Improve Blood Function and Relieve Stress with Gentle Yoga

Triangle Pose or Trikonasana Pose

The Triangle Pose or Trikonasana is one of the quintessential traditional yoga postures. It strengthens our physical and emotional bodies.  It allows us to bring expansion to the muscles that need it most, and by extension, creates space in these places for the release of emotions.  It stimulates and improves the function of blood through the entire body, reduces blood pressure and relieves stress and anxiety.

Trikonasana delivers the above benefits by stretching and strengthening the thighs, knees, and ankles.  It also stretches the hips, groins, hamstrings and calves; shoulders chest and spine.  It stimulates the abdominal organs and improves digestion.  It relieves backache and is therapeutic for  flat feet, neck pain, osteoporosis and sciatica – all of that provided by just one yoga posture!  Did you ever have a better reason for practicing?

 

Method of Trikonasana Pose 

1              Stand in Tadasana  (Mountain Pose). With an exhalation, step your feet 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.

2              Turn your left foot in slightly to the right and your right foot out to the right 90 degrees. Align the right heel with the left heel. Firm your thighs and turn your right thigh outward, so that the center of the right knee cap is in line with the center of the right ankle.

3              Exhale and extend your torso to the right directly over the plane of the right leg, bending from the hip joint, not the waist. Anchor this movement by strengthening the left leg and pressing the outer heel firmly to the floor. Rotate the torso to the left, keeping the two sides equally long. Let the left hip come slightly forward and lengthen the tailbone toward the back heel.

4              Rest your right hand on your shin, ankle, or the floor outside your right foot, whatever is possible without distorting the sides of the torso. Stretch your left arm toward the ceiling, in line with the tops of your shoulders. Keep your head in a neutral position or turn it to the left, eyes gazing softly at the left thumb.

5              Stay in this pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Inhale to come up, strongly pressing the back heel into the floor and reaching the top arm toward the ceiling. Reverse the feet and repeat for the same length of time to the left.

Read about more Benefits of Gentle Yoga in our Blog