The Pinnacle Posture - Triangle Pose

Love it or hate it, Trikanasana aka Triangle Pose is THE pose in yoga.

I have to say, I did a pretty poor job blogging in September for Yoga Month. My goal was to blog each day about yoga and specifically a daily post on the Bikram series to go over each posture. In my own defense, this is my first real attempt at consistent blogging and I’m not a great writer. Actually, pretty much anyone that knows me can tell you I am an average writer at best. So why blog? I suppose because I think I have things to say and wisdom to share. But writing an interesting and well written blog every day is surprisingly hard work, much harder than I thought it would be. So as you can see, I only got as far as Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose in the Bikram series. This perhaps is appropriate since the next posture is Triangle, often called the pinnacle posture, the one the uses all the muscles, the one “you” have been waiting for…or so they say in the dialog.

Let me tell you, I personally am NOT waiting for Triangle pose. I dislike Triangle pose for a number of reasons. I’ll list them….
1. By the time class gets to Triangle my arms are already whipped and often my shoulders are burning.
2. The teachers never seem to move from “arms parallel” to “arms perpendicular” fast enough.
3. The carpet is slippery and I always seem to slid to a wide split.
4. I can never touch the ceiling like they say in the dialog, no matter how hard I try.
5. My shoulder and chin never touch, it is like there is an imaginary wall between them.
6. Not resting weight on the elbow or the fingertips in nearly impossible.

And yet…there are so many GOOD reasons to WANT to do Triangle pose.
1. It is the only posture that improves every muscle, joint, tendon and internal organ.
2. It revitalizes the nerves, tissue and veins.
3. It improves the spines flexibility and strength.
4. Improves flexibility and strength in the hip and torso.
5. Firms thighs and hips.
6. Slims the waistline.

It is the ultimate love hate relationship. What is best for you, you hate to do, isn’t that always the way? But what is bad for you like fast food, candy, drinking, smoking, or whatever your vice is, is so easy to do and hard to resist. This is why I do yoga and why I do Triangle pose, to be better, to do better, to improve myself from the inside out, top to bottom….