- Hey, everyone!
Welcome to Yoga With Adriene.

I am Adriene

and today on the
Foundations of Yoga series,

we are going to
learn Triangle Pose

or Trikonasana as they call
it in the Sanskrit language.

Triangle Pose is awesome.

You're more than
likely going to encounter it

in a Hatha yoga class.

It's a very popular posture,

and great for beginners,

but also a pose that keeps you

coming back for more.
There's a lot going on there,

and we're going to
break it down today,

so hop on the mat,
and let's learn Triangle.

(upbeat music)

Alright, so to begin,

we're going to step
the feet nice and wide.

And we're also going to
reach the arms nice and wide,

and we're going to use the
wrist-to-ankle connection here

to just kind of gauge
how wide we step the feet.

Okay, obviously
everyone's different.

Everybody's body is
proportioned differently.

But in general, this
is a nice little check-in,

a little cheat to just
kind of bring the ankles

underneath the
wrists  and go from there.

Okay, so I'm going to
spread my fingertips wide,

I'm gonna lift my heart.
Tailbone's gonna tuck in

and lengthen down, so nice
and long in the spine here.

I'm gonna draw energy up
from the arches of my feet

and maybe turn the
toes in just slightly

so I can feel
this nice connection,

this drawing
energy up from the earth.

Remember, we
build our yoga poses

from the ground up.

So a lot of what we
talk about in this series,

in the foundational series,
is building

from a good foundation,
from the ground up.

Okay, so I'm going
to rotate my arms up,

palms up towards the sky,

just so that my
shoulders can drop down here.

Shoulder blades
in together and down.

Just kind of opening
up the armpit chest here.

Taking a nice deep
breath in and then exhale,

keep this nice and open,
my friends,

as we turn the palms face-down.

Okay, now, time for Trikonasana.

I'm gonna turn the right toes

all the way out 90 degrees.

Actually I'm going to step
my foot in a little bit here.

Right toes go
all the way towards

the front end of the mat.

Left toes are going to
turn in about 45 degrees

or maybe towards the
front left corner of your mat.

So right toes
point straight forward,

left toes turn in just slightly.

Now, really important thing here

is I want my hip to
kind of move with my foot.

I don't want anything
to be disconnected, right?

Integration from the ground up.

So I'm still
able to rotate the hip

but draw energy up
from the arch of the foot.

Now, head over heart,
heart over pelvis here.

I'm going to inhale in.
Take a deep breath.

And then exhale, let it out.

Moving nice and slow here.

I'm going to begin
to send my left hip

toward the back of the mat

as I reach my
right fingertips forward.

Now I'm bending
here at the hip crease,

sending my left
hip and booty cheek

back towards
the back of the mat.

Keeping the heart lifted.

Now I want to keep the
side body nice and long here.

The tendency is going to be
to collapse as I move down.

But I want to
keep this brightness,

this beautiful
foundation that I've built here,

kind of like we're
soaring or flying here,

as I begin to slowly
lean into the posture.

I'm going to reach, keeping
nice and long the side body

and then eventually
keeping a nice long line

from the crown of the head
to the tip of the tailbone,

I'll come into my posture.

Now again, the
tendency is to collapse

in the right side body, so
keep it nice and long here.

Now, I should've
grabbed a block.

I can bring a block here or
I can just bring my fingertips

gently to the top of the shin.

The tendency is to
want to be collapsed,

to go down, again, send all
that weight to that right hand.

We want to bring
it into the core,

so I'm going to
keep it nice and steady.

Now this is a little
bit of hard work here

or a lot of hard work, rather.

But if I'm just collapsing
into my side body and my arm,

then I'm not really getting
the benefits of the posture.

Now I'm going to
take my left hand here,

and I'm going to slowly guide,

power of touch here,
guide my rib cage open here.

Finding an evenness
in the lower body

and the upper body.

Now depending on how
you feel in the neck here,

we can look down,
we can look straight forward,

or if it feels
like you have space,

it feels comfortable,
then we can slowly look up,

Spiraling the
heart up towards the sky.

Take a deep breath in.

And exhale out.

When you're ready,
press into the front ball joint

of the big toe,
press into the back foot,

strong legs as we slowly
come back up the way we came.

Take a deep breath in and
exhale, hands to the waist.

Now to the other side.

Right toes are going to turn in,

left toes turn out.

Lengthening down
through the tailbone,

tucking the
pelvis a little bit here.

Finding that length here.

If you're not too sweaty here,
you can take your thumbs and

give yourself a little lift.

This is a nice
little adjustment here

just to find that lift
in the side body.

Find that space.

And then here we go,
I'll inhale.

Send my
fingertips out like wings.

Strong legs here.

My front heel was in
line with my back arch.

Some people
practice heel to heel,

which I think is great too,
nice wide base,

but also as a little guide,
I go heel to inner arch.

Okay, so you can play with that,

heel to heel or heel
to inner arch in the feet.

Spreading awareness through
all four corners of the feet.

Open the palms.

Rotate the shoulders down.
Deep breath.

Exhale, keeping the
shoulders where they are,

palms come flat, and I dive
in for another experience.

Reaching now the
left fingertips forward.

Keeping this length
in the left side body,

I send my right hip out.

Nice and slow here.

In kids' yoga we do
"I'm a Little Teapot" here.

It's very precious.

Taking your time.

A lot of times we
just kind of collapse

into this posture,
so here really reach.

It's like Kate Winslet
in Titanic here.

And then sending it down.

Honoring the crown of the head

to the tip of the
tailbone connection here.

Again, I'm not collapsing
in the left side body

but keeping it nice and long.

So what that may
mean is you don't

go down as far right away.

Now I'm working the core here 
I'm gonna take my right hand,

slowly guide the rib cage up.

Spiraling the
heart towards the sky.

Again, not collapsing weight
into the left fingertips here,

but keeping it in my center.

Pressing into my
feet here, strong legs.

In Sanskrit we call it sama,
evenness,

between the upper
body and the lower body.

Again, we can take the gaze down

if that feels more
comfortable in the neck.

Draw the shoulders
away from the ears.

Nice, long, beautiful neck.

If you can't really
stand it here (laughs)

at this moment,
you can take a block

and have it right
here on the ground

for a little bit of support,

just bringing the
earth up to you a little bit.

Take a deep breath in, smile.

And then exhale, from your feet,

press in your feet, strong legs
here as we come back.

Soft in the fingertips.

We take a deep breath in.

And exhale, hands to the waist.

Turn both toes in.

Soften in the knees.

And then hop it back to center.

Just do it. Don't even
think about it, do it.

Okey doke, so that was
Triangle Pose or Trikonasana.

This pose is not easy at first.

So go easy on yourself.

Give yourself a break.

If that was challenging
for you, then right on.

Great for the legs,
great for the core,

great for the back.

A lot of benefits
to this posture

which I'll write
about on the blog.

Visit the website if you
haven't visited the blog,

visit the website, check it out.

Subscribe to the
channel if you haven't already,

and sign up for the newsletter
if that interests you, as well.

And I will see you next time.

Namaste.

(upbeat music)