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Warrior 1 pose (virabhadrasana I)

 

Next in our free yoga poses is virabhadrasana I, it is a standing pose that strengthens the legs and streaches the arms and shoulders..

This pose was named after the mythic warrior Vibabhadra, it is ment to promote a feeling of stregnth and power.

 

NOTE: In doing this pose make sure your head, shoulders, hips and knees all face the same direction

 

As with all yoga poses breath evenly while performing the pose.

A resource for you that is very helpful in training this pose as well as others is Scientific Keys Vol 1 - The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga, It is an excellent book that details the muscle and bone alignments for this pose as well as many other postures. It has brought my training to a whole new level. (The ability to visualize what is happening inside the body can really make allot of the more difficult poses easier to do). They have a free first chapter on the site, I encourage you to check it out.

 

How to do this pose.

1. Start in Mountain pose and step our left foot 3-4 feet in front of you.

2. Move forward to your back leg becomes straight and front leg is bent

3. Make sure your head, shoulders, hips and knees are pointed forward

4. Inhale as you raise your arms above your head, palms facing each other and fingers pointed to the sky.

5. Relax your shoulders down away from your ears

6. Point the top of your head to the sky and gaze softly straight ahead

7. Hold for about 15 secounds to 1 minute.

8. To come out of the pose exhale as you lower your arms to your sides then return to mountain pose.

 

 

You should be careful performing Warrior 1 pose if you have hip,shoulder, back or knee problems.

For some variations of this pose you can raise your arms and grasp your elbows with opposite hands or extend your arms to the sides with your palms facing down.

I wish you all the best, and do not forget to sign up for our RSS feed to the left to be notified of new pages as they come.

 

 

 

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