How to Stack Your Hips in Triangle Pose: 1 Tip to Help Your Practice

What does it mean to be between two panes of glass?

When I first started practicing yoga, I was a sponge. Every cue I heard, I tried to embody. I was convinced each cue was directed towards me. One cue for triangle pose that was often said at my studio in the suburbs of Philadelphia was to pretend you’re between two panes of glass.

I was like WTH? (Hey I have little kids and my father always said, “you’re too smart and too pretty to say words like that“..so cussing never has come naturally. Thanks dad.) I digress.

There are some things you can do for your upper back, which we will cover in another post, but today, I want to talk about one little tip you can try today which may help you stack your hips, but it may also help to bring more space for your low back (which can help to reduce any congestion you may feel in this pose.)

In other words, this one tip can help reduce your low back pain, especially when practicing this pose.

Let’s face it, Triangle pose is tough! You have to have incredibly open hamstrings, hip flexors, psoas muscles and your “pec” muscles. Your upper back muscles have to be strong enough to hold your top hand up, and you have to have mobility in your neck to look up. It’s a LOT going on.

Plus, it takes balance. It’s basically a tough “beginner’s pose”

That’s why before I get into any possible cues I want to make one thing clear.

Alignment cues are just suggestions.

It’s not a law. I mean, it’s not like there are any yoga police out there that are gonna come and arrest you and take you to yoga prison simply because you can’t point your toe the right way, or your leg isn’t straight, or your feet aren’t hip’s width distance apart. The cues, they are suggestions. They are based on what has worked for other people, passed down verbally from one teacher to the next, and often the cues could be specific to the body of the student at the time.

Sometimes, I think the verbal nature of the yoga tradition has been forgotten and cues become “laws” or “standards” that you HAVE to follow, by some unknown higher power.

I hope you can read my sarcasm in that statement, because it’s there. 😉

That all being said, this is one cue that has helped me get to the point of being able to stack my own hips in triangle pose. This helped to provide relief for my low back “congestion” that I often felt, especially when i first was starting out, and my lower abdominal strength wasn’t where it needed to be to provide stability for my pelvis.

One Cue to Help You Stack Your Hips in Triangle Pose

For a video tutorial check out THIS VIDEO. (it’s under 3 minutes, so it won’t take long, promise!)

–and don’t forget to like the video then subscribe to our channel.

To help you stack your hips in Triangle pose, don’t forget to suck your belly in and keep your tailbone long. Then, try tilting your back foot toes forward slightly.

Rather than setting up in a warrior 2 position, with your back foot parallel to the back of the mat try setting up in a bit more warrior 1 stance, where the back foot is tilted in some like between 45-60 degrees.

I like to cue warrior 1 back foot like it is pointing to the front corner of your mat.

See if that 2-3” difference in angle helps to create the space you need for your hip flexors and hamstrings to allow your hips to stack on top of each other.

What do you think? Did it help you to get your top hip on top of (or at least closer to being on top of the lower hip?) Leave us a comment below to tell us if this cue helped, or if you have another great cue for this posture. I’d love to answer any questions you may have or highlight your own special work!

If you liked this cue and want to practice more with us, check out our schedule here. If you’re not local, definitely subscribe to our youtube channel so you can be the first to know when new content just like this, full sequences, and our weekly podcast go live. If you’d like direct access to Jennifer be sure to check us out online at Thrive Online. We can’t wait to work with you soon!