Revolved Triangle Pose
परिवृत्त त्रिकोणासन
Parivṛtta Trikoṇāsana — an intermediate twist that works the obliques, hamstrings, spinal erectors.
How to do Revolved Triangle Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Step the feet about a stride apart with the front foot forward and the back foot turned in around 45 degrees.
Square the hips towards the front of the mat as far as they will go, and shorten the stance if they will not.
Hinge forward over the front leg with a long spine and place the opposite hand on a block beside the front foot.
Rotate the ribcage towards the front leg, opening the top arm upward.
Keep both legs straight and both feet loaded, hold, then change sides.
Hold: 30–60 seconds each side. Keep the breath moving throughout — if you are holding it, the pose is too much for today.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Revolved Triangle Pose does
Described mechanically — what the movement does to muscle and joint. Not a list of conditions it treats, because a pose does not treat conditions.
- Rotates the thoracic spine while the pelvis is held still.
- Stretches the hamstrings of the front leg under a rotated load.
- Trains the obliques through a long-lever twist.
Revolved Triangle Pose is one of 25 twists in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses that rotate the spine around its long axis with the pelvis anchored.
Who should skip Revolved Triangle Pose, or change it
- Pregnancy — closed twists compress the abdomen.
- Low back or disc injury: twist far less, or skip.
- Sacroiliac pain, which this pose readily aggravates.
- Balance loss — use a block and a wall.
General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or managing any health condition, ask your doctor before starting a practice, and learn the pose itself from a qualified teacher who can see you move.
Common mistakes in Revolved Triangle Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeHand chasing the floor so the spine rounds and the twist disappears.
FixRaise the hand onto a block until the spine can stay long.
MistakeBack heel lifting and the hips swinging open.
FixShorten the stance so both feet stay down and the pelvis stays square.
What a practice like this costs in energy
Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values per style of practice, so Revolved Triangle Pose is mapped to the nearest published code — 02150, yoga, Hatha, 2.5 MET — and the figures below are for a practice of that kind, not for holding this one pose.
| Time practising | 10 min | 20 min | 30 min | 45 min | 60 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
Calculated as MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 kcal per minute — the standard ACSM relationship, shown in full on the method page. Scale it to your own weight by multiplying by your weight in kilograms and dividing by 70. The whole activity dataset, including every non-yoga activity, is at BurnLab.
Questions
How do you do Revolved Triangle Pose?
Step the feet about a stride apart with the front foot forward and the back foot turned in around 45 degrees. Square the hips towards the front of the mat as far as they will go, and shorten the stance if they will not. Hinge forward over the front leg with a long spine and place the opposite hand on a block beside the front foot. Rotate the ribcage towards the front leg, opening the top arm upward. Keep both legs straight and both feet loaded, hold, then change sides. Hold for 30–60 seconds each side.
What does Revolved Triangle Pose work?
Primarily the obliques, hamstrings, spinal erectors, with the glutes, shoulders, hip adductors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: rotates the thoracic spine while the pelvis is held still.
Who should not do Revolved Triangle Pose?
Pregnancy — closed twists compress the abdomen. Low back or disc injury: twist far less, or skip. Sacroiliac pain, which this pose readily aggravates. Balance loss — use a block and a wall. This is general information, not medical advice — if any of these apply to you, ask your doctor and learn the pose with a qualified teacher rather than from a page.
Is Revolved Triangle Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Revolved Triangle Pose is rated intermediate here: it assumes a working base of strength and range, and a teacher who has watched you move. Build up through the twists poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Revolved Triangle Pose burn?
The honest answer is that nobody has measured a single asana. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values for styles of yoga, not for individual poses. Revolved Triangle Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02150, yoga, Hatha, at 2.5 MET — about 92 kcal for 30 minutes of that kind of practice for a 70 kg adult. Holding one pose for a minute is a rounding error either way.
Related poses
More twists — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.
Asana names are traditional. Every step, benefit and caution on this page is written for YogaPath rather than reproduced from any book, studio or other library — see how this site is written. Energy figures derive from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.