Warrior One

Warrior One / Virabhadrasana I

(veer-ah-bah-DRAHS-anna)

Virabhadra= “warrior” the name of a reincarnation of Shiva

1.  Step forward with your right foot from downward dog into a high lunge and spin your back heel down at a 45 degree angle. Maintaining a heel to heel stance

2.Maintain your knee above the ankle and engage your quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes.
Variation: Keep one knee on the floor as you lunge forward, greater ease of balance and support, also good for warm up variation.
Variation: to increase difficulty, widen the stance and sink into a deeper lunge, align the bent thigh parallel with the floor

3.Rotate the hips forward, and elongate the spine, rotate your shoulders back and reach your arms over head. Lengthen the crown of the head to the sky.

4.Keep your arms straight over head and the palms of the hands facing each other gaze up at the hands in the sky.
Variation: To increase difficulty, without hunching up the shoulder blades, bring your hands together and maintain the gaze up.

Benefits
-Strengthens and warms up the legs, shoulders, back
-Stretches the tights, ankles, shoulders

Cautions
-High blood pressure
-Shoulder or neck injury