Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana) is a wide-legged standing pose: your front leg stays straight while you tip your torso out over it, one hand reaching down and one up. It stretches the groin, hamstrings and hips and works the feet and legs. The keys: tip from your hip, not your waist, keep both sides of your torso equally long, and keep the front knee straight without pushing it back past straight.
Set up
Stand side-on to your mat and step your feet wide, about one leg's length apart (roughly 3–4 feet). With your arms out at shoulder height, your ankles sitting roughly under your wrists is a good guide. Too narrow gives less stretch; too wide costs you balance.
a wide base you could hold steadily.
Turn your front foot to point to the front of the mat and your back foot slightly in (around 30°). Line up the middle of your front thigh, knee and ankle. Let your pelvis turn slightly toward the front leg, as much as your back foot needs to stay grounded. Don't force your hips flat to the side; the right angle depends on your hip joints.
both feet fully grounded, back outer heel heavy.
Straight, not locked, front leg
Firm your front thigh to straighten the leg, but stop at straight. If your knee tends to push back past straight, keep a slight bend. This is common: in one lab study even experienced yoga teachers took the front knee about 9.5° past straight on average in Triangle.
an active front leg, the knee not hanging back.
Protect the knee with both sides of the thigh working. Bend the front knee slightly, try to drag the front foot back toward the back foot without letting it move (this switches on the hamstrings), then straighten with your thigh while keeping that drag. Press the ball of the foot and the big-toe pad evenly into the mat.
the thigh 'hugged' from front and back.
Tip from the hip
Lengthen your spine, reach your torso out over the front leg, then on an exhale tip sideways from your hip, not your waist. Anchor your back hip and keep pressing the outer edge of your back heel down.
the pelvis tipping with you, not a crease at the waist.
Rest your bottom hand on your shin, a block or a chair, not the floor by default. Start with the block at its tallest height, inside or outside the front foot. Go to the floor only if both sides of your torso stay equally long and your breathing stays steady.
the hand resting lightly, not propping up a collapse.
Length on both sides
Keep both sides of your waist equally long. Reach your breastbone away from your belly, let the front hip come slightly forward and lengthen your tailbone toward your back heel.
an even, open torso, no crunch on the underside.
Reach your top arm up so both arms make one line, perpendicular to the floor. Look up at the top hand, straight ahead or down. If turning your head strains your neck, keep your head neutral and look ahead.
one long line from bottom hand to top fingertips.
Hold for 5 or more breaths (about 30–60 seconds). To come up, press the back heel down, inhale and reach the top arm up to lift the torso. Repeat on the other side for the same time.
steady breathing the whole hold.
Feel it
A long, even stretch along your side body, with both legs active and your weight spread across the whole front foot rather than hanging in the knee. Reaching the floor is not the goal: a block or your shin with a long torso beats a floor touch with a collapsed or rounded one. If you have knee pain or knee osteoarthritis, keep a slight front-knee bend and use the tall block; one study flagged Triangle as loading the inner knee more than Warrior II. Stop if anything hurts and check with your clinician.
Fix-its
- Your bottom waist collapses toward the floor Raise your bottom hand to a block or your shin, then reach the breastbone forward until both sides of the torso are equally long.
- You round or twist your back to reach the floor Use a block under your bottom hand. Tip from the hip with a long spine and turn the chest open, not down.
- Your front knee pushes back past straight (hyperextension) Keep a slight bend. Bend a little, drag the front foot back against the mat, then straighten with your thigh while keeping the drag, and press the ball of the foot down. Check the shin: it shouldn't tilt back with the knee behind the ankle. A higher block takes weight off the leg.
- Your front knee rolls inward Turn your front thigh out so the knee points the same way as your toes.
- You feel wobbly Adjust your stance (shorter if over-wide), press the back outer heel down, or practise with your back heel braced against a wall.
Drill
- Leg check: in the wide stance before you tip, practise bend, drag the foot back, straighten a few times each side until the knee stops pushing back.
- Wall-heel Triangle: brace your back heel against a wall for a steadier base while you learn to tip from the hip.
- Chair or tall block: rest your bottom hand on a chair seat or a block at its tallest height and hold 5 breaths each side with both sides of the torso long.
- Full pose: hold 30–60 seconds each side, lowering the hand only when your torso stays even and your breath stays steady.
Sources
- YogaUOnline — Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana), Pose Library
- Yoga Journal — Extended Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana) (2026; anatomy by Ray Long MD, cues by Marla Apt)
- Ray Long MD (YogaUOnline) — Yoga Anatomy: 3 Steps to Helping Hyperextended Knees in Trikonasana (2018)
- Whissell et al. — Biomechanical Characteristics on the Lower Extremity of Three Typical Yoga Manoeuvres, Applied Bionics and Biomechanics (2021)
- Yoga International (Kathryn Ashworth) — Why It's So Easy to Hyperextend Your Front Knee in Triangle Pose
Last checked 2026-10-26.