REVOLVED TRIANGLE (parivrtta trikonasana) and REVOLVED HALF MOON (parivrtta ardha chandrasana) POSES
In Sanskrit, tri means “three” and kona “angle,” so if we join these two words we get “three angles,” or in everyday parlance, “triangle.” The familiar standing pose we know with that name isn’t “traditional”; rather, it dates from the early twentieth century and is a product, like so many modern poses, of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya’s inventive imagination. There are, however, three traditional poses with that name. As you may know if you’re a regular reader of this blog, it’s quite common for different poses through the centuries to be given the same name (nor is it unusual for the same pose to be tagged with different names). Two of these older Triangles are seated, one a squat. It goes without saying–but I’ll say it anyway–that revolved Triangle is also a modern pose, no doubt a logical extension of Triangle.
Our Half Moon and revolved Half Moon poses both come again from Mr. Krishnamacharya. And just as with Triangle, Half Moon is the name of two traditional poses, one a standing pose very much like Tree Pose (vrksasana), with the raised foot across the standing leg’s front groin, and a squat with one ankle crossed between the torso and other thigh.
Parivrtta is rooted in the verb vrt, which has a very long entry in the printed dictionary, it being used in combination with many other words. For our purpose, all we need to know is that it basically means “to turn, turn round, revolve.” Vrt is one of those Sanskrit roots that show up in a number of common English words: vault, volt, volume, involve, evolve, and of course, revolve.
While vrt is loaded down with definitions, ardha is pretty simple, it means “half.”
PREPARATION
There’s one very important thing to remember about revolved Triangle, or any twist for that matter. There was once, maybe 40 years ago or so, a controversy over what we should do with our pelvis in a twist. One camp insisted the pelvis stay neutral while the other side insisted that the pelvis should turn with the rest of the torso. I don’t recall how that turned out in back then, but I do know that I’ve been a member of the second camp ever since. When we twist then, the movement is initiated in the sacrum, NOT the lower back. How does that work?
Lie down on your back, knees bent, feet on the floor, block at the ready. Inhale, lift your pelvis
and slide the block at its lowest height under your sacrum, be sure the tail bone (coccyx) is fully supported. Then touch your soles together and slowly release your knees to the sides in what’s called the reclining bound hero pose (supta baddha virasana). Be sure NOT to push down on the knees. Allow the groins to “soften” past the block and the knees will follow.
Now rock slowly side to side on the block. When you rock to the right, the block will naturally press more firmly against the right side of the sacrum. But notice that your upper torso turns slightly to the left. Then rock left and notice the reverse, as the left half of the sacrum now seems to deepen into the pelvis, the upper torso turns right. Imagine the two sides of the os sacrum, the “holy bone,” as a pair of pedals. Which ever one you press, the torso, including the pelvis, turns oppositely, the twist spiraling up the spine–of which the sacrum is the base–each vertebra (rooted in vrt) participating equally in the twist.
One frequent issue with revolved triangle concerns the outer hip of the forward leg. When doing any twist, it’s necessary to elongate the spine a much as possible to make space between the vertebrae to fully realize the twist. But a very common response to this twist is that the hip of the forward leg moves off to the side and up towards the shoulder, which causes the spine to curve, a death knell for the twist. So go to your yoga wall, right foot forward, left back, and press your right hip firmly against the wall. Position a yoga block at its tallest height at the inside of your right foot. With the torso upright, rotate to the wall, allowing the left hip to come slightly forward. As it does, press the head of the thigh bone (femur) back and dig the left heel into the floor.
You might find this hip movement causes your back heel, the anchor for every standing pose, to lift slightly off the floor, or at least lose some its firmness against the floor. This isn’t necessarily a problem IF you can keep the heel pressing actively down toward the floor. You want to avoid letting your weight shift onto the ball of the forward foot, which will destabilize the position. If you do lose the firmness of the back heel on the floor, and if the left hip lags behind the right, so it’s slightly rotated left, it’s highly recommended that you press the heel against some firm support, a sand bag is ideal.
Now slide your left hand down the wall, aiming to rest it on the high end of the block. At the same time, slide your right hand up the wall, pressing it with the tips of your claw-shaped fingers. It isn’t necessary at this point to arrange the arms parallel to each other and perpendicular to the floor. Just make sure that your right hip stays firmly pressed against the wall and, if possible, slides slightly back, keeping the base of the right big toe pressed actively on the floor. Try to align your crown with your tail bone. To make this exercise even more effective have a yoga friend, a spouse, or partner lean against your left hip, which will press the right even more firmly against the wall. Stay for at least a minute, getting a sense of how the wall prevents the outward swing and upward lift of the hip.
REVOLVED TRIANGLE
Now as always, the moment of Truth has arrived. Stand on your mat facing one of its long edges and separate your feet about a yard apart, slightly more for a greater challenge. Have the block on the floor inside your right foot. Turn the left foot well in and the right to point directly at the mat’s shorter side. Rotate your pelvis to the right, and as much as is possible for you, square the front of your pelvis with the short edge of the mat. As the left hip rotates forward, press actively back on the head of the left thigh bone. As a reminder, if in making this rotation you can’t fully square the front pelvis, or you lose the back heel, support the heel.
Exhale, and lower your torso parallel to the floor. Burrow your right thumb into your right hip crease with your hand splayed across the outer hip. Press your thumb firmly into the crease and imagine the head of the femur is releasing toward the left heel; simultaneously, imagine that the pressure of the left heel against the floor/support is drawing the head of that bone to it.
As the right hip crease deepens draw the belly out and lengthen through the top of the sternum. Please take the time to do this, don’t rush to get into the pose. Remember that every pose is a process, with a beginning, middle, and end. Once you’ve created all the length you feel is possible along the front torso, imagine you’re still pressing your right hip to the wall. Soften your belly and contact the left side of your sacrum. As described earlier, initiate the pose from there, as if you were still reclining on the block and tilting left. Allow the left hip to dip slightly closer to the floor than the right, and turn your torso to the right. Press your left palm on the block, but for now keep your right thumb pressed into the hip crease. Scan the pose. Check that the back heel firm is pressing firmly to the floor/support, the outer hip of the front is held in and back and the hip of the back leg tipping toward the floor, the two sides of the torso equally long (or almost so), the belly is soft, the crown and tail are aligned. Make any minor adjustments you think are needed and then, if you care to, reach the right arm straight up. Press into the “resistance” of the imaginary wall.
Stay in the pose for 30 seconds to a minute. To exit, be sure to de-rotate the torso before returning it to upright. Be sure too, if needing to switch a support from the left heel to the right, not to shift forward onto the front foot. Always turn both feet to parallel and step or hop the feet together. If you’re a relative beginner, look straight ahead, don’t turn your head to gaze at the top hand. That comes later. Repeat on the other side for the same length of time.
REVOLVED HALF MOON
If you thought revolved Triangle was fun, you’re going to have even more fun with this pose. If you’ve never tried this pose before, you might want to practice at the wall before going solo.
The key to this pose is keeping the head of the standing leg’s femur head pressing back. This will help to ground the standing heel and prevent the body’s weight from shifting onto the ball of the standing foot, which often spells disaster. Now return to revolved Triangle with the block again inside the front foot.
Now this is important. Bend the front knee and with the block in your left hand, reach it as far as possible away from the inside of the foot. This will widen your base of support. Performing the well-known and widely used “fingers crossed and hope for the best” mudra, inhale, push back on the head of the front leg’s femur head and slowly straighten the front leg. As you do this, slowly raise the back leg parallel to the floor (or nearly so) maintaining a strong push through the raised heel. If successful, hold for 20 to 30 seconds and exit. If you want to exit as I learned many years ago, return gracefully to revolved Triangle and come up from that twist as described earlier. Alternatively, you can simply de-rotate and lower the left to the floor beside the right. You’ll then have to widen your feet once more for revolved triangle. Repeat for the same length of time on the other side.