Ashtanga Yoga. Gregor Maehle

is esteemed by all.”

      There is enough evidence to deem the hip rotations as the most important category of yoga postures, with all other postures preparing us to stay for a longer time in asanas such as Padmasana and Siddhasana.

      This exercise might initially seem daunting, but a sincere effort every day will take you a long way in a year.

      

      Virabhadrasana A

      WARRIOR POSTURE A

      Drishti Upward

      Since we follow in this text the half-vinyasa system, which is the common practice in India, every posture from now on will commence from vinyasa seven. In other words, from Downward Dog in the previous posture we enter the following posture. To start every posture with the first vinyasa would mean returning to Samasthiti between every asana, which is the full-vinyasa practice.

      Vinyasa Seven

      Inhaling, turn the left heel into the center of your mat so that the foot is placed at 45° to the center-line of the mat. Step the right foot up and place it between the hands (check that the hips are square and the left foot correctly positioned).

      Continuing the inhalation, bring the torso upright and raise your arms. Bring the palms together and gaze upward. Draw the shoulder blades down and out to the side to prevent the shoulders from hunching around the ears. The outer arch of the back foot grounds, and the thigh rolls medially to aid the left hip in remaining forward. The sit bones are heavy and sink downward. Without losing the squareness of the hips, track your right knee out over the right ankle, bringing the shin perpendicular to the floor.

      If we sacrifice the squareness of the hips here, we forsake the best opportunity in the Primary Series to stretch the psoas and quadriceps muscles. For this stretch to occur, it is necessary to keep the pelvis upright.

      The tendency will be to tilt the pelvis anteriorly and collapse into the low back. Apart from avoiding the lengthening of psoas and quadriceps, we will also weaken where we need to be strong: in the low back.

      To protect this vulnerable area we need to bring the abdominal muscles into play. Engaging rectus abdominis lifts the pubic bone and tips the pelvis posteriorly, allowing us to stretch those important muscles. Hold Virabhadrasana A for five breaths.

      

      Virabhadrasana A

      Vinyasa Eight

      Exhaling, lower the gaze to the horizon and, keeping the arms up, turn to the left and repeat Virabhadrasana A on the left side. Once fully into the posture, lift the gaze upward.

       Virabhadrasana B

      WARRIOR POSTURE B

      Drishti Hand

      Vinyasa Nine

      Exhaling, draw the right hip back until the pelvis is parallel with the long edge of the mat. At the same time lower the arms until the hands hover above your feet. Open the right foot to 5° to accommodate the opening of the groins (technically, “groin” here refers mainly to the adductors). You will need to elongate the stance up to ten inches, the distance gained from opening the hip position. The gaze reaches out to the right hand. Hold for five breaths.

      

      Virabhadrasana B

      The outer arch of the right foot grounds and the right leg rolls laterally to open both groins. Note that the rotation of the thigh of the back leg, which is determined by the turn-out of the foot, is different from that of Virabhadrasana A. Sink the hips down as low as possible until you get the feeling of being suspended between two rubber straps. Resist the tendency to lean the torso toward the front leg by positioning the shoulders squarely above the hips. For the working of the legs see Utthita Parshvakonasana (page 46), which is identical.

      Vinyasa Ten

      Exhaling, turn and imitate the posture on the right side. The gaze shifts to the right hand. Five breaths.

      Vinyasa Eleven

      Exhaling, place both hands down at the front end of the mat and, inhaling, lift up and hover for the length of the inhalation in an arm balance, with the left leg straight and the right leg bent. This is again an opportunity to balance flexibility with strength.

      In the Mahabharata, Arjuna is frequently addressed as “Oh mighty armed one.” With regular training, vinyasa eleven will give us a chance to replicate Arjuna’s strength.

      Vinyasa Twelve

      Exhaling, lower into Chaturanga Dandasana.

      Vinyasa Thirteen

      Inhaling, arch into Upward Dog.

      Vinyasa Fourteen

      Exhaling, draw back into Downward Dog. We are now ready to jump through to sitting.

       MYTHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

       Shiva’s Wrath

      Virabhadra was a fierce warrior of Lord Shiva’s army. The head priest, Daksha, was an orthodox rule-maker and preserver of traditional society. Against his consent, his beautiful daughter Sati married Lord Shiva. Shiva destroys the world at the end of each world age, and he also destroys the ego. He is therefore the Lord of Mystery.

      For various reasons Daksha considered Shiva impure. Shiva had peculiar habits such as meditating in burial grounds smeared with the ashes of the dead, and meditating on mountaintops for long periods, rather than participating in society. But the main reason for Daksha’s disdain was that Shiva always carried a skull with him. The story behind this was that, to punish him for his vanity, Shiva had once cut off one of the five heads of Lord Brahma, whereupon Brahma laid a curse on Shiva: that the skull would stick to his hand. To this day some worshipers of Shiva always carry with them a skull.

      At one time Daksha organized a great ceremony to which he invited all deities and dignitaries with the exception of Shiva and Sati. Against Shiva’s advice, Sati attended her father’s ceremony. Before the thousands of guests she asked her father why he had not invited her husband. Daksha responded by exclaiming that Shiva was a despicable character, an outcast who did not know the conventions of society.

      With this insult to her husband, Sati’s anger was so aroused that she burst into flames and was reduced to ashes. When Shiva, in his solitude, heard of Sati’s death he became terribly angry, jumped up and danced the dance of destruction.

      Eventually he tore out one of his jatars (dreadlocks) and smashed it to the ground. From the impact the terrible warriors Virabhadra and Bhadrakali arose. Shiva ordered them to proceed to Daksha’s festival, destroy the hall, kill everybody one by one, behead Daksha, drink his blood, and throw his head into the fire.

      The story continues, but as far as our posture is concerned we can leave it there. Virabhadrasana is dedicated to this terrible warrior.