Ohio State Medical Center

Susan Cunningham, RN:
Triangle pose is a great pose for opening the front of the chest, which is the anti pose of sitting at a computer and driving a car and looking on your cellphone. 

[Onscreen text:
Susan Cunningham, RN
Yoga instructor]

Susan Cunningham:
It's also a great way to open up and lubricate the hips. It's strengthening in the torso, the core. So lots going on in this pose, but let's give it a try. I will take a wide stance on my mat. Now, my legs are pretty long, so I can take a pretty wide stance. The length of the stance depends on your leg length and your comfort. If this feels like you're going to fall over, then you can do it a little tighter. So same thing. So if you notice here, the hips have some movement. Not a lot of movement, but I can shift side to side. If I turn my right leg to face the right wall, I now have more movement in the right hip, so I can deepen the crease of my right hip joint, and that's what I'm going to focus on here in this shape.

So, I'm just going to follow that deep crease, let my back hip move as far back behind me as it will go, and deepen the right crease as far as it will go, and then find a place for my hand. Now, if I take my hand to the floor, my whole torso starts to round and I get all crunchy on this side. So I'm not going to go to the floor. I'm just going to go as far as I think I can go without losing all that length on this inside of my torso. Ground my hand here [on the shin just below the knee] and then open my chest here and reach and breathe. Don't forget to breathe. 

So, I can either look up at my hand or I can look down at my foot. Either way. 

You always want to do both sides of a pose when it's an asymmetrical pose. So, I'll take my wide stance, find what's comfortable for me right now today. I'll open up my left leg and let the left hip crease deepen as my right hip moves back behind me. I find my ground with my left hand, spiral open my chest, and reach. The torso is long and I'm still breathing. To come out of this, I bend and gently move myself out.