Rest your hands on your hips.
Feel your feet on the ground.
Allow your muscles of your feet melt into the earth.
Root down into ground drawing up strength and power for the battle ahead.
Ground into your right foot and find stability in your rooted foot to the earth.
Like a tree grows a new branch slowly grow your left foot toward the back of the room taking your time to bring it to the perfect space for you.
When the left foot connects to the earth allow it to track the direction of the left knee and connect the pinky toe to the earth just like your right foot.
Bend the right knee with strength and find a 90 degree angle.
Anchor your belly button to your spine.
Now grow your right arm in front and your left arm behind you.
Ground the shoulder blades down the spine and engage your arms.
Your focus jumps out over your right finger to meet any challenge in front of you.
Virabhadra II (Warrior 2) is a foundational pose in yoga and has a lot to teach us about life and how to deal with it. The story of the Virabhadra II comes from the ancient Indian spiritual text, the Bhagavad Gita. This text it tells the story of Arjuna, who is a prince and his social duty or dharma requires him to fight in a war. But Arjuna does not want to fight, so he asks for guidance from the god Krishna, Krishna prescribes some yoga to help. The yoga described in the text are yogic ideas that are rarely explored in your standard yoga class, these ideas are Jnana (learning), Karma (being of service), and Bhakti (devotion or dedication). So Virabhadra II depicts Arjuna’s struggle between his conscience and his dharma.
I felt inspired by this pose and thus this flow by seeing all the amazing activists in the world standing up for so many amazing and powerful causes. Seeing the amazing activist and actor Jane Fonda, the amazing Greta Thunberg, and the Indigenous Canadian water activist Autumn Peltier these powerful warriors bring awareness to the climate crisis. And we cannot forget all of the equally powerful and amazing climate activists, water protectors, and ‘just’ people, who are fighting every day to make our world safe for everyone. These three women are standing up to some huge challenges and I hope this single little yoga practice and they will help to inspire you and give you strength to take on your challenges in life and sometimes all we can do to make a change in our world is show up on the mat and make our selves healthier, stronger, kinder and more peaceful. The amazing thing about peace and kindness is its infectious, so spread it around.
And don’t forget to breathe.
Check out the video connected to this post! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMrQzFnkjAs
Josh Clendenin 