pleasing on the outside, feels crappy on the inside
Good news. You don’t have to align yourself between two panes of glass in triangle pose.
Alignment based on aesthetics (pleasing visual lines) does not guarantee safety or protection from injury. Yoga poses are manmade, imperfect things influenced by colonial British gymnastics conditioning that we can update to reflect the discoveries of modern movement science. We are complex, multidimensional beings, not two-dimensional paper dolls.
Have you tried desperately to maintain flat, open hips while also folding from the lateral (side) hip where no hip hinge exists? Here’s the story of how I went from panes of glass alignment to something much more inclusive and sustainable.
I use to do triangle pose with the emphasis on opening my top hip as much as I could to keep my hips (body) flat which lent itself to fitting between glass. I didn’t realize how restrictive this alignment felt until one day my teacher Jason Crandell said hey, you don’t have to do triangle like that. Deconstructing the pose and approaching it with curiosity was a game changer. This permission to move and explore alignment started a big shift in the way I teach movement and the shapes we make in yoga. More inquiry and curiosity. Fewer rules and warnings.
Looking back I realize how crunched I felt in the pose because of the emphasis I put on the open position of my hips. Once I was told I could move my hips the pose expanded for me. I found length through both sides of my body, my bottom hand reached easily to the ground and I felt an amazing stretch in my psoai.
It’s not about trading one set of alignment rules for another. It’s about having the spirit to move around and find the right amount of the pose for you.
There is more than one way in and more than one right way to align triangle pose, but this good news story doesn’t end with the alignment of triangle - it applies to how we approach yoga alignment more broadly.
If you are curious about Triangle pose and want to refine it check out the filed notes below.
<< Trikonasana >>
Come into warrior II pose on the right side and straighten the front leg.
Bring your left hand to your left hip and feel/allow it to turn in towards your front just a bit.
ALIGNMENT UPDATE: There is no more "putting your body between two panes of glass."
Hinge at your front hip and root your right hand to either your mat or a yoga block.
Extend your left arm overhead.
Upper body, torso spins open. Feel broad across your chest.
Lengthen through your spine.
Tailbone draws in just a little.
Root through your feet.
Distribute the pose throughout your body, standing up tall in your bones.
Take a look at the collage above to see the open hip struggle, it also shows how turning the top hip in gives me room to open from the torso and chest. Yes, there’s a twist open from the upper body. This allows room for things to be more evenly distributed through the whole body. So it’s not just one part struggling to hold the whole thing together. You might find that you can take a wider stance with the legs and even touch the floor once you’ve made these alignment updates to your triangle. It’s the difference between making the shape for a visual aesthetic vs. making the shape so it feels well distributed from the inside. Whenever I break this down in class there’s always a few, oh wows or thank you, I thought that was the only way to do the pose.
