Setting Up Triangle posture (utthita trikonasna) with the Wide High Squat

Since expanding my training into DNS I’ve refined my approach to every yoga posture that I do and teach. Much of these refinements have come in the way I set up each posture. This video demonstrates a set up for triangle posture and provides some additional instructions for performing the posture that build on the set up.

The entry and exit points I use for Triangle posture and other standing postures is a posture I call the “Wide High Squat.”  This posture is shown in the two photos below. The “Wide High Squat” facilitates some important alignment elements that include organizing the shoulder girdle, aligning the head and upper thoracic and aligning the pelvis and the ribcage.

In order to clarify a key element of this posture, the photos here show before and after versions. In the first photo I have moved my hips back with a small amount of bend in the knees to facilitate a maneuver I call “uprighting the pelvis.” This maneuver aligns the pelvis with the ribcage so I can begin to stabilize the lower trunk. In this first photo I have not yet “uprighted,” thus the anterior or forward tilt in the pelvis and the hyper extension of the lumber spine.

In the second or “after” photo I have now “uprighted” by posteriorly tilting the pelvis and removing the excessive lordosis in the lumbar spine. This allows me to distribute my intra-abdominal presser evenly in the lower trunk and pelvis. I can then begin to activate the stabilizers in my abdomen, waist and lower back and pelvis to maintain the intra-abdominal pressure as I move to initiate and perform Triangle.

Notice I have NOT moved my pelvis forward, only rotated it posteriorly. This is the key! If the pelvis translates forward when you attempt to upright it, you’ve failed to upright from the hips and you won’t be able to stabilize properly, If this happens, nothing else you do in Trikonasana will really work. You must upright the pelvis for success in this and other standing postures!