History of Yoga Warrior II Pose

Series Summary

The word "yoga" comes from the Sanskrit root “yuj” meaning "to bind, or join." Yoga is centrally the practice of union, whether you are joining the mind to the body, the human to the divine, or the individual to the infinite. The various styles of yoga that have made it to the West all share a common core: positioning the body into a particular posture while focusing mind and breath leads to physical and spiritual well-being. These arts of positioning the body have been passed on for thousands of years, and encompass one of the oldest cultural traditions known to exist. To practice yoga, then, is also to join with the ancient sages, drawing human history up into yourself and connecting with the past. In this free yoga video series, yoga instructor Priscilla Anne Flynn teaches you all the parts of the Warrior II yoga pose. Priscilla will teach you how to start the pose, how far apart to keep your legs, arm movements, pointing the palms, and more. You will also learn when to inhale and exhale during the posture and how to focus your energy by keeping the body straight and comfortable. Priscilla even offers a history of the Warrior II pose as a hero pose reminiscent of the Bhagavad Gita.

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Priscilla Flynn, at Yoga Sanctuary, in Windham, New Hampshire. You can see more about us on our website, yoga sanctuary.com. Today, we're going to practice hero two, or in Sanskrit, Virabhadrasana Two. There are actually three hero poses. We're going to work in this segment on hero two, Virabhadrasana. Virabhadrasana was actually a warrior. He was a warrior for Shiva, in the mythological tradition of India and of yoga. So, in hero two, we'll work on the legs, the shoulders, the alignment between those two parts of the body. We'll strengthen, we'll lengthen, we'll expand and we'll become spiritual warriors in the process. It's a fabulous pose, it's one of the first standing poses, which is why we already learned how to do Tadassana or mountain, so that we can have the alignment ready, a step into hero two."