Practice: Triangle Series

The "Practice" posts are about progress and learning. The pictures and analysis of my own practice help me find areas that need improvement. 

Traditionally, the Triangle series comes right after the Half Moon Series. Some even consider it to part of the Half Moon Series. Bikram moved Bent Leg Triangle and Standing Separate Legs Forehead to Knee after Balancing Stick. The move makes a lot of sense. The hip rotation in Bent Leg Triangle is a bit easier to accomplish when we are very warm. And Standing Separate Legs Forehead to Knee acts as both a nice inversion and a therapeutic compression pose when placed later in the series.

Traditionally the triangle series is Triangle and Standing Separate Legs Forehead to Knee only, in that order. Tony Sanchez added the Rotating Triangle after Triangle. I have added a couple other postures and shifted the order a bit. I explain my logic below.

Bent Leg Triangle

Standing Separate Legs Forehead to Knee

I have been practicing the Triangle Series in the traditional location, right after Half Moon. It is a smooth way to transition into more complex postures after the simple movements of the warm ups. In the Triangle Series, we split our legs (hence the name, they look like a triangle) and move our spine and hips into some new relationships.

Standing Separate Legs Forehead to Knee

I start with Standing Separate Legs Forehead to Knee. It is the simplest of these poses, a great one to start with. We are already familiar with the rounding of the spine from our warm up postures. This, to me, seems like an effortless transition. The only new motion is the split legs, prepping us for the increasingly complex movements of the spine and hips to come.

Pyramid

Next I do Pyramid Pose. This one is not traditionally in the Ghosh lineage. I have added it here because it is so related and yet is a new movement of the spine and hips. Hands come to reverse prayer and back stays flat as you bend forward. Hips are still squared off, but the tilt of the pelvis is a lot more demanding than we've had so far. Intense stretching in the hamstring of the front leg. This helps prepare us for Rotating Triangle and also Standing Bow a little later in the Standing Series.

Rotating Triangle

Next is Rotating Triangle. This posture still has the squared hips even though it takes a lot more effort to keep them square and even. The twist in the spine is a brand new motion for the spine so far, so I like to do it with my hips in an orientation with which they're comfortable from the previous two postures. The twist and the upward gaze challenge the hip alignment, spinal flexibility and balance. So this posture feels like a good progression from the previous two.

Straight Legs Triangle

Here is where it starts to get challenging - Straight Legs Triangle. This isn't a traditional Ghosh pose, but it is in Ashtanga and lots of Vinyasa lineages. The huge struggle of Straight Legs Triangle is in the rotation of the hips. Ideally, hips stay pointing straight forward (toward the camera) even as the one foot points off to the side. No easy feat. 

The hips want to pull around in the direction of the turned foot (the same is true for Bent Leg Triangle) because this demands a significant rotation in the hip joint. I have a long way to go in this department.

I put this posture here because it keeps the straight legs like we've had in all previous triangle postures. And it challenges the hip's outward rotation, which will see again in the next posture, the pinnacle.

Bent Leg Triangle

Now we are much more prepared to approach the depth and complexity of Bent Leg Triangle. This is a master posture, deceptively simple looking. Senior Bikram teacher Emmy Cleaves claims to be able to tell everything about a yogi's practice and body from this posture. It is a big one, and one that is almost always taught wrong.

Bent Leg Triangle should be executed with open, forward facing hips and no twist in the spine except for the slight cervical twist of the neck. Admittedly, this is VERY hard to do. The hips want to close, bringing the back-leg side of the pelvis forward and down, creating a cross between a lunge and an open stance. 

90% of my effort in this posture goes to opening my hips. With this intention, as I improve my flexibility and alignment, Bent Leg Triangle becomes both light and powerful. My spine lengthens and straightens with almost effortless upward energy. And when I settle into it, my fingertips just graze the floor near my toes, right where the dialogue claims they should be. 

This is the sequence I have been practicing to prepare my body for Bent Leg Triangle and to open gradually through the entire sequence of postures. I welcome any comments regarding my logic, either for or against the sequencing I have chosen. I am open to discussion!