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Virabhadrasana II (Warrior 2 Pose)
Virabhadrasana II (Warrior 2 pose)

Virabhadrasana II posture improves breathing capacity by expanding the chest. The leg muscles become shapely and stronger. It brings elasticity to the leg and back muscles, tones the abdominal organs and reduces fat around the hips.

It is good preparation for forward bends.

Benefits:

Warrior 2 pose helps:

  • Prolapsed or slipped disc.
  • Broken, fused or deviated tailbone.
  • Cramp in the calf and thigh muscles.
  • Lower backache.

 

Contra-indications:

Do not do this pose if you have:

  • cardiac condition, palpitations, or heartburn. If you have diarrhoea or dysentery. If you have menorrhagia or metrorrhagia.

 

Instructions

  • Stand in Tadasana.
  • While inhaling, jump with the feet 4 to 4.5 feet apart and the toes pointing forward. Stretch the arms sideways in line with the shoulders, palms facing down.
  • Turn the right foot sideways 90 degrees to the right and the left foot slightly in.
  • Keep the centre of the torso vertical and lift both sides of the trunk evenly.
  • Keep the left leg stretched out and tightened at the knee.
  • Stretch the hamstring muscles of the left leg.
  • Keep the legs straight.
  • Take a breath.
  • While exhaling, bend the right leg to 90 degrees, with the right thigh parallel to the floor and the right shin perpendicular to the floor, in line with the right heel.
  • Pull the muscles of the right calf upward.
  • Turn the head to the right and keep the left eye focused on the right palm.
  • Stretch the arches and toes of both feet. Press down on the right heel.
  • Expand the chest.
  • Stretch both the arms sideways as though they are being pulled apart in a tug-of-war.
  • See that the anal mouth and the crown of the head remain in line with each other.
  • Tighten the right thigh towards the hip and the left frontal thigh towards the back of the thigh.
  • Stretch the back muscles of the left leg fully.
  • Keep the back of the legs, the dorsal region and the hips in one line.
  • Breathe normally and remain steady for 20 to 30 seconds.
  • Inhale, and straighten the right leg.
  • Turn the feet so that they face forward.
  • Repeat the same posture on the left side, following all techniques but reversing left and right.
  • Exhale and jump back to Tadasana.

BKS Iyengar is generally acknowledged to have refined and systemised the yoga poses that those in the West know today. The above instructions are a consolidation of those given by BKS Iyengar, Geeta Iyengar and senior Iyengar Yoga teachers, both from their books and from classes personally attended. We pay our deepest respect to BKS Iyengar and to his senior teachers, and recommend books by the Iyengar family as the most authoritative sources of yoga instruction.