Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose)

<h2> Utthita Trikonasana. The Extended Triangle Pose</h2>It is impossible to imagine yoga practice without the triangle pose. It strengthens the whole body and at the same time makes it more flexible, and that is exactly why it appears in almost every one of our classes. "Utthita" means stretched, extended, "trikona" ("tri" - three, "kona" - angle) - triangle. This is the extended triangle pose. Short description of Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose) 1. Stand up straight in Tadasana (Mountain Pose).2. On an inhalation jump the feet about one metre apart and stretch the arms out to the sides in line with the shoulders. The palms face the floor.3. Turn the right leg 90° to the right. Turn the left foot slightly in. Tighten the knees and the thighs. Take one or two breaths in and out.4. Inhaling, bend the trunk to the right. Take hold of the right ankle with the right hand5. Raise the left arm so that it is in line with the shoulders and the right arm. The left palm faces forward. Extend both arms; the elbows stay firm throughout.6. Turn the neck and look at the thumb of the left hand.7. This is the final position of the asana. Breathe normally and stay in it for 20-30 seconds, paying attention to the following points:(I) the thigh muscles should be firm and the kneecaps drawn in and lifted up; (II) the back of the left leg, the hip and the back surface of the ribcage should be in one plane; (III) broaden the ribcage; to do this, draw the shoulder blades in. 8. Now, on an inhalation, lift the right palm off the ankle, lift the trunk and return to the position of this technique, and then to position 2.9. Repeat this pose to the left, following points 3-8 and replacing the word «right» with the word «left» and vice versa. Exhale and jump back into Tadasana. Special notes: (1) While you are in position 2 the feet should point straight ahead; do not let them turn out to the sides.(2) Extend the toes, but do not tense them.(3) After turning the right foot out to the side, make sure the ankle, the knee and the middle of the thigh are in one line.(4) In position 3:(I) while you turn the right foot, do not bend the left knee; (II) the left arm must stay steady and should neither rise nor drop;(III) the trunk should not lean to the right. The anus and the head should stay in one line.(5) Beginners who find bending difficult may hold the shin instead of the ankle. The finer points of doing Utthita Trikonasana: To strengthen the effect of the exercise, in the final phase you may shift a little of the body weight onto the wrist of the lower arm and, resting on it, create an additional effort to rotate the spine, turning the trunk into a plane perpendicular to the surface of the floor.As the trunk bends, the head turns towards the raised arm, setting the rotation of the spine. In this way the requirement that the arms be placed on one vertical line is met, and a strong stretch is created at the base of the spinal column and in the hip joints. The spine does not arch upwards but stays straight and perpendicular to the line joining the upper points of the iliac bones of the pelvis. The upper and lower sides of the trunk are stretched equally, and the bend is made mainly through the sideways tilt of the pelvis.While doing the asana, feel the energetic connection between the palms of the hands.The upper arm reaches upwards, stretching the ribcage.The length of the inhalation equals the length of the exhalation; the retention of breath after the exhalation is at its maximum.If the classical Utthita Trikonasana is difficult - for instance because of poor flexibility and/or balance - you may use a support (a chair or a wooden block), and also do the pose standing at a wall.When doing the additional variant of Utthita Trikonasana it is very important to watch that the leg on the side you are bending towards stays straight; the knee must not collapse downwards. At the learning stage, to avoid injury, people whose knees hyperextend easily should do the bend with the leg bent at the knee. Contraindications: Neck injury (do not look up)Low blood pressureCirculatory insufficiency Detailed description of Utthita Trikonasana Placing the feet. Begin by working out the distance between the feet that is right for you. The position of the legs should be comfortable and stable, but at the same time the feet should not be placed too close together. Set the feet a little more than a metre apart, parallel to each other. Turn the right leg fully out: the toes and the knee should point straight to the right.Bring the right heel in line with the left. Then turn the left foot in by 15-20 degrees. Bend the right leg so that the knee is above the heel, then look at the right thigh - it should be parallel to the floor. If it is not, increase the distance between the feet: keeping the right leg bent, move the left foot further away from the right until the right thigh becomes parallel to the floor. Then straighten the right leg again - this is your individual distance for Utthita Trikonasana. If the leg muscles are not very elastic and the hip joints are not mobile enough, you will find it hard to keep the front thigh parallel to the floor without feeling strain in the legs, knees or lower back. In that case place the feet closer together to begin with.Coming into the asana. The first step towards mastering Utthita Trikonasana has been taken, and we can move on. Take a block and stand it on its tall edge behind the right foot. If, once in the pose, you feel that you can lower the palm further, change the position of the block.Spread the arms out to the sides, parallel to the floor. Extend them intensively. Imagine that they grow longer with every exhalation. Reach up through the crown of the head, lengthening the spine. Press the outer edge of the left foot firmly into the floor. Lift the right side of the pelvis, taking it away from the right thigh. Draw the knees up. Inhale deeply, lowering the left hand onto the waist, and turn your gaze to the fingertips of the right hand. On an exhalation lower yourself slowly to the right, bending from the hip joint and lengthening both sides evenly.Lower the right hand onto the block, press the palm firmly into it, but do not transfer your body weight onto it. Reach up towards the ceiling with the left arm. Breathe deeply and calmly, observing how the ribcage expands and the breath becomes free.When they start learning Utthita Trikonasana, students often try to bend as low as possible, and in doing so the trunk shifts forward and the pelvis goes back. To avoid this mistake, as you go down try to keep them in one plane with the feet.<table><tr><td>wrong Do not compress the side of the waist.</td><td>wrong Do not shift the trunk forward.</td><td>wrong Do not transfer the body weight onto the supporting arm.</td></tr></table>Staying in the asana. Once in Utthita Trikonasana, try to even out the pose. Start with the feet: make sure the mounds under the big toes, the areas under the little toes and the outer and inner edges of the heels are pressed firmly into the floor, that the body weight is distributed evenly between them, and that the right foot is still turned in. Lift the toes off the floor several times and stretch them forward - this will help you become more aware of the feet and enliven the asana as a whole. Then press the soles firmly into the floor again. Watch that the kneecap points exactly to the right; to achieve this, actively turn the right thigh outwards. Draw up the muscles of the upper thigh.Now focus your attention on the pelvis and abdomen: they should face straight forward. This is not always easy, especially if the hip joints are not mobile enough. Direct the right buttock and the tailbone towards the left heel and lift the left side of the pelvis until the abdomen and the ribcage turn to face exactly forward. Watch that the thigh and knee of the right leg do not roll inwards as you do this. You should not feel discomfort in the lower back. Do not “take the pose by storm” - work from what you are capable of. There is nothing wrong if you cannot turn the pelvis fully open straight away.Try to lengthen both sides evenly - do not compress the right one and do not round the left. If you cannot make them even, place the palm on a higher support, for instance the seat of a chair. Treat your body with respect and love, and remember: the pose does not become any less effective if you do not bend very deeply.Stretch the arms actively - let them be like rays coming out of the heart itself. Draw the shoulders away from the head. The left arm should point straight up; do not let it drift forward or back. Turn the ribcage towards the ceiling and draw the breastbone towards the chin. While you are learning the pose, look forward rather than up. Let the gaze be soft and the mind calm. Breathe evenly and deeply. Observe your body: are all its parts keeping the correct position? Feel how the stretch creates space in the body.Coming out of the asana. Stay in the asana for 8-10 cycles of breath, then on an exhalation press the left foot more firmly into the floor. On an inhalation come up, stretching the left arm to its fullest. Lower the hands onto the waist and turn the feet until they are parallel to each other. Release all the tension before doing the pose on the other side.Vary the pose. Do Utthita Trikonasana regularly and do not be afraid to experiment: for instance, change the distance between the feet or turn the pelvis at different angles. And finally, from time to time do Trikonasana having forgotten the instructions altogether. Let the breath guide you. Simply stay in the asana, observing the sensations that arise. (Yoga Journal) Further description of Utthita Trikonasana The starting position of the legs in this asana calls for particular attention. The point is that everyone's limb proportions are different, and to that are added differences in height and build. The question arises at once: how wide should the stance be in each particular case? The answer: the starting position in this pose will, for any person, be the one in which - having bent sideways with the spine more or less parallel to the floor (in its thoracic part) - the arm lowered perpendicularly down ends up in the middle of the stretch between the knee joint and the ankle joint of the leg on the same side. Or one could put it this way: that hand will touch the floor in the middle of the horizontal projection of that stretch.Unlike the approach of Iyengar yoga, where everything is done too sharply, too abruptly, too fast, I do not recommend jumping the feet into the starting position in “standing” asanas, nor would I advise jumping back into the starting position. In truth these kangaroo habits are entirely out of place in classical practice. Abrupt movements further excite a consciousness that is already overheated by reality, whereas the task of yoga is to balance it; so all the movements involved in passing from pose to pose should be unhurried, relaxed and soft, so that a person does not twitch and move in jerks like Pinocchio in a bad cartoon.So let us turn to the placing of the feet. In all poses done “standing”, the feet are always oriented so that the foot of the leg towards which we bend (or towards which we lunge, that is, bend the knee) lies in the plane of the legs and the trunk, that is, points sideways, parallel to the wall if we are standing with our back to it. The other foot always forms only an acute angle with the first, from 45° to about 70°. While doing any “standing” pose the soles of both feet must be pressed firmly into the floor, which is by no means achieved straight away.Moreover, the Iyengar school insists that they be pressed into the floor so firmly that the body weight is distributed evenly over the area of each foot, with virtually no difference between its separate parts. Only then will a certain point at the centre of the sole, which they call “the eye of the god Burgu”, supposedly be in firm contact with the supporting surface, which characterises the required state and position of the legs.This is, of course, “advanced aerobatics”, which in my view only confuses matters, since the beginner immediately has to solve several mutually exclusive problems. Besides holding the feet in full contact with the floor in “Utthita Trikonasana”, the legs must be straight at the knees with the kneecaps drawn up. The trunk, having come down sideways, is placed against a vertical plane, which you touch with your back as a check.All these endless details, these petty, inessential requirements and nuances, allow the system of Iyengar yoga to say at least something about asanas beyond a description of their bare geometry, which, especially in the “standing” poses, is extremely simple and quickly memorised. Such importance is given to detail here because the students' attention has to be occupied with something, given the absence of any real meaning on the one hand - and has to be diverted from the search for it in the information offered, which is meagre in substance, on the other.Usually the flexibility of a middle-aged person unfamiliar with yoga is fairly mediocre. It is not only that reaching the floor with the hand in the «Trikonasanas» is a hard task to accomplish - there is also an unpleasant pull behind the knees, and the trunk will not turn. So what is to be done?First of all: all the “standing” asanas should be done, as I have already said, at a wall. In 1989 Iyengar declared, in a joking manner but quite seriously, that in the “standing” poses the wall is the best teacher, and here he is absolutely right.So, we have placed ourselves at a vertical plane in such a way that the foot of the leg we are about to bend towards is 10-15 cm from the wall and parallel to it. Then the heel of the opposite leg, once it is turned to the necessary angle, will touch that wall. Having set the feet in this way at the width determined beforehand, I begin, with an exhalation, to lower the trunk sideways - let us say to the right. Both shoulder blades keep their contact with the wall as I do so, especially the upper left one, which must not come away by so much as a centimetre.One should move down in this way until resistance appears in the sides or in the leg towards which I am lowering myself. As soon as the difficulty appears and the sensations - no matter where! - become distinct, I must, resting the right hand against the right leg (wherever it is convenient, but vertically rather than at an angle if possible), with the shoulder blades pressed to the wall, and having transferred part of the trunk's weight onto it, stay in that position, with the legs straight at the knees and drawn taut like a string (but without unnecessary strain!) - and with the trunk relaxed! The upper arm goes to the zenith, the lower one to the nadir.That is, although it rests on the leg or the floor, it is perpendicular to the latter. At the same time I turn the head to the left so as to look, without any particular strain in the neck, at the thumb of the left hand, which is up above. In this position I observe the breath in the nostrils, the abdomen completely relaxed. Let us once again note the subtlety mentioned above: if the legs are too relaxed, any “standing” asana will be unstable. As you adapt to these poses you should gradually give up the wall and stand firmly on your own legs. As a check you may merely touch it lightly with the back, and later do the asanas with no support or prop at all.On the other hand, overstraining the legs is also a mistake: it leads to consciousness and the whole body being “gripped” along with them to an inadmissible degree, and that is nothing other than parasitic work, which is entirely unnecessary and is an obstacle to the correct performance of the pose and of the whole practice. It follows that one must “catch” a range of leg tension in which they remain a sufficiently rigid, unchanging structure while the trunk is able to relax to the maximum; then it can be freely bent or twisted at the waist. In this way we arrive at a mode of bodily work that is polar in the character of its load: everything that works in the asana is tensed only as much as necessary, minimally, without excess; everything not involved is relaxed as far as is possible at all.One should bend into Utthita Trikonasana on an exhalation, breathe freely in the pose, and come up into the starting position on an inhalation in such a way that the speed of bending and straightening does not disturb the measured calm of the breath. This requirement dictates a certain slowness of movement when entering and leaving the poses.So: an exhalation as we bend, a free inhalation - and we are breathing normally again, calmly, in a relaxed and unforced way, but now within this pose. The pattern of the breath and its parameters (volume, the depth of the inhalation and exhalation, their ratio, the rate, and so on) have changed along with the configuration of the body; they have become different, proper to the form of this particular asana. But on the other hand the breathing process has remained just as natural, albeit within new limits, and just as free - as though we had not changed the form at all!This is one of the central points of Hatha yoga practice; it should be clearly understood, and it makes no difference at all which asanas we are talking about - “standing”, “lying”, inverted and so on - the principle formulated above is one and the same and universal for all asanas without exception. This is why we constantly find in Iyengar's “Yoga Dipika” (Light on Yoga) the statement that in difficult poses the breath turns out to be shallow, rapid or laboured depending on the difficulty of the form - and that is how it should be. Besides, the nervous «component» of muscular effort in static asanas should not affect the breath, making it harder over and above what the form itself does - that is the whole catch!To clarify the situation with the breath one may imagine the following model: suppose I am walking calmly about a room of a certain shape. Then that shape changes smoothly, and I go on moving just as unhurriedly, at a measured pace, within the new boundaries. Though with the breath it is, of course, a little different - in order to keep roughly the same volume of air pumped through the lungs per unit of time, its rate rises automatically.If what has been said is observed, the process of doing asanas brings about complete relaxation of the abdominal muscles and the diaphragm - which is subjectively felt as lightness and comfort in the abdominal region, in the “innards”. This is a very important sign, showing that the intra-abdominal and intra-thoracic pressure, if it rises at all, rises only slightly! To come out of the pose properly, one must, having taken the next exhalation in it, rise smoothly and without straining into the starting position on a slightly lengthened inhalation; then comes a free exhalation, an inhalation - and I am back to my former pattern of breathing, as though nothing had happened at all!If, however, after returning to the starting position the former pattern of calm breathing does not come back at once, if it has gone astray and become laboured, then I have made the following mistakes - singly, all together, or in various combinations:I changed the form too quickly;I exceeded the necessary and useful holding time;I strained unnecessarily;the form turned out to be beyond me, too difficult;Hence it is precisely the preservation - or the loss - of the breath of repose that can serve as an indicator of the soundness of asana practice. Should one make a conscious effort to improve the form of an asana while already in it? Certainly not: acting in that way, we violate the principle of “action through non-action”, and besides, in poses that are at the limit of one's form, a minimal voluntary movement, effort, or even merely an extraneous thought (although in the technology of classical practice all thoughts are extraneous) can turn into a directly injuring factor.In general, at the beginning the “standing” asanas are better done not only against a vertical plane but also with the help of the most varied props and supports. The body and the consciousness have to adapt, and creating easier conditions for that is a sound approach. But the main thing, and the hardest, is doing the yoga asanas without the “admixture” of oneself. It should be like this: the body does the poses, and that which is “I” observes the process indifferently, sensing it passively. To do an asana well means to do it as it can come out today - without unnecessary effort, strain, or sensations that would prevent the body and the consciousness from coming into balance.The contraindications to Utthita Trikonasana are few: the period of menstruation for women, and any flare-up of disorders or diseases of the internal organs. (V. Boyko, YIK) The effect of practising Utthita Trikonasana Physical effect: Utthita Trikonasana tones the leg muscles and stretches the arches of the feet, the calves, the hamstrings and the groin. It stabilises and strengthens the legs and the trunk. It lengthens the spine and increases the mobility of the ribcage. It makes the hips and the spine more flexible and elastic. It frees the throat, chest, shoulders and hips. Trikonasana strengthens and rejuvenates the nervous system. It counteracts the ossification of cartilage tissue and the deposition of salts. It corrects minor deformities of the lower limbs. It strengthens the ankles and develops the chest. It trains the vestibular system. It improves the working of the lungs, cleanses the blood and increases muscular endurance. It improves digestion and circulation.Therapeutic effect: It relieves pain in the back and neck. It treats osteochondrosis. It protects against lumbago and neuralgia of the sciatic nerve. It speeds recovery after infectious illnesses. It helps disperse toxic accumulations in the body. It gives relief in menstrual disorders. It clears up blackheads, boils and pimples, and gives colour to the skin generally and to the skin of the face in particular. It gives relief from headaches caused by blood-pressure disorders.Psychological effect: Utthita Trikonasana gives a feeling of confidence and mobility. It cultivates grace. It builds the capacity to concentrate and develops willpower. It stimulates mental activity. It reduces stress.