For Beginners: Virabhadrasana I

This powerful standing pose develops strength and stamina, warms and invigorates the body, strengthens the leg, spine, and shoulder muscles and nurtures flexibility in the feet, legs, hips, and shoulders.

By Claudia Cummins

Rise up onto the toes of your right foot and readjust the pelvis so that the hip points face evenly toward the wall beyond your left toes. Encourage the belly to directly face this wall instead of sprawling lazily back toward the right. At the same time, aim to keep the hips level, so that the waistband of your pants isn't slanting down to one side or the other. Maintain this evenness in the pelvis as you slowly release the back heel toward the ground.

Managing both of these actions—leveling the hips and grounding the back heel—will likely feel like a tug of war at first. In trying to maintain symmetry in the hips, you may find that the heel wants to rise off the ground. When you attempt to release the heel to the earth, the pelvis will want to slip around toward the right. Be patient and persistent as you explore the possibility of saying yes to both the leveling and the grounding. Invite your mind and body to embrace these opposing actions as gracefully as possible.

From the strength of the legs, extend the arms enthusiastically overhead. Let the arms be long and buoyant, hands shoulder distance apart and palms facing each other. Pause here for a few breaths, releasing your tailbone toward the back heel while inviting your heart to lift and grow light. Do you sense any wrinkles or kinks distorting an even, graceful arc in the spine? If so, nudge the hip points upward toward the heart while inviting the deep belly to slide gently inward to support the front of the spine. Readjust as best as you can in order to encourage the two hip points to maintain symmetry, with your belly facing evenly forward. At the same time, unclench your lower back and release your tailbone downward. Let the back body be broad and unwrinkled, and nestle the front body into its support. Keep both heels fully grounded and the fingertips uplifted.

Take the Full Pose
Now we need to add just one more piece of the puzzle to complete Virabhadrasana I. With the belly, heart, and head still looking forward beyond the left toes, bend your front leg to a 90-degree angle, bringing the left thigh parallel to the floor. If as you do this your left knee ends up over the toes instead of the ankle, widen your stance a few inches. If you have difficulty bending your knee to a full 90 degrees, don't worry—this is a deep action that takes some practice to negotiate with ease. Bend as close to 90 degrees as you can while keeping the lift through your upper body and pelvis and grounding your back heel into the floor.

With a long, swanlike feeling in the neck, gaze upward slightly at an angle of about 45 degrees. To help maintain integrity in the spine, imagine that your eyes are in your collarbones instead of your head and look upward from there. Be light and expansive in the heart, reaching toward the sky.

At the same time, be firm in the legs, keeping the back leg straight and well rooted, while settling with power and presence into the front leg. Resist the tendency to lean forward or backward; instead, align the shoulders directly over the hips so that you stand firmly in the present moment. After several breaths, come out of the pose.

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