The R ight
Angle
Learn proper
alignment in this pose
and lay a powerful
foundation for your
whole practice.
UTTHITA TRIKONASANA(Extended Triangle
Pose) looks like its name. You can see several
triangles in the pose: Your hands and back foot
are the points of one; your two feet are points of another; and your
torso, arm, and front leg form the sides of yet another. One of the first
poses yoga students learn, Triangle teaches you to feel firmness in your
legs, a lengthening of your spine, fullness in your chest, and freedom
in your neck and shoulders. Triangle also increases the flexibility and
strength of your legs and lower joints (ankles, knees, and hips). If you
have tight hamstrings, forward bends might aggravate lower-back
pain, but Triangle provides a safe way to stretch the legs while extend-
ing the back sideways.
When I first attempted Triangle, I thought that if I could reach
my hand to the floor, voilà! I was done. I was not yet aware that in
reaching to the floor, I had sacrificed the alignment of other body
parts. My knees drooped, my hips flew backward, and my shoulder
slumped forward. I had yet to learn to use my muscles to support me
so that I had a strong foundation from which to extend.BUILD A BASE
The main triangle you can see in the pose is the one at the bottom,
where the floor is the base and your legs are the sides. The feet and
floor form the foundation of the structure. Beginners often immedi-
ately reach their hands to the floor, as I did, but sacrifice the stability
of the foundation. Take time to create a firm, balanced, stable base.DON’T let the front knee turn inward and drop.DO turn the front thigh outward.PRESS THE OUTER EDGE OF THE
BACK HEEL INTO THE FLOORstanding & balancingstanding by Marla Apt
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