Posing on Tuesday; Warrior III

This post is what happens when 10pm rolls around and I realize that I'm in my pajamas and haven't taken pictures in Tuesday's pose. Lucky for me, I had some folded laundry on the couch containing a few pairs of workout pants so I didn't have to run upstairs or do my pose in my awesome pj pants. There was also a hair tie on the coffee table so none of us had to be exposed to my half dry curly mess of post shower glory. For reals though, workout tops and sleeping tops are almost the same thing.

But the point of this is to talk about Warrior 3...

Warrior 3

(Virabhadrasana III)

Looking at the above picture, I am thinking "I need to work on straightening my arms" and "Why did I decide to post the sports bra clad picture?", but ,"Hey, my form is pretty good. Nice flexed foot, Alyssa" also "What is happening with the muscles in my shoulder?" and "I don't remember if the Warriors beat the Lakers last night."

So, let's figure out how to get into Warrior tres, okay?

There are a couple of ways, but we're going to start in crescent.

The most important thing here is to keep your hips facing straight forward.

Then lean out over your front bent leg, trying to get your body in a straight line from the tips of your fingers to your back heel. 

Then, keeping your body in that beautiful straight line, transfer your weight into your front foot, straighten the front leg and lift up off of your back foot. The goal is to get your body into a straight line parallel to the floor, but don't sweat it. Just start by getting your back foot up off the floor and try to keep the rest of your body in that straight line of awesomeness.

What do you do once you're there? 

You flex your foot and point your toes towards the ground.

You try and try and try to level off your hips. You want them to be facing straight towards the ground.

You ignore the Warriors game.

You remember your arms from crescent and you reach reach reeeeeeaaach them straight forward along side your ears with your palms facing towards each other.

Keep your standing leg straight if you can, but a little bend is okay if it helps with your balance.

Pretend you're using your back foot to push away from something. This will engage the entire leg and keep it straight.

What are some variations of this pose?

Arms out in front of you like this is the toughest arm variation for this pose. You have a couple of other options. You can bring your hands in front of your heart in prayer, reach your arms out to the sides like wings, or pin your arms back against your sides, so you're better streamlined.

Remember that you don't need to get your body parallel with the floor. Just keep your body in a straight line with your fingers and heel reaching away from each other. Then you can keep your body in the angle that works best for you. :)

What do you think? Are you ready to try warrior 3? Maybe some more exciting stuff next week? :)