yoga pose of the week: triangle

And then there are days like this...

... days when you wake up rested, content, and knowing exactly what you need to do.

... days when the subway is remarkably empty at the exact same time it was ridiculously full yesterday.

... days when it's beautifully sunny and crisp outside.

... days when it really doesn't matter what anyone's issues are at work. They are theirs and theirs alone.

... days when you "end" the day with five hours of yoga.

... days when the world just makes sense.

... and you come home exhausted but elated.

So I owe all of you a yoga pose. I've been a tad tardy on this front (ironic really, given what I'm so absorbed in these days). But it happens. Life is life, and all you can do is move forward.

On that note, we're moving sideways this week, all the way into triangle!

This here is triangle (or trikonasana):

(Thanks Yoga Journal!)

Basically, while pretending you're squeezed between two panes of glass, you push one hip out and stretch all the way to the other side. When you've reached your limit, you windmill your arms (on resting on your shin or thigh, the other stretching for the sky), hold and breathe. Shoulders stack. Ribs stack. Length, length, length.

Triangle is great for stretching and strengthening your legs, stimulating the digestive organs, stretching your shoulders and chest, strengthening the muscles around your spinal column, etc, etc. It's also supposedly great for relieving stress and anxiety.

I personally have a love/ hate relationship with triangle. I have a hard time not crunching my side, keeping my ribs and bum tucked in, and figuring out where to look... sometimes it's an outright mess. But tonight, after two hours of just triangle (thanks universe!), I think I got it (really, thanks universe!) It's not that I perfected where my shoulders, ribs, hips, head, etc are in relation to each other - I still have a long way to go. Instead, the yoga lightbulb that went off tonight was simply this: give up attempting perfection and listen to your body. It knows best. When I gave up forcing my perfect triangle, I performed my best one to date.

There are many more lessons that come with practicing yoga than just how body parts must be aligned. It can't help but seep into everything else. But more on that later...

It's late. Time for bed.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

mxo