Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2) Flow

Transcript

hello everyone Namaste I'm kimbery from east west yoga and today I will be breaking down for you Verras B Warrior 2 one of my favorite standing poses let's begin so let's begin by starting to warm up the hips we'll come up onto your knees if you need to Pat up your knees at home you're welcome to Pat up your knees you can always roll your yoga mat and double it over we'll bring the hands all the way onto the hips and begin by taking your right leg out to the side so the right leg's going to go all the way out to the side in Gate pose see if you can find a place where your hip is above your knee let's inhale together arms to the sky lengthen through your waist imagine energy coming all the way through your fingertips and then on the exhale start to tip your body to the sides so coming into a lateral stretch here in inhale come all the way back up through the center and just one more time like that exhale we tip to the side from here you can release your right hand down to your leg take a moment to pause here inhale and exhale to soften into the pose a little bit more on your next inhale lift the tsso up bring your hands back to your hips and then find the right foot and start to turn it out so this is like Warrior 2 this is like Vera vasana B but we are on our knees so this is a another variation that you can do uh if you don't want to come into the full standing pose so this is great because we are opening up our inner groin we're opening up through our hips find a place where you can have your front knee above your ankle and then you've got the option here so we're opening up through the chest you can extend your arms out to the side and then see if you can turn your your gaze your dristy towards the hand that is in front of you so the right hand that's extending out take a deep breath in on the breath out see if you can soften your shoulders down your back one more breath here and one more breath out so the energy that's happening right now is you're pushing energy down into your front left heel and then imagining that you're drawing your heel towards your inner thigh so we start to create a sense of activation through your inner legs when you're ready you can gently release we'll come back and we'll move to the other side so we'll start with gate pose take your left leg out to the side left leg is nice and long ground down through the outer edge of your left foot and then arms come straight up inhale arms to the sky reach up high and exhale tip all the way over to your side come all the way back up inhale finding some length through the spine exhale tip all the way over to your side so as you stay here you have the option to release your hand down to support your leg you can extend your top arm up overhead or if you prefer to support the back of your head this is also a great option we'll take one more round of breath here inhale and then stay here as you sink a little deeper on the exhale on your next inhale lift your torso up and then we'll find the Warrior 2 variation on the other side so turning your right toes out to the side bend your knee front knee bends above your ankle hips stay facing out to the side okay front hip on top of the knee and then play with extending your arms out to the side energy is moving through your fingertips turn your gaze towards your front hand inhale here exhale so we're starting to open up through the hips imagining that you are sliding your front heel towards your back knee and we're starting to activate inner thighs strengthening through our GL glutes strengthening through your quadriceps just take one more breath here and release hands to your hips come all the way back let's find our way to our hands and knees so tur it into a tabletop position tabletop position and now let's tuck the toes lift your knees find your downward-facing dog downward-facing dog pose hips to the sky head comes nice and low take the right leg all the way up and back and now right knee to your right tricep step the right foot to your outer right hand coming into a lizard pose come all the way onto your fingertips inhale look forward roll the shoulders back and now exhale slowly walk your hands back if you have blocks at home you can use your blocks start to straighten your front leg turning the toes to the sky as we start to find some strength through the quadriceps pyramid pose come all the way forward bend the front knee sink the hips roll the shoulders back look forward lizard pose come all the way back into pyramid pose straighten the front leg begin to fold inhale come forward plant your hands step all the way back downward facing dog so we'll come to the other side now left leg to the sky reach the leg up high hips are closed left knee to your left tricep and now step the left foot to your outer left hand just know that you can bring your back knee down this is still lizard pose the back knee can be down and the back toe untucked if you like you can have it a little more active in the pose so opening up into your hips coming onto your fingertips inhale and then slowly start to walk your hands back as you begin to stret Sten your front leg and a fold down let's do that one more time so we come down starting to open the hips sink the hips down roll the shoulders back find a deep breath in on the deep breath out start to straighten both your legs as you fold down this time as you inhale come forward let's step the right foot to your outer right hand take a moment to pause in Yogi squat so this is another great hip opening pose hands to prayer inhale stand all the way up reach up high and exhale hands to your heart you can heel and toe your feet in heer your feet in so they are hip distance apart bring your hands to your hips let's step the left foot all the way back and turn to the side so now we're going to come into the Warrior 2 pose this is more the traditional shape of the ASA so it is a standing pose one of the things that I often see in Warrior 2 is hips collapsing from side to side so we'll Begin by taking the right toes forward right toes come all the way forward and see if you can start to bend through your front knee the front knee wants to be stacked 90° on top of the front ankle hips stay nice and open out to the side and the back foot is lining up to the back edge of your yoga mat so hips stay out to the side the navl is in and up see if you can move your front knee towards your second toe and make sure you can see your front big toe here energy is grounding down through the back here back thigh is gently internally rolling in front thigh is externally rolling out you can stay here so this is the legs of Warrior 2 hands can come out to the sides if this feels like too much maybe hands come onto your shoulders or of course you can always keep hands to your hips but for the traditional pose arms are out to the side what I often see is this sort of movement where we forget where our arms are so arms are in line with the the shoulders what often happens is as well shoulders up are up around the ears so see if you can flip your palms up open up your chest keep that openness and just the Palms flip down the Gaze is in front soft gaze keep bending into the front knee inhale here exhale keep pushing energy through the back heel keep feeling energy moving from fingertips to fingertips as the shoulders slide down your back one more breath in one more breath out we'll move to the other side we're bringing hands to the hips straighten your front leg turn the toes in and we'll Begin by turning the front toes out so as you turn the front toes out make sure that you're keeping your hips squared facing out to the long edge of your mat set yourself up set yourself up set your foundation up front heel is lined up to the middle of the back arch ground down through your back heel engage through your quadriceps so this is a strong standing pose strong pose on the legs and then when you're ready make sure that your hips are open out to the side find your arm variation maybe the arms are extending and then play with flipping your palms to the the sky opening the shoulders opening the chest rolling the shoulders down the back and then flip the Palms open F The Palms down soften the Gaze deepen your breath and feel the energy of the warrior one of my favorite Arenas to practice to come out of the pose hands to hips straighten the front leg turn turn your toes in thank you for taking the time for me to go into Vera vasana B Warrior 2 with you this pose Warrior 2 is an amazing pose for building strength in the lower body whilst also lengthening the spine and opening up and building strength in your shoulders and your chest practice this pose and start to embody the energy of the warrior thank you for joining namaste