Warrior II: ARE WE THERE YET?

Warrior II. Varane karua. Virabhadrasana II. Call it what you will - you've probably done it often. But when was the last time you truly arrived in Warrior II rather than simply travelling through it on your way to another pose? Perhaps Warrior II is such a familiar part of your yoga that you no longer pay it much attention as you flow through it.
This morning in class we spent 20 minutes in Warrior II. First, we spent some time working with the wall against our front hands, and a block under our front foot. We used these props as guides to alignment - an upright torso, and a knee as near 90° flexion as you can safely manage. Then, freestanding, we took this learning and combined it with other subtle points of alignment - especially noticing where the rear hand was. It tends to drop down when you're not watching it.
Perfect alignment doesn't really matter, even if it exists. As friend and teacher @KatieLane says, 'Shapes don't matter'. But awareness of the shapes we make does. That awareness of our embodiment in the present moment is one of the gifts of yoga. in his famous TED Talk, educator Ken Robinson describes his colleagues viewing their bodies as a means of getting their heads to meetings. To have such a beautiful, complex instrument as a body and yet to be so mindless of it seems, to me, a waste.
Sure, our personal experience of psychological trauma and abuse can get in the way of being present in our bodies. But as Bessel van der Kolk says, trauma can only be healed "after no body becomes some body." And taking someone into their body can be confronting. To be truly mindful in asana like Warrior II, we must be still and aware. That's why we do fewer asana, more deeply sensed, in our classes. But the journey must be gentle.
What if we brought this same quality of presence to other aspects of our lives? When did you last spend time with a friend or loved one, and truly sense their being, rather than simply passing through their lives? What are you experiencing in their company? To find out more, join me and for classes starting Tuesday 7th February. Find out more here #YogaTeachersNewZealand #GrassrootsYoga