Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II)

This article reviews virabhadrasana II (warrior II) and explains:

• Its fundamental principles
• The structural and functional physiology involved
• The Yogic or subtle physiology involved
• How it relates to other asanas in the group
• How it may be sequenced in a practice/class
• Variations according to needs and major pre-cautions and/or contra-indications.
• Main indications for adjustment.

This article assumes the asana is performed by a healthy individual. Ahimsa, the yogic practice of non violence must be adhered to when engaging in the practice of hatha yoga. Respect your body's limitations and inner wisdom, if something feels wrong or dangerous, please do not do it.    The editorial content of this article should not be used as a substitute for professional health care or personal instruction. Talk to your doctor before starting any new exercise regime.

 

Fundamental principles of Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II)

One of the most majestic poses in Hatha, the benefits of Warrior are many.    Virabhadra is the name of a fierce warrior, an incarnation of Shiva who is described as having a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand feet, and who wields a thousand clubs and wears a tiger's skin.    Accordingly, Virabhadrasana II (Warrior Pose II) demands a lot of effort. The most obvious effects of Warrior II is on the musculo skeletal system.  You need a firm foundation through the legs.  Strong legs provide grounding to the earth, with everything lifting from the hips upwards.   It enhances balance on both sides of the body, expands the chest, encourages deeper breathing and improves coordination and concentration.   As you practice and become stronger in Virabhadrasana II, you learn to tune in to perfect harmony, finding the balance between contracting (rooting down through your standing leg for steadiness) and expanding (radiating out through the crown of your head, your tailbone, the tips of your toes, and your fingertips). You find yourself pulsating: expanding, contracting, and expanding again, over and over. In Warrior II the hips remain open, so the legs are more in line (heel to heel or heel to instep).  You keep the hip of the back leg from creeping forward by rotating the upper thigh outwards.  Draw up through the centre of the body - using your core strength - and open the front of the chest, keeping arms at shoulder level, and shoulders down away from the ears.  The knee is pointing the same direction as the toes, and is directly over the ankle.  Stretch out the arms and turn the head to look along the arm towards the fingertips

Fundamental Steps in enter Virabhadrasana (Warrior)

1. Stand in Tadasana. With an exhalation, step or lightly jump your feet 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.
2. Turn your right foot in slightly to the right and your left foot out to the left 90 degrees. Align the left heel with the right heel. Firm your thighs and turn your left thigh outward so that the center of the left knee cap is in line with the center of the left ankle.
3. Exhale and bend your left knee over the left ankle, so that the shin is perpendicular to the floor. If possible, bring the left thigh parallel to the floor. Anchor this movement of the left knee by strengthening the right leg and pressing the outer right heel firmly to the floor.
4. Stretch the arms away from the space between the shoulder blades, parallel to the floor. Don't lean the torso over the left thigh: Keep the sides of the torso equally long and the shoulders directly over the pelvis. Press the tailbone slightly toward the pubis. Turn the head to the left and look out over the fingers.
5. Stay for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Inhale to come up. Reverse the feet and repeat for the same length of time to the left.

The structural and functional physiology involved of Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II)

Musculo skeletal system.    
Grounded - Balancing Effort and Ease.  With the correct alignment and placement in the position the body develops coordination, balance, poise, strength, and groundedness.  Moreover, once you establish the proper alignment in this posture, which includes yielding the weight of your front foot into the ground, and send the rebounding flow of energy horizontally back through your front leg, you can feel the (prana) force travel up the leg, through the pelvis, and all the way into the back leg and foot (Farhi, 1999).   Thus, your muscles can work with maximum efficiency.

Strengthening and stretching the legs and ankles.   Virabhadrasana, like all standing postures, are meant to strengthen the ankle, knee joint (as long as the alignment instructions for bending the front leg are followed closely), the hip-joint, the arch of the foot, the spinal joints, etc.  Moreover Virabhadrasana causes a natural traction to the spinal column thus restoring the intrinsic strength of the muscle.  Moreover, decompression of the inter-vertebral joints takes place allowing relief for a prolapsed disc.  Relief from sciatic pain thus occurs.   
Upper body strengthened.  In addition, the warrior pose, stretches the groins, chest and lungs, shoulders - it is very effective for opening, strengthening and aligning your shoulders.   Therapeutic for osteoporosis, and sciatica.   Because of the stretch of the Para spinal muscles and the inter-vertebral ligaments, any fusion or arthritic change in the spinal joints can be arrested.

The key areas of the body that are affected by Virabhadrasana (Warrior) include:

• Circulation/cardiovascular,
• digestive,
• nervous and
• musculo skeletal system (Iyengar, 1991).

Circulatory System
 Standing poses tone up the cardio-vascular system. 

Improve sluggish circulation in the lower limbs, and improve venous return.   The longer the posture is held, body heat increases and circulation is improved.  When warrior pose held a reasonable period, the cardiac muscle is strengthened. According to Dr Raman (Raman, 2004):

"The strengthening happens by a feed back mechanism without any increase in the bulk of the muscle. The lateral wall of the heart is completely stretched and toned up so that the blood flow on the lateral walls is healthy.   As standing poses are static and not dynamic very minimal lactic acid is formed in the muscles so fatigue of the circulatory system does not occur the way it happens in other exercises. "
Stimulates sexual organs.  Improves the blood circulation to the inner organs while massaging them.  In particular, increases circulation to pelvic floor, stimulates sexual organs.

Respiratory System
The longer the posture is held, body heat increases and circulation and respiration are improved.  According to Dr Raman (Raman, 2004) standing poses:
"Improves the vital capacity and gives the effect of having run for a prolonged period though without strain and usage of vital biochemical parameters of the body."

It creates an openness and expansiveness in the chest and thus the walls of the lungs are also toned up as these poses expand the intercostal muscles so that ventilation of the lungs is better; every alveolus is opened up so that perfusion of the lung is improved (Raman, 2004).

Nervous System.  
Tone up the nerves.  Realignment is given to the Para-spinal muscles which remove the altered stresses and strains on the spinal nerves thus re-establishing their anatomical relationship (Raman, 2004).

Nervous system invigorated. The nervous system is also affected in an invigorated way.

Digestive System. 
Stimulates abdominal organs.    Digestion is stimulated and the pose helps to relive constipation

The Yogic or subtle physiology involved of Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II)

This asana helps you have a greater capacity for courage, self-confidence, love, calm, and feeling of security.   Virabhadrasana II is fundamentally a pose of active energy, developing strength, stability and stamina in the entire body, with energy running through the body.  In the deep lunge and open arms of this Warrior Pose variation, there is a challenging intensity.    As you look out from this still point and open your inner ears, you may hear your internal warrior teacher giving you insights to bring you into balance not only in this moment, but in your life as a whole. As it works on opening the heart region (chest) it activates the Anahata Chakra.  In correct alignment, this asana will help you have the energy to fulfill your goals, and overcome any obstacles.     Like Arjuna as Krishna whispered over his shoulder, you may be given confidence to face your fears, courage to move forward, compassion to embrace another, and wisdom to surrender to the one who holds the reins (Rea, 2000).    So try it when you're feeling weary from desk work or just a bit overwhelmed, the pose also has an uncanny effect on your mood, bringing forth a sense of strength, empowerment and the many other qualities of a well-adjusted warrior. During the practice is it useful to focus to perceive the energy flowing through the palms of your hands and perceive the activation of Anahata chakra and Muladhara chakra in its receptive aspect.  As the posture is also principally a grounding asana, it also activates Muladhara chakra.

How it relates to other asanas in the group

Virabhadrasana - Warrior is a dynamic standing posture, like Trikonasana.    The standing postures gets you rooted and firmly planted on your legs.   Along with all standing poses, Virabhadrasana strengthens the ankle, knee joint, the hip-joint, the arch of the foot, the spinal joints.

How it may be sequenced in a practice/class

Before commencing Virabhadrasana - Warrior, I like to warm the internal fire of the body.  I will sequence as follows: 

• Tadasana (Mountain Pose) - start by grounding yourself
• Surya Namaskar - Sun Salutation first.  A completely balanced series of 12 postures to warm your entire body. Alternately stretches the front and back of your body.  Balances strength and flexibility in upper and lower body. This systematic posture flow uses your breath to connect body and mind; and/ or
• Standing forward bends, Uttanasana, Prasaritta Padottanasana;
• Standing - Dynamic Postures.  Utthita Trikonasana - Extended Triangle, and then Virabhadrasana - Warrior... Strengthens your body, tones muscles, increases endurance and energy; and
• Standing - Balance Postures.   Vrksasana - Tree Pose, Garudasana - Eagle, Natarajasana - Dancing Pose of Shiva…
  

Variations according to needs and major pre-cautions and/or contra-indications

Modifications & Props

Some modifications include:

·               If you have difficulty supporting yourself in this pose, position a metal folding chair outside your left leg, with the front edge of the chair seat facing you. As you bend the left knee to come into the pose, slide the front edge of the seat under your left thigh (taller students may need to build up the height of the chair seat with a thickly folded blanket) (Yoga Journal, 2004).

·               Take care if you have knee problems by not bending the knee too far.

·               Position the feet closer together.

 

Contraindications/Cautions

·   Diarrhea

·   High blood pressure

·   Sprained ankles – If chronic try another posture.

·   Neck problems: Don't turn your head to look over the front hand; continue to look straight ahead with both sides of the neck lengthened evenly.  Moreover, avoid straining to see what other yogis are doing in a pose which can cause neck strain (ego).

·   Knee problems - Protecting and Strengthening your Knee:

o              When bending your knee, keep your front kneecap facing toward the middle of your foot.

o              Also be sure that the bent knee remains directly above the heel, so that the shin is perpendicular to the ground.

o              Observing these two points of alignment for the knee both protects the knee from strain and strengthens the muscles which surround and support the knee joint.

·   Lower back problems – avoid all hinging into the lumbar spine, instead draw the navel back towards the spine and lengthen vertically with Tadasana spine

Main indications for adjustment

The main indications for adjustment are:

• Feet/Knee alignment as noted above in cautions
• Neck alignment as noted above in cautions
• Lower back alignment as noted in cautions
• Hand/ Shoulder alignment - Do not allow the action of your arms to cause your shoulders to move closer to your ears. Instead draw your shoulder blades down your back while firming your outer arms and drawing your outer arm skin in toward your shoulders.   Use the lengthening of your inner arms to open and expand your chest and broaden your collar bones side to side
  

Warrior II References

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2. Copeland, P. (1975), Yoga and the endocrine system, YOGA, July-August.
3. Coulter, D & McCall, Timothy, Anatomy of Hatha Yoga: A Manual for Students, Teachers, and Practitioners
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5. Farhi, D, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness.
6. Grzybowski, Eve, (2003), Age: An opportunity for Learning, Australian Yoga Life, Issue 5 -2003.
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8. Iyengar, B. K. S, (1991), Light on Yoga.
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10. Kuvalyananda, Swami and Vinekar, S.L. (1963),Yogic therapy: its basic principles and methods, Central Health Education Bureau, New Delhi
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12. Matthews, Shaun,  (2004), Balancing Pitta Dosha using Yoga Practices, http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1995/3may95/balance.shtml, \
13. McCall, T.  (2004) Can You Prove That Yoga,  Yoga Journal, http://www.yogajournal.com/newtoyoga/1266_1.cfm?ctsrc=nlv121, May/June 2004
14. MaCartney James, (1969) Yoga the key to life, Rider and Company,  (B/W pictures Heart & lungs, Circulation of blood, endocring glands, digestive system)
15. Raman, K, (2004), BIO-MECHANICS  OF YOGA, http://www.medicineau.net.au/columns/yoga/biomech.htm
16. Rea, S (2000), For Beginners: Virabhadrasana II, Yoga Journal.
17. Schiffmann, E, Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness.
18. Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, (1998), Yoga Mind & Body
19. Sivananda, (2004), The Headstand, http://www.sivananda.org/teachings/asana/headstnd.html
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21. Tortora and Grabowski, Principles of Anatomy and Physiology (John Wiley & Sons Inc.)
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24. Yoga Dancer, (2004), Virabhadrasana http://www.yogadancer.com/Pages/Virabhadrasana.shtml#Two