Warrior Poses (Virabhadrasana)

Hi, welcome back to class. So I hope the classes are going really well for you so far. Today we are going to move on and go a little bit deeper to open the hips and strengthen the entire body. We are going to focus on a posture called Virabhadrasana 1 and 2. There are actually three types. Today we are going to look at the first two types.

So let's start whenever you are ready by sitting in Sukhasana. Sukhasana is when one heel is behind the other heel. Let's start with a nice straight back and go ahead and just close the eyes. Take a moment. Don't hurry. Just observe the breathing. Remember the breathing that we did earlier in the previous class.

Let's inhale from the chest. Hold the breath for a moment and then exhale by pulling the stomach inside as much as you can. Keep going. Inhale deeply from your chest. Hold it for a moment. Exhale completely. One more time. Keep the back straight. Inhale. Hold it for a moment and exhale. Let it all go. Let's join the palms together. Let's chant Om before we begin. Inhale again. Gently open the eyes. Now we are ready to start.

Let's start by coming over onto the hands and knees. This is known as a table top position. So observe the alignment. The shoulders are right over the wrist. Knees are under the hip. Open the feet slightly. Open the knees slightly. Inhale. Let's warm up the back. Just arch nicely. Exhale. Round the back. Pull the stomach inside. Take the chin down.

Just two more times. Inhale. Arch the spine. Look up slightly. Exhale. Tuck everything. Flex the back. Round the head down. One more time. Inhale. Arch the back. Just hold it there for a moment. Exhale, round the back. Slowly come back to a neutral spine position and let's push it onto downward facing dog. Just take the hands a few inches forward. Come on the toes and push back.

So here we are in the first downward facing dog. Let's just warm up the body a little bit more. Bend the right knee. Bend the left knee. You'll start to feel this on the backs of the legs. Bend the right knee. Deep breathing. Bend the left. Keep going. Keep switching. Keep alternating between the legs. Five. Keep listening to the sound of the breath. Four. Three. Two. And one.

From here we're going to go to Balasana, child's pose. Just drop the knees, knees together and let's just take the head down, hands forward, few moments of rest. Slowly coming up. We'll move to the puppy pose. Stretch the hands forward, coming onto your toes. Keep the knees together. Take the hands as forward as you can. Lift your seat up. Bring the top of the head to the mat. You can stay right there but if it's comfortable let's just walk the hand a few inches forward and trying to get the chest and chin down. Slowly bending the elbows. Let's come back. You would have noticed a very deep stretch in your spine and your shoulders when you did that pose.

Let's push back to downward facing dog. Lift the hips. From here come over to plank pose. Inhale, plank. Exhale, Chaturanga all the way down to the ground. Bhujangasana, breathing. Open the chest. Open the shoulders. Shoulders away from the ears. Exhale, push back to downward dog.

From here, step the right leg forward and back leg 45 degrees. So slowly come and balance as you come up. You make sure that the front leg is 90 degrees. It's pointing forward. The back foot is turned a little more outside. Let's try to align the heel of the front leg with the arch of the back leg. The chest shouldn't be facing the side. Hold on to the waist. You pivot over to the front and face the front.

Now as you inhale, lift the chest. As you exhale, bend a little bit more. The knee over the ankle. Let it not cross the ankle. Keep the knee directly over the ankle. Look forward for a moment. Hands in Pranam in front of your chest and five breaths here. One, hold the pose. Deep breathing. Two, try to straighten the back knee. Three, deep inhale, deep exhale. Four, five. Good, hands to the ground.

Step back, plank pose. Big inhale and then exhale all the way down to the ground. Bhujangasana, breathing. You could even do upward facing dog with the knees and thighs off the mat if comfortable. Exhale to downward dog. Okay, we have to do it on the other side. So turn the right leg at a 45 degree angle. Step the left leg forward. If your leg doesn't go immediately forward, hold on to the foot and just take it forward. Okay, now find the balance. Come and stand.

Don't hurry. Again, the chest is not facing the side. Should be facing the front. Hold the waist. Face the front. That's all. Inhale where you are. Exhale a little bit deeper. Hands in front of your chest. Five breaths here. One, two, deep breathing. Start to feel the strength in your legs. Three, four, five. That's enough. Hands to the ground.

Step back. Inhale, plank. Exhale lower down. Urdhva Mukha, inhale. Adho Mukha, exhale. Let's take a breath in downward dog. Deep inhale. Deep exhale. Looking forward. Step the right leg forward. Back leg 45 degrees. Come and stand. We're going to do it one more time.

Orient your chest to face forward. Hands on the hip. Send the hip down. Release the hands. See if you can balance. And then inhale. Raise your arms up. Now you can stay here with the hands apart. If your shoulders are a little tight, hands will be apart. But if you can, join the palms and look at the hands. Hold there. One, two, three, steady, four, five. Hands really down. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, come up. Exhale, push back.

Inhale, left leg forward. Start to balance. Balance. Release the hands. Again, if the shoulders are a little uncomfortable, just keep the hands apart and look forward. If it's accessible, join the palms. Look at the hands. Okay? Steady. Hold there. One, two, three, four, five. Hands neatly down. Step back to plank. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, come up. From here, we're going to go straight to Balasana. Just to take some rest. Okay? Knees together, head down.

Slowly, come up. We'll keep going forward. We'll go a little bit deeper in these warrior poses. Push back to downward dog, hip rise. Okay? Stepping the right leg forward. Back leg is 45 degrees. Inhale, slowly, come up and balance. We're going to do reverse warrior. Keep looking forward with the chest. Left hand, take it back towards the back of the left thigh. Right hand up. Inhale. Exhale, just slightly arch back. Hold it there. Five, four, three, two, one. Slowly up. Don't go down.

Let's just turn around. So left leg is 90 degrees. It's pointing forward. Back foot is 45 degrees. Let's do it on the other side. Keep the chest facing forward. Keep the hip going down. Now start to take the right hand back towards the right back thigh. Inhale, left hand up. And arch back slightly. One, two, three, four, five. Slowly, come up. Straighten the legs for a moment.

We're going to go straight to warrior two from here. So just hold everything. Just check your alignment once more. Front leg is pointing forward. Back leg is 45 degrees. The heel and arch of the foot in one line. Open the hands. Inhale. Exhale, bend the front knee. Don't cross the knee over the ankle. Very important. Bend. Now again, the chest is facing forward this time, not towards the left leg. So inhale, exhale. Only the head. Look at the left fingers. One, if you're taller, you have to increase the distance between your legs. Two, three, four, five. Inhale, come up.

Take the hands where they are. Right leg turn. Take an inhalation. Exhale, get into the pose. One, try to keep the belly pulled in. Two, remember the bandhas. Three, four, five. Let's back to the ground. Inhale, plank. Exhale, chest down. Inhale, come up. Arch back. Be comfortable. Exhale, Balasana one more time. Slowly, come up.

Let's release a bit through the body now. Stretch the legs all the way forward. And let's slide down on the mat. We're going to do a very simple twist. Bend the knees. Knees together. Feet together. Inhale, exhale, drop both knees towards the right side. Look at the left hand. Take the right hand. Hold on to the tops of the knees. Start to open up the shoulders. Looking at the left fingers. Enjoy the twist. Nice deep breathing.

After about five to ten breaths, inhale back to the center. Only on your exhalation get into the twist. So exhale and twist. Let's look at the opposite side. Deep breathing, open the chest. You'll feel this on the chest, on the shoulders, on the waist. Feel a nice release through the body. A nice breath in. Nice breath out. Inhale, come back to the center. After five to ten breaths, come back.

Let's just bend and hold the knees for a moment. Let the lower back rest on the mat and let it all go. Savasana. Stay in Savasana as long as it's comfortable. Nothing to do here. Just take rest. Close your eyes. Keep the full body very still. Try not to move. Slowly open your eyes.

Thanks for joining me. I'll see you next class.