Revolved Triangle: A Step-by-Step Progression for Ease and Stability

Revolved Triangle: A Step-by-Step Progression to Cultivate Ease and Stability

8/10/2017

Do you still practice and teach revolved triangle? I was reading through a thread in one of the Facebook forums that I belong to, and a lot of yoga teachers were saying that they no longer practice or teach this pose for a variety of reasons. Some people stated that they just didn't understand it enough to teach it. Others felt like it caused a bit of stress to their SI joints, or they just felt awkward and uncomfortable in the pose and so were concerned about teaching it to their students. One teacher expressed frustration that students in her classes would often choose not to place their hand on a block, even though she could see that the trunk flexion caused by placing the hand on the floor was clearly inhibiting their ability to rotate their trunk.

When I was a relatively new yoga student I remember expressing my strong dislike of revolved triangle to one of my teachers, and she said to me: "Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find a way to fall in love with this pose. You can use whatever props you like." I took her up on the challenge, and ended up finding a way to do it with my forearm propped up on the kitchen table that actually felt somewhat enjoyable. And today it's one of my favorite postures.

If you dislike revolved triangle, or find it somewhat difficult to teach, check out the above video that Frances and I created to show a step-by-step progression into the pose that might help you and your students experience a little more ease and joy. One of the key teaching points is to facilitate more spinal rotation by preserving the lift of the chest and extension of the spine throughout the pose by:

starting with the front knee flexed and one hand on a block on the inside of the foot
slowly extending the front knee to create a moderate stretch in the hamstrings, while stabilizing the pelvis and trunk against posterior tilt and flexion (the knee doesn't have to fully straighten, and you can adjust the height of the block as needed)
keeping the head, spine and tailbone aligned over the midline of the mat as your revolve
allowing the pelvis to follow the lumbar spine into the twist (but keep the back heel rooted and the back knee straight)

Give it a try and let me know what you think in the comment section on the blog!