How To Squat

Proper Technique For The Trinity Squat

Ah, the Trinity Squat. One of the pillars of Prasara Yoga . We squat down for something many times a day yet how many of us have actually REALLY mastered this movement?

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The Trinity Squat can be torture for some people yet easy for others. However, if done properly, I can make it torture for anyone! But in a good way.

Let’s first take a look at the three stages of a Trinity Squat.

I generally have students in my Prasara classes here in Japan hold each phase of the Trinity Squat for upwards of 5 seconds. Even longer if I am really wanting to help them in strengthening their mental and physical prowess. ; )

In the first stage of the Trinity Squat we have a pose similar to what in Hatha Yoga is called Utkatasana or in English referred to as Awkward Chair Pose.

I first have my students start their Trinity Squats by flexing their gluts. While impossible to completely flex your gluts throughout the full squat this is a good way to act as a reminder to set your hips under you for the initial squat. Make sure that you have your shoulders packed down and relaxed with the weight of your body being distributed in the middle of the foot rather than too much on the toes or heels.

In the middle section we have gone deeper into our squat making sure to keep our head aligned with our hips, Crown to Coccyx and not rounding out our back. Think tall and long, and position your head as if held up from a string. Proper structure in this middle section is essential for establishing a strong and healthy base for which to hold the rest of our body. Or, in other words, if you want some strong-ass legs, really focus on the middle!

The final position finds us sitting fully with our rear end as close to our ankles as possible. Our hips should be driving forward as if to push between our heels in front of our body. Raising (opening up) your chest and making sure to get your back as straight as possible will allow you to achieve this final position.

What if you can’t get all the way down?

This is where it gets fun!

There are three general areas that limit us in our pursuit for full squatting ability. Those are the hips, knees and ankles. Without full range of motion in these joints we will have trouble using a Japanese style toilet or otherwise trying to squat for extended periods of time! So you better learn this if you plan on using a public toilet over here in the land of the squat toilet.

The first piece of advice I give you is one word: CIRCLES! Purchase Intu-Flow® and get to moving those joints. If you don’t have Intu-Flow than you are missing out on strengthening your joints and living a long and pain-free life.

Next, we can use a few movements to work on these trouble places after we have warmed up with a session of Intu-Flow®.

WindPavanamuktasana (Wind-releasing Pose) is an asana that will help determine if your hips are holding you back in deepening your Trinity Squat. If you can comfortably relax in this pose with your head on the floor, back flat with your knees to your chest and heels pulled in close to your rear you can move on to the next movement. If not, spend time in this pose trying to relax into the movement. Don’t read ‘relax’ as just sitting there thinking about flowers and peace and your next purchase from Hippies ‘R’ Us. Actively wrap your arms around your legs and try to grab the elbow of the opposite arm. Then hug down into the floor and don’t forgot to exhale out. They don’t call this one Wind-Releasing Pose for nothing…

Next, it’s time to find a bar or even a door frame you can hold on to. Make sure that sucker is properly secured because you are going to use it to support you.

For this example I will use a door frame.

Stand with your toes even with the side of the door frame. Lightly grasp the door frame down towards your hip, pinky up with your hand. Yes, you need to rotate your hand.

Next, straighten your arm fully by leaning back. At this point your head and hips should be in alignment with straight back looking forward. Here comes the fun part. At no point should you round your back or change the initial position. Start to squat down while continuing to lean back. Just bend at the knees and only there. If you were to let go you should fall straight back and down. So don’t let go!

Making sure to exhale the whole way down, go as low as you can without breaking your posture and do not et your knees flare to the side nor bring them in so that they are touching. They should be shoulder width apart the whole time down. Now, hold it right there! Take another breath and go down a bit further and hold it. On the third breath we will keep this position and reverse the motion by ‘squatting’ up. Notice I didn’t say ‘stand’ up. If you think ‘stand’ you are more than likely to break your posture and miss the whole point of this exercise.

Once you can go all the way down comfortably in your torture squat it is time to let go. Literally.

Move back to the Trinity Squat without the door frame and when performing it stop in the middle section. Now, bring your hips forward slightly. This will bring you up a bit but your Trinity Squat should be taller and stronger. Keep doing this as you get lower and lower and you will find that this little tweak will create legs of steel while also deepening your squat and strengthening your joints.

As you progress in these three stages start to hold them for longer periods of time and feel where you can rotate your hips forward while still keeping the integrity of the posture.

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Before long you’ll find that you too can read a whole newspaper while in the full squat.