PRESS OUTER FOOT
TO FLOORSta nd
Come into your
power as you connect
with the warrior
Virabhadra.THE STANDING POSE Virabhadrasana II (Warrior Pose II)
is standard practice in most yoga classes. But few yogis know
the tale of its genesis. In Hindu lore, the powerful priest Dak-
sha threw a huge sacrifice and invited everyone—except his
youngest daughter, Sati, and her good-for-nothing yogi husband,
Shiva, whom Daksha despised (even if Shiva was supreme ruler
of the universe). Sati was livid. In one version of the story, she
stormed over to the sacrificial fire and threw herself in to teach
her father a lesson; in another, her ire was so intense that she
spontaneously combusted. Shiva was devastated by his beloved’s
immolation and went berserk. When he yanked out a tuft of
his hair and beat it into the ground, up popped a nightmarish
creature with “a thousand heads, a thousand feet, a thousand
eyes, a thousand hands, with fangs terrible to behold.” It was
armed to the teeth and invincible. Meet Virabhadra, whose
name means “blessed hero,” though typically it’s rendered into
English simply as “warrior.” Shiva dispatched Virabhadra and
an army of demons to pay Daksha a visit. Happily, Shiva’s wifeDON’T arch the lower back.DO aim inner knee toward pinky toe.St rong
standing & balancingYOGA TODAY YOGAJOURNAL.COM 47