Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign hello, this is Lauren Leduc, your host of Deep in youn Yoga Practice, and I'm the owner and founder of True Love Yoga in Kansas City, Missouri. And today I wanted to talk about some iconic poses in yoga, the warrior poses. So, Warrior 1, 2, 2 and 3, where did these poses come from? What are the energetics of them? How are they related? And what are some ways to elevate these postures so that they become more strong, integrated study in your practice? So let's do it. So these poses are iconic and very central to an Asana practice. It's very rare to go to a Hata or Vinyasa yoga class and not do Warrior 1, 2 or 3. They are foundational. You can also consider them like template postures because from those specific postures there's so much that you can do with the same foot setup, same arms, same muscles engaged, etc. So these are Thirabhadrasana in Sanskrit, and Veerabhadra was a warrior created by Shiva to avenge the death of his love. So, whoa, pretty heavy.
[00:01:21] I'm not going to go deep into this particular story. However, I will recommend the book Myths of the Asanas, the Stories at the Heart of the yoga Tradition by Alana Kaivala, Arjuna Vanderkoon, with a foreword by Shiva Ray, if you do want to go deep into the stories behind the asanas. It's a really fun read, but essentially it's this warrior created by Shiva's dreadlock in his rage that rose up and avenged the death of his love. So this posture comes from this very righteous energy and we can wield it yogically to practice strength, righteous anger, justice in an embodied way on our mats so that we can take that particularly particular energy with us off the mat. So again, I'm going to break down the alignment and energetics and the distinct separate qualities of Warrior 1, 2 and 3 in this episode, how they relate as well. And talk about how these poses embody the strength and courage, righteousness even, and grace. So first let's talk about warrior one. So in this posture, we're facing the front of the mat. We have one foot in front with the knee bent over the heel. The back leg is strong and straight. So let's talk about a few different ways to elevate this posture for you. One is in more classical alignment. The heels are aligned as though you're standing on a tightrope. So if you were on a tightrope, the two heels would both be on it. I personally prefer the heels to be hip Distance apart, that might mean stepping the back foot out to the side a couple of inches. Keep in mind that these postures were designed on young boys, and most of us have wider hips than that. So we need to accommodate that within our own bodies. And I typically find when people take a slightly wider stance that they're more stable and able to square the hips forward. The front foot is facing forward and the back foot is at around a 45 degree angle. But that's something that you can play with for your particular anatomy for you. So figure out where to point the foot in a way that just feels really stable and strong, that doesn't compromise your back knee and where you can really seal the back foot to the ground. The front knee is bent over the front heel, and this is really important. We'll get into this in Warrior 2. But the knee is not knocking toward the big toe. It is right directly over the heel, more in line with the second or third toe. So front hip is super strong, back leg is super strong and engaged. And I also like to think of internally rotating the back femur bone or thigh bone. So think about your IT band or where, like the Adidas stripe would be on the pants. If you're wearing the Adidas stripe pants and it's like you're spinning that forward and down toward the floor, then I think of drawing the tailbone down, lifting the pelvic floor, engaging the bandas by lifting the pelvic floor and drawing the navel in and up, lifting up through the crown of the head. Arms are over and palms together in a very traditional version. But you might try it with arms shoulder distance apart, maybe in cactus shape, with goalpost arms at your sides or even hands at the heart, especially if you're feeling any need to relax the shoulders that day. Energetically, you can think of really grounding. So you're grounding through your feet, but you're creating through this grounding and uplifting sensation. I think of this as like the good kind of tension, like pulling in opposite directions. So pressing down with the feet and lifting up with the crown of the head. And this creates this connection to the earth through the back foot and the front foot and the sky through the arms. So a couple things you might want to avoid are overarching the low back, so really sticking your tailbone out, or a anterior tilt, letting the belly hang loose, letting the back knee kind of bend and not be super engaged. So really engage through the back leg, draw the tailbone down, draw the navel in and up, and that should alleviate some of that tension. Also, if the hips aren't perfect perfectly squared forward, that's okay. If the torso is slightly twisted forward, that's okay too. But I would check again the width of the feet if you're feeling over twisted, because stepping the back foot out to the side a little bit might help you feel more stable and secure as you square forward. Another tip might be to shorten the stance a little bit. So to step your back foot in a couple inches, that can create more stability. And I think that's about it for Warrior one. So what I typically do not teach in class is going from Warrior 1 to Warrior 2. Because what you'll hear as I start to go into Warrior 2 is they're actually really different from each other. Warrior 1 is great for flowing into postures like humble Warrior 1, leg forward fold. Warrior 3 revolve triangle things where the foot positioning are about the same. But it's quite different in Warrior 2. And it can be tricky transitioning from one to the other and actually dangerous. Not usually in an acute way, but in in a repetitive stress injury type way. So I don't often pair these two postures together, although they might appear in the same class because you're finding the same feelings of strength and grounding in both. So, Warrior 2, we're facing the side of the mat. Legs are a little bit wider than in Warrior one. Let's talk about the feet. The front heel aligns with the back arch or heel, just depending on your anatomy. The front toes are facing the front of the mat. The side toes are facing side ish of the mat. And just like Warrior one, you might play a little bit with the angle of the foot to see what feels right in your own anatomy. And the back foot is pressing really firmly into the mat. Back leg super engaged, just like in Warrior one. Front knee, again, like in Warrior one over the front heel. It is not knocking inward toward the big toe. Instead it's over the second or third toe. The hips are open to the side instead of the front of the mat. Pelvis is neutral. So for that I usually think of drawing the tailbone down a little bit in my body, but lifting up through the pelvic floor and drawing the navel in and up. For me, finding the bandes is easier than telling you exactly where to place your hips, because it's going to naturally place your hips in the right position for you and your body. The torso is upright, so there is this tension going on as I draw my tailbone down and lift up through the crown of my head, creating lots of length and space in my spine. So my hips, shoulders, and head are all stacked, and then arms are out to the side. And you might even look to the front hand and the back to make sure that they're in one straight line. Gaze is usually over the front finger. So energetically, we're thinking similar to Warrior one is this really strong and stable pose that is super focused and promotes a state of equilibrium. So we're pressing down with the feet, even pressing the feet down and away from each other. So, like we're pulling the mat apart, lifting up through the crown of the head, and then finding this nice, steady breath. So there are a few common misalignments. One is collapsing the front knee inward. This is what I see most often as a self assist. You can place the hand on the outer thigh and then press the thigh and hand together. And that will help align the knee in the right place. And also leaning the torso forward instead of keeping it upright is something that I see quite a bit as well as letting the belly go or the bandas go. So you want to keep the core engaged throughout this particular posture. A couple tips to add variation or modifications. One is shortening the stance a little bit if it feels too long to hold, and you might choose a different arm placement. Taking the palms facing up with slightly bent elbows can give the shoulders a nice rest. Maybe hands can be at the heart, maybe even hands on the hips to help keep the hips aligned. You can even do this pose with the back knee down for stability. So placing the back knee down on the floor, um, can be a nice way to explore this posture a little bit more accessibly. We're not moving again, like we're how we're not really moving from Warrior 1 to Warrior 2. We're not going to transition from Warrior 2 to Warrior 3. It's an awkward transition. What you will see Moving from Warrior 2 as you're using it as a template are things like reverse warrior, extended side angle pose, triangle pose, half moon pose, things that stay in that side facing plane. So let's move on to last one. Warrior three. This is a beautiful balancing pose for Warrior three. You're grounding through the standing foot and lifting the back leg about parallel to the floor. So your body is in the shape of a T. The torso and leg are likely aligned, while the bottom leg holds you up as that base of the T. The hips square down to the mat, which means the back leg that's extended internally rotate slightly. Usually for most people, for the toes to point straight down to the mat instead of opening up to the side. Oftentimes I see people kind of open their toes to the side as a way to try to get the leg higher, which. Is there a time and place for that in asana? Sure. But in this pose, we want to keep things really square and compact. Think of lengthening the torso forward and extending the energy through the crown of the head while pressing through the back heel. So you're creating again that beautiful grounding and lifting tension through this posture. But this time it's kind of flipped on its side. The arms are straightforward, biceps by the ears, or you can have hands at the heart. I'll also go over some other ways that you can use the hands as we go through some different variations or modifications. So energetic focus. This is a challenging balance pose. It requires a lot of focus. So using a drishti, that is probably something on the floor slightly ahead of you that you can bring your attention and focus on that's not moving. You focus on the breath. You might feel wobbling, you might fall out of the pose. That's really normal. And it's an invitation to accept that with courage and strength and equilibrium. Equilibrium. And to come back with a calm mind that's non judgmental. Really think of rooting through the standing leg, which, by the way, it's totally fine to bend the knee a little bit if you need to, but you're really engaging around it and extending through the lifted legs and arms, creating a lot of length and strength. Also drawing navel in and up toward the spine. Super important in this to help create that balance and stability. So misalignments. I already talked about this a little bit. But lifting the back hip too high in order to lift the leg more would be a misalignment. We wanna keep the hips nice and square here. Or even dropping the chest would be one as well. Some tips, I think, or different modifications is using blocks under the hands for support. So it's totally fine to keep your hands grounded the whole time. From there, you might work one hand to the heart at a time, or even both hands. It requires a lot of stability and strength to bring the hands up from the blocks. You can practice near a wall for stability. And you can either do that with your hands on the wall or with your foot on the wall. Either way, I recommend playing around with it. It can be a lot of fun. So that's warrior one, warrior two, warrior three. You can see it in a lot of ways, how they're related There is this sense of stability and strength in the legs and in the hips and in the core, and this feeling of lengthening through the upper body, through the head, through the arms, that is the through line, through these postures. But they face different directions. The feet are in different positions, so they're not always meant to be stacked one on top of the other. And more specifically, Warrior one builds strength and grounding. Warrior two develops a sense of openness and stability and focus. And Warrior 3 challenges our balance and our dynamic strength. So they all explore in similar and different ways this feeling of courage, of strength, and of inner focus. So maybe as you're in your next yoga class and you're exploring these poses, you're calling on this feeling of strength, of courage, even of, like, the transformative, righteous anger that occurs in a just way through the embodiment of this posture. You can think of drawing on the strength of the warrior Veer Badra on the mat, so that you can take it off the mat, whether you're using it interpersonally, communally, politically. There are a lot of injustices in the world, right? And warriors help us focus our energy so that we can use it in a way that is potent, that is grounded and effective. So as we close this, I really want to encourage you to explore these postures and practice with curiosity, with an open mind, maybe trying these variations. And I also want to leave you with this quote from Myths of the Asanas about Verabhadra and about the warrior poses. It says, warrior poses are a reminder that ferocity exists not only to destroy, but also to allow us sufficient strength to achieve integrity, compassion, and a loving state of mind. So let that sink in. Happy warrioring. If there are any other postures you'd like me to break down or talk about the mythology behind, please email me or comment on my Instagram post about this episode. I'd love to interact more with you and to share more about these postures and the depth behind them. So lots and lots of love. Om Shanti, Om Peace.
