Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy

Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosphy by Gregor Maehle is one of our favorite yoga books. Lars wrote Gregor an email asking for more information on the trikonasana section, as he felt it was somewhat incomplete. Gregor wrote back that yes there was "a section dropped out of Trikonasana during the lenghty editing process. Sorry about that and it is attached as a Word document". So below is the complete instructions for trikonasana. Thank you Gregor and thank you Lars!


With the feet correctly positioned, let the right hip drop down (lateral tilt) as far as possible, bringing the pelvis towards being vertical to the floor. If the pelvis is left in a horizontal position, the spine has to flex laterally (sideways), which is not intended in this posture. The left hip swings up and out to the left to allow the right hip to drop.

Reach out to the side and then down, imagining staying between two panes of glass that prevent any leaning of the torso out in front. The left shoulder remains on one plane above the right leg. The right hand eventually clasps the right big toe. If you are not able to reach the toe without compromising the posture (laterally flexing the spine), place your hand on the foot or shin. Do not lean into this leg, but keep both sides of the torso and neck lengthening and supported away from the floor. If it is comfortable, turn the head to gaze up to the thumb of the left hand, which hovers above the left shoulder. Keep the neck in a straight line with the rest of your spine without performing an unnecessary backbend in your neck. Otherwise gaze out to the side. Five breaths.

Getting into Utthita Trikonasana we externally rotated the right femur to turn the foot out. Once in the posture, we inwardly rotate the femur until we reach the neutral position. The left thigh, which was medially (inwardly) rotated to take us into the posture, is laterally rotated once in the posture until the leg is again in the neutral position, with the four corners of the foot equally grounded. Check especially that both the outside of the left foot and the base of the right big toe are grounded. There needs to be a subtle balance between grounding the inner and outer arches of the front foot. This will lead to a subtle balance of inward and outward rotation of the thigh of the front leg, which is necessary for the hamstrings to lengthen evenly. Many beginners have a tendency to roll out the thigh to escape the stretching of the inner hamstrings – a tendency, also common in Padangushtasana and Pashimottanasana, that needs to be counteracted if present. Keep the left hip lifted back over the right one as the right groin moves forward.

The underneath side of the torso reaches forward so that the right waist gets the same stretch as the left. Stay in the state of Trikonasana for five breaths.