Pose of the week

Uthitta Trikonasana (Extended Triangle pose)

If you can walk, you can do the standing poses and they really are important. Standings are a great place to start when you are new to yoga, brilliant for building and improving strength, great for warming up the big muscle groups and working through some of the fundamental principles of alignment that apply to many other poses....i could go on...my favourite at the moment is Trikonasana and right now i practice it most days.

As with so many poses there is a play of opposites in Trikonasana—establishing a solid foundation in order to fly, standing firmly on your feet in order to grow away from the earth, and finding muscle support and strength in order to expand and become lighter (and less serious.) - and it is really worth exploring!

Practice  For full pose instruction see here.

Sequencing Begin with Tadasana and then Vrkasana, if you are the mood for a balance. Trikonasana extends the spine and opens the hips in preparation for backbends; lengthens the hamstrings and opens the hips in preparation for deeper forward bends; teaches the connection between legs, hips, and spine in preparation for inversions; and lengthens the spine and strengthens the back in preparation for deeper twists. You can think of this pose as a teacher of basic movement principles that apply to many other poses.

Benefits Stretches and strengthens the thighs, knees, and ankles, stretches the hips, groins, hamstrings, and calves; shoulders, chest, and spine, Strengthens abdominal muscles, can help relieves backache, especially through second trimester of pregnancy, Therapeutic for flat feet, osteoporosis and sciatica.

Cautions Heart Condition: Practice against a wall. Keep the top arm on the hip
High blood pressure: Turn the head to gaze downward towards the front foot in the final pose. Neck problems: Don't turn your head to look upward; continue looking straight ahead and keep both sides of the neck evenly long.

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