Remembering the Heart
Winter Warriors: Warrior III
February, considered by some, is the month of love. This theme is heavily due to the fact that Valentine’s Day falls right in the middle, on the 14th. The day when you’re to take the time to express your love for the special someone in your life. Honestly, I’ve never been a huge fan of the holiday. Maybe because I’m allergic to chocolate or my aversion to roses, due to my full-time profession. (You romantics out there will be happy to hear my boyfriend is trying to sway my point of view on this). I feel we should express our feelings to those we care about all year round, not just on this one day. And what about showing yourself love? Now, more than ever, we should be showing ourselves love and practicing self-love and care.
All the self-work done to create a Spirit Warrior within reveals our inner strength and expresses how much work we will do to improve ourselves. This is a form of self-love and care. With this work we are able to show up as the best person that we can be for those that we care about and ourselves. By working to overcome the ego we gain clarity and understanding when observing our own battles in life and are able to approach them in the best way possible. We can also apply everything we’ve learned to different situations we experience throughout life.
Considered an advanced pose, Virabhadrasana III, or Warrior III, is a balancing pose that takes strength, stability and stamina as well as balance and grace. Bringing together everything the body and mind has learned and refined in Virabhadrasana I and Virabhadrasana II, or Warrior I and Warrior II. This posture improves balance and posture as well as body awareness. It strengthens the stabilizing muscles of the feet and ankles as well as the muscles of the legs, abdomen, back and shoulders. Stamina within our body helps to create focus in the mind as well.
From Tadasana, or Mountain Pose:
Standing with feet hip distance apart, all ten toes facing forward, begin by stepping the left foot back on the mat about 3 to 4 feet. Staying on the toes and ball of the foot, coming into a High Lunge position.
Begin to bend the front knee, making sure to keep the knee in line with the ankle.
Engaging the abdominal muscles as the arms rise up to shoulder height and become parallel with the ground. Shoulders roll down and back. Palms face in, towards each other, reaching through the finger tips.
Pressing through the right foot, ground through the four corners, begin to straighten the right knee as the left foot slowly lifts off the mat.
Torso and head begin to move forward, head coming between the biceps as the left leg rises behind. Left hip stays rotated inward and the left toes point towards the mat. Pressing through the back heel.
Making sure to keep a slight bend in the right knee, arms, head, torso and left leg begin to become parallel with the ground. Length is created from finger tips to left heel.
Neck remains neutral with the gaze falling towards the ground or, if comfortable and does not compress the neck, a few feet above the front edge of the mat.
Take a few breaths here, keeping the core engaged and a slight bend in the right knee. Tapping the toes down, if needed to keep balance. When you’re ready to come out of the pose, begin to lower the left leg, coming on to the ball of the foot as the right leg begins to bend. Coming into high lunge position again, the head and torso rise back up. Arms come down to the sides of the torso or palms meet in the front of the chest, thumbs in line with the sternum. Step the left foot to meet the right at the front of the mat, in Tadasana or Mountain Pose. Take a moment to shake out the arms and legs before coming into the pose on the left side of the body.
As you practice this posture you may find yourself always coming into it the same way each time. (The way I’ve just described is not the only way to come into Virabhadrasana III, or Warrior III, there are many). Usually, it’s the sequence that feels the best or most comfortable in your body and guarantees you will achieve the posture. This is not uncommon with advanced postures because of the fear of losing what you’ve been able to achieve. You’ve put in so much practice of coming into the pose a certain way that you resist change and stop trying new ways to come into the posture. Therefore, it is easy to lose sight of what is considered a “beginners mind” in Buddhism. Remembering that we never stop learning throughout life and yoga is a journey that continually offers opportunities for us to grow. This helps us to stay present in the current moment.
This can also happen as we work to overcome the ego. We may find ourselves stuck in the new patterns, only to discover that over time they don’t work as well as they first did. When this happens, we shouldn’t panic but pause and take a deep breath. Come back to the “beginners mind” and consider how to approach things differently, without fear of losing what is already learned. Instead, we can take what we know and everything we’ve learned and begin to apply it in different ways to overcoming the ego. Allowing ourselves forgiveness and showing ourselves love with we stumble will help us create inner strength as we do the self-work.