Main benefits of doing the warrior pose

This movement teaches balance and awareness of body position. It is easy to recognize by the stride posture and the stretch of the arms. It is recommended to introduce it into a flow as part of a yoga sequence, both to improve mobility and obtain other benefits.

What is the warrior posture?

Known in Sanskrit as Vīrabhadrasana, it is a series of yoga poses that embodies the mythical warrior Vīrabhadra (according to Vedic teachings). It’s iconic for being a core pose – a standing asana that can help build strength in the legs, spine, and torso.

According to yoga teachings, Warrior I is very important for developing alignment, practicing deep mindful breathing, and developing flexibility in the shoulders and back. There are several poses of the warrior, with advanced variations becoming standard features of your yoga routines, including the Reverse Warrior (Viparita Virabhadrasana) and the Humble Warrior (Baddha Virabhadrasana).

Strengthen muscles

Warrior I strengthens the legs and upper arms, improves balance and core strength, stretches the muscles around the hips. We get a good stretch of the front and back of the thigh (quadriceps and hamstrings), hips and chest, as well as a posterior extension of the erector spinae muscle. It’s a hip-opening posture, which is a good antidote when sitting all day.

The warrior pose stretches the shoulders, neck, back, belly, groin, legs, and arms. If we practice yoga to treat pain in these regions, Vīrabhadrasana may be one that you should add to your routine.

Alleviate the pain

This pose can also help build endurance, as it is fairly easy to hold this pose for a longer period of time while maintaining proper alignment and without risk of injury.

Science also supports yoga’s potential to relieve aches and pains. This includes chronic pelvic pain in women (and it could be really helpful, as 4 to 16 percent of women experience some type of regular pelvic pain). This pose can also be therapeutic if we suffer from sciatica.

Improves emotions

The warrior pose is excellent for opening the heart and developing courage. This pose keeps you standing very strong: one leg back, one leg forward, hips forward, and chest lifted. It can help you gain inner strength and courage, allowing you to open up to yourself and others.

It is even an energizing pose, which allows better breathing and circulation.

Steps to do the pose

As we have seen, this posture has three variants, depending on the intensity and difficulty. But to be able to do more difficult versions, it is important to have a good base. Here we teach the correct technique to do the Warrior I pose:

1. From downward facing dog, step your right foot forward into the inside of your right hand.
2. Twist the ball of the ball of your left foot and drop your left heel to the ground with your toes out about 45 degrees from your heel.
3. Bend your right knee directly over your right ankle so that your right thigh is parallel to the ground.
4. Get up to stand up, bringing your arms out to the sides and toward the ceiling. The chest remains open as you come to a slight spinal extension (also known as a back bend). The palms of the hands can be touched above the head or held at shoulder width apart, whichever is more comfortable.
5. Look up at your thumbs and slide your shoulder blades down your back.
6. Check the alignment of the hips. Move your right hip back and your left hip forward so that both hips are square in front of the mat.
7. Lower through the outer edge of the left foot. Make sure your right thigh is as parallel to the ground as possible.
8. Drop your hands onto the mat and step back with your right leg into downward facing dog. Take a few breaths.

Advanced variations of the warrior stance

These are the best variants that can be implemented in Vīrabhadrasana-based yoga routines. Keep in mind that it is necessary to perfectly master the main pose before leveling up.

Warrior II

This is very similar to the original, although we will keep our arms stretched out to the sides. The steps to follow are:

1. Start at the top of the mat mat with your feet slightly apart.
2. Step back with your right foot in a lunge so that your front knee is bent, your back leg is straight, and your back heel is lifted off the ground.
3. Slowly turn your back foot to a 90 degree angle while placing the sole of your foot on the mat. Your toes should now face the wide edge of the mat.
4. Keeping the front knee bent and pressing it to the little finger of the front foot, extend the arms to the sides and face the top of the mat.

Reverse warrior

Reverse Warrior (Viparita Virabhadrasana) is also known as Peaceful Warrior. If the yoga classes involve the flow of Vinyasa, the Dancing Warrior part of the sequence will probably be given (which is Warrior I, Warrior II, Reverse Warrior). This is a great variation on the warrior stance if you want to work a little more on your quads, neck, hips, and groin. Here’s how you get involved:

1. Starting with mountain pose, turn to the left and spread your feet apart.
2. Turn your right foot out about 90 degrees so that it is pointing toward the front of the mat, and your left foot out a little. Remember to keep those heels aligned.
3. Raise your arms to shoulder height so that they are parallel to the ground. Keep your palms down.
4. Bend your front knee (right), launching yourself towards warrior II.
5. From warrior II, drop your back (left) hand toward the back of your left thigh. Raise your right arm, stretching your fingertips toward the ceiling. Your right bicep should touch your right ear if you have the correct angle.
6. Tilt your head up so that you are looking at the raised fingertips. Allow the hips to sink into position, stretching through the waist and arms. The shoulders should be relaxed and the back hand will slide down the left leg as you go.

Humble warrior

The Humble Warrior Pose, also known as Baddha Virabhadrasana, is a great step from Warrior I. Yoga has strong ties to spirituality and mental well-being. According to yogic beliefs, Humble Warrior promotes introspection and self-awareness.

This pose is a great way to add some extra stretch to your lower back, upper back, hips, and shoulders. The technique to get this warrior is:

1. Start in Warrior I pose, with your right leg forward.
2. Take your front foot 1 or 2 steps to the right to keep your groin open and support your knee.
3. With your hands behind your back, interlock your fingers. Inhale.
4. As you exhale, gently bring your upper body forward until your head reaches the front knee (or to the mat, depending on how flexible you feel).
5. Your arms should be straight in the air behind you, bent back at the shoulder.

Common mistakes

The warrior pose looks simple on the surface, but achieving the perfect form even in the most basic yoga poses is not as easy as it sounds. If you’ve tried in vain to feel the full benefits of the Warrior Pose, it may be due to some of the more common mistakes.

Bend the front knee forward

The front knee should be bent at an angle of approximately 90 degrees. Leaning too far forward can damage your knees and leg ligaments. However, it is also common to slightly exceed the toes with the knee. This is necessary for proper mobility in tall people, for example.

If we are focusing the tension in the warrior pose on the knee instead of the thighs, abs or glutes, it is advised to readjust until we feel that stretch in all the right places.

Turning your back heel too much

Knowing how to position your feet and heels during the warrior pose can be tricky. It seems like a small step, but it is very important. If the rear heel has been misaligned, the hips cannot rotate to fully support the weight. This can lead to great pain.

We must make sure not to twist the rear heel too much. Just rotate 45 to 60 degrees to the center when rising from the mat during the warrior pose.

Arching your lower back too much

The main curve of the warrior’s stance, as it relates to the spine, should occur in the upper back. A common novice mistake is putting the entire curve at the base of the spine. When performing any type of backbend in a warrior stance, consider lifting your chest toward the ceiling before beginning to arch your back. This will keep your lower back out of the curve.

Stamina in warrior stance comes from the hips and core, allowing the upper back to bend. It is recommended to keep the lower back as straight as possible.

Not squaring your hips in front

The trickiest part of this pose is squaring your hips forward. If we have no idea what it means to square the hips forward, we will place our hands on the waist and look for the bony part of the pelvis that protrudes on both sides. These are called hip points.

Imagine that they are the headlights of a car and they must face the front of the mat. You can feel if they are at an angle instead of looking straight ahead. Move the front leg side back and the rear leg side forward until you get those headlights in the correct position. Take one more step with your feet to each side of the mat if necessary.

Keep your shoulders tense but your arms slack

The final touch is to make sure that the arms and shoulders have the correct relationship is to think about having the arms tight and the shoulders slack. This may seem counterintuitive at first, as the arms are in the air or at the sides in many variations of the warrior’s stance.

Although the warrior pose invokes the strength of the shoulder, the stability must come from the arms. Shoulders should be relaxed enough for weight and balance to shift as we sink toward the ground.