Trikonasana: history and practices

Trikona

Tri = three
Kona = angle
Three angled asana/posture

Trikonasana cannot be traced back further than the mid 1930's. It appears to have been formulated by Krisnamacharya's work at Mysore Palace around 1935, where he experimented with wide legged standing postures, using gymnasts.

It is interesting to note that at the time most gymnasts had a ballet training background and they were influenced by the turned out leg, especially in the splits and standing. It took the introduction of modern dance to correct the leg position in the 1960's, as it was felt that the turned out leg put strain on the body.

It is possible that these gymnasts may have been influenced by their ballet training and worked with a turned out leg, which they took into the formative yoga standing postures. It could be argued that the yoga wide legged standing postures originated from a dance orientated western approach.

A second explanation for the wide legged trikonasana may be that it started out as a simple step forward and spinal rotation, but this proved too difficult. It was much easier to turn out the back heel so that the rotation started lower down in the hip.

There is no mention of the asana in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, in fact the HYP mentions only 15 postures, of which none are standing. Three hundred years later the Gheranda Samhita adds another 17 asanas, only three of which are standing and all are balance postures.

Trikonasana is performed in various ways depending on the school/type of yoga. Some early schools taught it as a rotation with the legs wide and feet pointing forward, with trunk forward bending and rotating. Others such as Iyengar and Sivananda have taught it as a side stretch, with the feet wide and turned and the body facing front. Scaravelli inspired yoga has moved back to a pure rotation of the spine, with one foot stepped forward.

Scaravelli

Preparation long term: Work on feet for grounding, hamstrings for free forward hip movement, upper back and rib cage to allow sufficient rotation.
Preparation short term (limbering): Parsvottanasana, Namaste, Adho Mukha Svanasana, lying twists, Bhujangasana.
Teaching points: Rotation comes from the spine and the hips should be flat and parallel to the ground. The dorsal spine is read more