Post #75: 21 minute yoga vignette on Reverse Triangle: a pose full of wonderful surprises

This week’s yoga vignette piggy backs on last weeks and is centered around reverse triangle: sanskrit name: Parivrtta Trikonasana

This pose is easier for moderate practitioners but even beginners need to start somewhere and this pose is full of wonderful surprises.

Reverse triangle is an intense standing twist, but the rewards from practicing it will keep you coming back for more. This pose helps strengthen the knee, hip and ankle joints and various leg muscles are getting stretched while simultaneously being used for strength and balance to keep you in the pose. The leg muscles are getting stretched in ways that no other natural posture reaches.

Also, reverse triangle is a great pose to help strengthen your core. If anyone has been having balance issues with general aging or feel “weak” in their core, this is a great posture to practice regularly. Just remember to modify as needed! You will be amazed at how much your core has to work to establish and hold the twist. And this helps to gently “wring out” the abdominal organs and stimulates their function. Who doesn’t want that?!

In many traditions the lower belly is considered the emotional center of the body. So while wringing ourselves out physically, we are also wringing ourselves out emotionally in reverse triangle. The benefits of wringing our emotional center out on a regular basis can be felt immediately. We need to let go of our stress, tension, and emotional baggage on a regular basis. Otherwise, it builds up and builds up until we eventually blow on someone, or implode on ourselves.

So when you have about 20 minutes, I have a little challenge for you as you practice this yoga vignette:
I want you to notice the subtle difference between utilizing the core to deepen and hold the twist AND softening the belly to allow the breath to move in for your inhalations. If you do this: use the core to help draw you into the twist more fully AND soften the belly enough to allow the breath to move in easily, you will find it much easier to balance and hold the posture, but most importantly to “let go” of any emotional energy that is being brought up.

It’s a subtle balance between engaging the core for strength and balance, while softening the belly for breath and release.

The more you can focus on these two aspects of this pose you will find yourself shifting into a very meditative state: beyond the mind; forgetting who and what all you are supposed to be in this lifetime; and definitely moving beyond the stress and concerns of the daily ego grind. It may be only for a split second, but that split second could be all you need to shift perspective and find deep peace and rejuvenation.

So take the next 20 minutes and challenge yourself to tune in fully to the details of parivrtta trikonasana and experience all that this yoga posture has to offer.

Remember, you are a force for good in the world. The more consistent you get with these practices the more your life will become guided, sacred, and filled with meaning. You cannot help but then extend deep peace, joy, and contentment to your loved ones, friends, and everyone you meet. The world could use more of this, so let’s get you in the best space to make it happen.

Click the video above and get started with this amazing practice.