Warrior Series

Hi. Today we're going to work on our warrior stances and go through all three of them. So you're going to come to the front of your mat. We'll check out a couple different pelvis positions. So find your hip bones here with your hands and sort of check out where that is and then let the knees bend just a little bit. And we'll start with forward and back. So if I think about the bowl of the pelvis, so when I go forward, the bowl moves forward. And when I think about the bowl of the pelvis moving back, it's going back. So just a few of these back and forth, noticing the different movements. And then seeing if you can really isolate just the pelvis. So not taking the whole torso or the legs with you, but really just moving pelvis and isolating that movement a few more times. And it's back and forth. And then we come to neutral. And the other way the pelvis moves is just a little side to side, right? So we can let the whole legs come with us in the torso and that's a much bigger movement, right? But there's small movements that we can do that's side to side with the pelvis, right? And learning to differentiate between that. So a few times back and forth.

And then we have our rotation. This one's the fun one. So if you put your fingers right in the hip creases right here, we start with little tiny circles, right? And you can move in either direction and seeing if you can really isolate just the pelvis moving. So it's really small. And if you're having trouble making the full circle, just going forward, side, back, side, forward, side, back, side, forward. And then trying to link those together. Focusing when you have a sticky spot and where that is, right? So if you've got one, really focusing on noticing where that is and seeing if you can move through it versus going around it. And then we'll switch the direction. So going really, really small here. Moving over towards the right or the other side if you did a different side. And again, if you're having trouble connecting, sometimes when we go one way, it can be easier. And when we go the other way, it's harder. You can always go forward, side, back, side, forward, side, back, side. A few more times. And then we'll switch other direction and this time take the hips a little bit bigger. And so here's the whole body. Moving with it. And that's fun, right? We don't do this movement too often, probably, in our regular lives. So checking into all the spaces here. Again, noticing where it's sticky. Moving to the left is easier for me than moving to the right. So that's just something to know as you start to move around. A couple more times, making big circles. And then coming back to the center, rounding your feet, reaching the arms on up overhead. Ground through your leg line. Find your side body. Take the gaze up. Inhale. And then exhale. Hands come to the heart. Take the gaze down. Start to bend into the knees here. And we'll come down for downward facing dog. So bring your hands to the ground. And you're going to lift up your right leg here. And we're going to talk about internal and external rotation of our femur. So the femur is your thigh bone. Here is external rotation. Here is internal rotation. So trying that a couple times. Turning the leg out and turning it in and out and in. And then put the foot down. And try the other side. Turning it out and in. Externally rotating. Internally rotating. One more. Out and in. And then lowering the foot down here. I'm going to go ahead and grab my blacks so that I have them for underneath my hands for the rest of my downward dog. Which is a little bit nicer for me to work with. And you'll come back into your downward dog. Either using blacks underneath the hands or not. Pressing down through that first knuckle. Finding the side body. Lengthening out through the lower back. Breathing here. To take the gaze forward. Slowly move the feet forward. Coming to an uttanasana. To flip up my box. You might do the same thing. Inhale. Extend through the spine. Gaze comes forward. Exhale. Fold. Grounding through the feet. All rise on up. Take your arms on up overhead. Upward salute. Inhale. Exhale. Hands come to the heart. Inhale. Take your arms on up. Exhale. Fold all the way down center line. Uttanasana. Inhale. Extension through the spine. Hands can ground on the floor. The shins are blacks. Exhale. We'll step back. Downward facing dog. Breathing here. One or two. Full inhales. Full exhales.

And grounding through that first knuckle. Finding a little bit of a curve in your lower back. Nice strong straight legs. On your next inhale you can start to shift forward. Lower the knees down. Move your blocks out of the way if you have those. And come all the way down onto your belly. Take a little space between your feet. Press the hands into the ground. Lift your heart. Baby cobra. Gaze starts to move forward. Find the inhale here and then exhale. Soften it back down. Shift yourself back to your knees. Hands come onto blocks or to the floor. Tuck the toes. Downward facing dog. Take your gaze forward. Start to walk the feet forward. Coming to your uttanasana. Inhale. Extension through the spine. Hands on shins. Blocks through the floor. Exhale. Folding. Rise on up with your inhale. Upward salute. Exhale. Hands come to the heart. You're gonna do that same thing again. Inhale. Arms come on up. Exhale. Folding all the way down. Working at the pace of your breath you're inhaling for an extension of the spine. And then the exhale starts to take you back towards downward dog. Find a full breath here. Inhale and exhale. And then on your next inhale shift forward here. Plank pose. Exhale. Lower the knees down. Blocks can come out of the way. All the way down onto the belly. Find your inhale. Lift the heart. Cobra might grow a little bit bigger this time. Using the inner thighs. Opening through the chest. Shift yourself back so the weight's in the knees. Put the blocks underneath your hands if you need those. Come back into your downward facing dog. Full breath here. Exhale here. Gaze comes forward. Start to walk the feet forward. Forward fold. Find the exhale. Inhale. Rise on up. Upward salute. Exhale. Hands come to the heart. Inhale. Arms come on up. Exhale. All the way down. Inhale. There's extension through the spine. Arda uttanasana. We're half forward fold.

And then grounding through the hands. We're hands on block. Stepping back. Downward facing dog. Full inhale. Full exhale here. We'll take our gaze forward. This time we're stepping our right foot through towards our hands. You're going to ground through your back heel. So here pause and take a look at your feet. The feet have lateral distance around two sides of the street. So our back heel is grounded. The toes are pointed forward diagonal of that back foot. And the front foot is grounded as well. And then when you're ready, come on up. So your front knee is nice and strong. Bend. Both inner thighs are working. We tilt the pelvis forward where the pubic bone moves away. Find our upper body strength and then take the arms on up overhead. Virabhadrasana one. Breathing here. Taking a few breaths. Really working the legs. Soft front hip crease. Keeping the back bend. The gaze might even start to lift. So this is in the story. This is the moment that Virabhadra who is a warrior who rose out of Shiva's dreadlock. He rises up. This is his first stance. And then with the exhale will come down. Downward facing dog. And we'll switch sides. We'll set the left foot forward. Same thing. Pause. Look at your feet. Check them out. So you have some lateral distance, right? If there's a line down the middle of your mat, there's space between the feet. Grounding through both legs and then coming on up. Take a pause before you bring your hands overhead. Find your inner leg line strength. Soft front hip crease. Pelvis tilts forward. Strong inner body lifts up. The gaze might start to lift as well. And we find a few breaths here. The story of Virabhadra is one of my favorites. Rising out of a dreadlock that came down from the mountain. What a cool way to come into the world. And then with our exhale we come on down. Downward facing dog. So we're going to take that one more time. Except a little bit deeper. So we'll step our right foot forward. Again, feet have lateral distance. Ground through the feet. Come on up. Get your foundation set. And then take the arms on up overhead. So you can totally keep space between the hands. That's awesome. Or you might decide to interlace the fingers here for Viramudra.

If you've got the mudra, the gaze can stay forward and you can work here. If you'd like, you take the gaze up. Really working inner body. And keep moving into the back bend. Another breath here. Then we'll slowly bring our hands back down. Downward facing dog. A full breath here. Inhale and exhale. Taking the left leg forward. Again, checking out your feet. Grounding and then coming in up. First getting strong legs. And then bringing the hands on up overhead. Choosing to keep the hands separate if you'd like. Otherwise Viramudra gaze can stay forward and this can work beautifully. Otherwise we're lifting up out of the pelvis. Strong legs. Taking the gaze up and moving into more of a back bend. Each inhale lifts and each exhale softens. One more breath here. And slowly, carefully. Bring our hands back down to the floor. Stepping on back. Downward facing dog. We'll step our right foot forward here. For Anjanasana, which is really similar to our warrior shape. Except with the back knee down. So you've got lateral distance between the feet. Nice strong bend to that front knee. You want to at the very least have knee over ankle. Or you can allow the knee to start to come forward as long as you maintain that nice strong inner leg lying to the floor. The back femur is centered. Front hip crease softens. The pubic bone moves away or the pelvis tilts forward. Inner body reaches up. Breathe here. You can keep the arms separate. Or again, you might find Viramudra reaching up. Inhale. Exhale. It starts to soften back. Up. Inhale. Exhale starts to soften back. There's one more. Up. Inhale.

Exhale. Soften back. Release the hands back down to the ground. Step back. Breathe into your downward dog. Full inhale. Long exhale. Find one more breath here. And then we'll step for our left foot, Anjanasana. Lowering the back knee down, releasing the back toe. Lateral distance between that back knee and the front foot. Nice strong bend to the front knee. Strong inner leg contact to the floor. Pelvis tilts forward. Back femur is centered. And then the arms come on up. You can always stay right here. Or take Viramudra. Lifting up and off the pelvis. Find the inhale. The exhale starts to carry you back. Inhale lifts. Exhale carries you back. Inhale lifts. Exhale carries you back. Slowly release the hands on down. We'll find downward facing dog. Shifting forward here. Lowering the knees down. Again moving the blocks out of the way if you're using those. Coming all the way down onto your belly. Inhale we'll lift on up for cobra. Again you might be a little bit higher this time. Exhale we'll move back to our downward facing dog. So here we are for Virabhadrasana 2. Taking our right leg forward. Here pausing, looking down at the feet. This time your feet are on the same side of the street. So heel more or less lined up with arch or maybe the back heel. Depending on how your femurs fit into your pelvis. Really rooting through inner thighs and then coming on up. Taking the arms on out to the sides here. So we're softening through front hip crease. Relying this back hip come in a little bit. Inner thighs are super strong. Now I can actually take my stance a little bit wider. As I take my arms out I think about moving broadly from my collar bones all the way out through my fingertips. So the whole thing is really wide. Another few breaths gazes over that front finger. And then we'll come through center. Parallel the toes. Inhale here. Exhale fold on down through Prasarita just for a moment. And then walking our fingertips over to the left. We'll check out our feet for the other side here. So left toes turn out. The back toes, our right toes are turned in a little bit. Get your stance grounded.

Your feet grounded. And then come on up. Check out the distance. Strong inner thighs on both legs. Soft front hip crease. Arms come on out. Again, expanding through the collar bones. Reaching out through the fingers. Not forgetting to breathe. The idea here is that this pose when it's all together that it really supports itself from the inside out. And so here is Virabhaja taking his first action into the fight. And we come through center. Inhale reach the arms on up. Exhale fold on down Prasarita. Walk back around here. Side facing dog grabbing a hold of my blocks. Full inhale here. Long exhale. So we'll step our right foot forward. Set our feet up for warrior two here. Come on up. Breathe for a moment. Reaching out through fingertips. Extending out through the collar bones. And then we'll slowly start to come on over into our side angle. So I'll grab a hold of my block. Put it behind the foot. Take that top arm towards the ear and then over and then rotating from the navel. Breathing here. Another breath. Keep working inner thighs. Softening that front hip crease. Gaze comes down. Fingertips come down. Bring your block with you. Come in through center. Prasarita inhale. Exhale fold. Turn the toes out here. Of your left foot bring the block behind you. So setting stance up first. Coming on up. And then from a strong foundation we bring our left hand to the block. Right hand comes to the ear. Arm goes over. Press down into the block or the floor. Rotate from the spine. Strong inner thighs. Contact with that pinky edge of the foot all the way reaching to the middle finger of the arm overhead. Another breath here. Letting that front hip crease soften. Gaze comes down. Hands come down. You can leave this block here on the back side of your mat to use again. Inhale. Exhale fold into prasarita. Walk back around towards the front of your mat here. Downward facing dog. One more set. Taking that right leg forward here coming on up. Warrior two. This time we'll take trikonasana. Straightening into that front leg. Grounding through the legs. And then coming on over. I'm going to actually use my block so I'm going to set it behind me. And then coming on over. Pressing strong into the legs. Opening out through the heart. Gaze comes down. You can leave the block in the front. Parallel the toes. Inhale. Exhale fold. Come towards the left side. Rise on up into your warrior two to start. Breathe here. Then straightening that leg. If you're going to use a block you'll grab it. Place it behind your foot or your calf. Finding the strength in your inner thighs. With your exhale coming on over. Left hand to the block or to the floor. Right arm reaches on up. Press down against the block or the floor. Rotate from the spine. Another breath or two here. Gaze is up towards the fingertips if that's okay for your neck. Otherwise the gaze can come down. Well I'll take our gaze down to the floor. Walk the fingertips around towards the right. Presserita. Inhale. Exhale fold. Come all the way back towards the front of our mat here. And step forward for uttanasana. Forward fold. Rise on up upward salute. Inhale. Exhale hands to the heart. I'm going to grab my block and put it back towards the front of my mat. So it's there if I need it. So here's our last warrior. Warrior three. So this is sort of the completion of the mission. He has accomplished the mission. Right? And so we're going to start with a really long side body. Reaching the arms on up overhead. Pressing down through the feet. Reaching up through the arms. Starting to bring the balance into your right leg. The left leg gets lighter. Eventually it starts to come up off the ground. Keeping that lift up and off the pelvis. You can allow that back leg to have a little bit of external rotation. Right? I think it's okay. And then we're sending this hip back. So that it counters the weight of the head. And we get a little bit deeper in. Our hands come to the ground. The back foot meets the front. Finding our tenasana. Inhale there's an extension. Exhale we fold. Inhale we'll rise on up. Upward salute.

Exhale hands to the heart. And then we'll try that on the other side. Inhale arms come on up. So the key here is really to keep the length in the body as we move into the shape. So really keeping the reaching in both directions. Starting to root more strongly through your left foot. The right foot gets light. Until we start to move back. Right? And then eventually we get to this place where it's like oh the flexibility. Right? The balance. And so we have to counter the weight of our head by sending our hips back. And then the hands come down. The feet return. And we fold tenasana. And from here we're going to come on down to the ground. So you can move your blocks out to the side. So that you can have them for later. And we'll come onto our seat. You'll grab a blanket. Place it underneath your seat. And you'll have a strap. So if we extend our left leg. And we take our right leg with the foot at the knee. We'll undo our strap. And place it around the left leg. Bring it together. And send it over your right hip. And around. Your right hand takes a hold of the strap towards the foot. And the left hand we internally rotate and wrap around and find the strap behind our back. And our right hand reaches towards the foot. So purposefully we're trying to stay extended in the spine. You definitely can fold and touch the foot if you have that flexibility. But I'm looking for more of an extended spine than a hamstring stretch. And we'll breathe here for a few breaths. The gaze can foul the twist. Try not to pull your elbow out. But keeping the elbow close in towards the body. Another few breaths. And then you'll release the gaze. You can hang on to the strap if that's helpful for you. Or you can let it go. Your left hand will come behind you either way. And you'll take your right hand to the pinky edge with the thumb placed down. And you'll kind of lean back and gas pedal your toe. And you get this great stretch into your rhomboids between your shoulder blades. And it feels like the best massage. It's yum yum. Okay. And then we just switch and do the other side. So left foot is at the knee. Right foot is extended.

Strap is around the foot. The whole operation comes around our bent knee side. We internally rotate our right shoulder. Wrap it around and grab a hold of the strap. Keeping the elbow in close to the body. And then our left hand comes and holds on to the strap. So again we're not necessarily taking a huge fold here. This is more about a nice neutral extended spine. And then taking the twist. The twist can go or the gaze can go over that right shoulder. Let me take a few breaths here. And then as you release the gaze, you can let go of the strap with your right hand. You can keep your hold of the strap with your left hand. Or take a hold of the peaky edge of the foot. And sort of start to gas pedal. You don't even have to have a straight leg to get this. So it's totally fine to have a bent knee. Otherwise the leg will start to straighten. And then you gas pedal your toe. And it's like, ooh, yes. Please massage me there for longer. Right. It's like the spot where you want to put a tennis ball and roll around on the floor for hours and hours. Or maybe that's just me. Right. And then we release on out here. And we'll come on down onto our backs for a little mini bridge. And a few other shapes. I'm going to fold up my strap. And move my blanket off to the side. And then come on down onto my back. So bending my knees, planning the feet on the floor. You'll take your arms along the side of your body. You're not trying to get up into your biggest bridge. You're just grounding through the feet. Moving the knees forward as the hips lift. You're keeping a little bit of a crease in the front of your pelvis. Here. Mostly just using the legs. Reconnecting everything back together. Breathing here. Another breath. And then exhale, lowering the seat on down. So this next shape I call grounded bow pose. But, you know, you can call it whatever you want. So I basically take a hold of my right foot with the right hand. And then I start to lean on over to my left hip. And you'll push into the ground with your foot that's on the ground. And lifting your pelvis up. Kind of taking that bow shape. And then toe heel, kind of toe inch your little toesies away. And you get this nice shoulder opening. And then I can take my left hand away here as I continue to press the foot, my right foot into the ground and push the pelvis over towards the left. So it's kind of like a half grounded half bow scenario. And then I release. And I take that on the other side. So I'll take a hold of my ankle with the left hand. So your left ankle, left hand. Your right leg extends. Roll over to your right hip. And then start to use the floor to press the pelvis forward. Then I take my arm out to a diagonal. And it's like, hmm. I don't really think there's a wrong way to do this. So feel free to kind of explore. And move your shoulder a little bit farther down or let it come up or push the foot away or bring it closer in and find the sweet spot for you. We come back through center here, putting it all back together.

You'll take one block on its low setting and you'll place it underneath the pelvis here. Take both knees in towards the chest just a little bit. And then your right leg is going to move towards the left and the left hand is going to grab onto that foot. And it's going to go towards the heel, goes towards your left seat. And then that knee comes out to the side and down. So your right knee starts to move down. And then your left foot kind of connects to the ankle and holds it there. And it's like so good. So you don't have to continue to hold onto the foot. You can let go, right? Or you can. This is option one in staying here. This might be more than enough for some people. For some people not having the block underneath, the seat will make this more accessible. If you want a little bit more, you take your right hand up overhead and reach. And if you want still a little bit more, you sort of inch your body over towards the left and then take your arm up. And it doesn't have to be straight to get into it. So you're getting this whole line through the psoas, potentially. And it feels super nice. We come back through center. Release here. And we'll take that on the other side. So I take my knees in so that I'm closer to my foot. I grab a hold of it. So my left foot with the right hand. Left foot, right hand. And then that knee comes down. And then you're going to use your right heel to kind of hold it in place, which is nice. I sort of like the connection between my hand and my foot, but you can always let it go. It's up to you. Staying here, if this is enough, noticing the difference between the two sides. Arm overhead is option number two. And then three, starting to inch your way over to the right. And you might take a little bit more of a side bend and staying here. And breathe for a few breaths. And it should feel pretty nice. You want to be in a place where it's like it's a pleasant sensation. And if you start to move into a place where it becomes verging towards discomfort or pain, you want to back up a step. Particularly if you're feeling that in your lower back. We come back through center here. We'll move the black out of the way. And then my feet go wide. My knees come together here. I pause, rooting the sacrum into the ground here. And imagining my femurs moving back into their home. And the hands can rest on the belly. And then we'll start to extend the legs out into shavasana. Arms come out to the side here. And so we'll talk you through just a little bit relaxation. And then you can always press pause at any point here if you'd like to stay in your shavasana for longer. Otherwise we can stay together and take a brief moment of relaxing here. So you might let your eyes close. Really start to let the gaze soften. And just checking in with your breath. You're breathing really low and deep. Is it all up in the chest? Can you expand it out? Is it short and quick?

Are they long and full? Softening your jaw. Relaxing the space from the ears all the way around the scalp down. And then in particular our legs which worked pretty hard. Checking in there and letting the full weight be received into the ground. And so breathing here resting for a few moments. And again you can always stay as long as you'd like. And when you're ready starting to come back into your body. The space around you. And then reconnecting to your breath in a more conscious way. Bringing a little movement into the body. And then eventually coming on over into your side body to pause for a few moments. Just checking in with the results of your practice. Take a breath or two here. And then we'll press on up to a seat together. Bringing the hands to the heart. Bowing the head on in. Thank you for sharing your practice with me today. Namaste.