Virabhadrasana 2
Warrior 2
Benefits:
Physical:
Emotional:
Cautions:
Method:
Hint: Protect your knees by making sure your bent knee is directly above your ankle and the 2nd and 3rd toe
The thigh is parallel to the ground. This not only protects from knee strain, it also strengthens the muscles around the knee joint.
Physical:
- Strengthens and stretches your legs, ankles and feet
- Stretches your hips, groins and shoulders
- Opens your chest and lungs
- Builds stamina and concentration
- Energizes tired limbs
- Stimulates your abdominal organs
- Helps relieve backaches, especially through 2nd trimester of pregnancy
- Develops balance and stability
- Improves circulation and respiration
- Therapeutic for flat fleet, sciatica, osteoporosis, carpal tunnel and infertility
Emotional:
- For empowerment
Cautions:
- Knee injury
Method:
- Stand tall with your feet together and arms by your sides. Separate your feet 4 to 4.5 feet apart and raise your arms out to your sides, shoulder height, with your palms facing down.
- Turn your left foot and leg 90 degrees out to the left and your right foot in about 15 to 30 degrees.
- Inhale, and as you exhale bend your left knee up to 90 degrees, keeping your knee stacked above your heel. To further protect the knee, center it over the middle of your foot.
- Turn your face to the left and gaze over your left hand. No limp spaghetti arms here; keep your arms strong, shoulder pressing down, creating energy from the tips of your right fingers through the tips of your left.
- Be aware of what’s happening in your face. Are you squinching? Release any tension in your mouth and jaw. Hold for 3 to 10 slow, deep breaths.
Hint: Protect your knees by making sure your bent knee is directly above your ankle and the 2nd and 3rd toe
The thigh is parallel to the ground. This not only protects from knee strain, it also strengthens the muscles around the knee joint.
Mythology:
According to Hindu mythology, there was a certain Lord Shiva who loved the daughter, Sati, of his enemy, Daksha. Daksha refused to accept Shiva, even when Shiva and Sati were married. This animosity between Sati’s father and husband upset her so greatly that she killed herself.
Distraught by his wife’s death, myth tells that Shiva created the fiercest warrior from a bead of sweat on his forehead. This warrior’s name was Virabhadra, and Shiva set him out to destroy those who had caused the death of his beloved Sati.
In Dr. Svoboda’s dynamic book The Greatness of Saturn, he describes Virabhadra as looking “like a flaming fire, having many heads and many eyes, and tens of thousands of arms and legs. The embodiment of concentrated might…”
The fiery power of Virabhadra takes form in three different Warrior poses, this being the second. So, each time you perform Virabhadrasana I, II or III, think of the mighty conqueror from which your posture gets its name. Feel that and try to embody it.
www.cnyhealingarts.com
According to Hindu mythology, there was a certain Lord Shiva who loved the daughter, Sati, of his enemy, Daksha. Daksha refused to accept Shiva, even when Shiva and Sati were married. This animosity between Sati’s father and husband upset her so greatly that she killed herself.
Distraught by his wife’s death, myth tells that Shiva created the fiercest warrior from a bead of sweat on his forehead. This warrior’s name was Virabhadra, and Shiva set him out to destroy those who had caused the death of his beloved Sati.
In Dr. Svoboda’s dynamic book The Greatness of Saturn, he describes Virabhadra as looking “like a flaming fire, having many heads and many eyes, and tens of thousands of arms and legs. The embodiment of concentrated might…”
The fiery power of Virabhadra takes form in three different Warrior poses, this being the second. So, each time you perform Virabhadrasana I, II or III, think of the mighty conqueror from which your posture gets its name. Feel that and try to embody it.
www.cnyhealingarts.com