Warrior Women

Practicing a warrior pose can make you feel instantly fierce and empowered. There are several variations of this yoga posture and every one of them can help to cultivate strength, courage and grace. Have a read of some of the benefits below and try combatting your worries with a warrior pose!

Activates the spine

All variations of the warrior pose activate the spine, whether it’s stretched lengthways in Warrior 2 or Warrior 3, or the back is arched in Warrior 1 or Reverse Warrior (also known as Peaceful Warrior). It’s so important to nurture a strong spine because it functions to straighten the back (hello better posture) and it allows for smoother side-to-side rotation.

Balancing act

The focus that’s necessary to keep the legs, hips, arms and back gracefully aligned in the warrior poses means that performing these postures helps us to improve our bodies’ sense of balance, particularly if we practice regularly.

It’s an (accessible) muscle worker

Warrior poses especially work the glutes, but also the quads, inner thigh abductors and hamstrings. Any muscles that are regularly worked of course become stronger, but holding these postures will additionally help to reduce aches and pains in the glutes and legs during – and after – any form of exercise.

Stretch it out

We get a nice opening stretch in the hip flexors, ankles, shoulders and neck in warrior poses. Remember to lengthen and create space rather than bunch the body up in these postures. A loosening of stiff muscles and a release of built-up tension will follow.

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Develops endurance, builds stamina

Holding a lunge position will help to strengthen weak muscles in the lower body and core, and warrior poses’ involvement of the arms, shoulders and back means that the upper body is also nicely challenged. Maintaining these positions for any length of time helps us to develop endurance and build stamina in the whole body. 

Open the heart to open the mind

The formation of the limbs in warrior poses - one leg behind the other, hips squared, chest lifted – pushes forward and opens the heart, which is said to help cultivate courage. It’s definitely a posture that brings about a feeling of inner (along with outer) strength and a sense of calm and confidence. There’s something about the grace of warrior poses that makes us feel like we can accomplish anything: peaceful, poised; perhaps even ready to challenge our own thinking and accept a new way of looking at things.

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