Tone your glutes, upper arms and biceps

CHENNAI: Veerbhadra was a warrior. This yogasan is named after him. Veerbhadrasan has 3 variations. Today we are looking at Veerbhadhrasan II.

Steps:

• After an adequate warm-up stand in Tadasan (Upright standing pose/Mountain pose).
• Next step sideways with your right foot stepping wide and away from the left foot. Your feet should be about 5 foot lengths apart.
• (Option: From Tadasan you may also jump your feet 2 ½ to 3 feet apart thus taking a wide stance, this is your natural comfortable wide stance and the dynamic jump recruits your inner thigh muscles that are seldom used).
• Turn your right foot out 90 degrees clockwise and point toes to the right. Doing so will make your right knee turn to face the right too. Now turn the left toes clockwise 30 degrees to the right. An important point of alignment is that the right heel should be in line with the arch of the left foot. The torso has a tendency to turn, avoid that so that the shoulders and the pelvis continue to face forward. Then maintain your shoulders above your hipbones.
• Inhale and raise arms to the shoulder level. With palms facing down stretch your arms sideways, integrate stretching with breathing- allow your shoulders to open up and stretch. Exhale and bend your right knee so that the knee is above the ankle. Right thigh will be almost parallel to the floor and right knee to be pushed outward to the right so that inner thigh muscles are engaged. Left foot to be kept flat on the floor to maximize groin stretch (these are important details to fine tune and progress the asan).
• Slowly turn your head and look over the right shoulder at the little finger of your extended right hand. Breathe normal and hold for 10-30 counts.
• Release the posture- bring neck to neutral, lower your arms down, straighten the bent knee, turn to face forward again. Relax.
• Switch and repeat on the other side. Turn the right toes anticlockwise in to 30 degrees and the left toes anticlockwise out to 90 degrees. Substitute left for right and assemble Veerbhadrasan II on the left side.

Benefits

This asan gives you strength and stamina. It improves your balance and your poise. It improves blood circulation in the thighs, glutes and upper arms thus toning them by creating energy dynamics in the muscles and tendons. This is a nice stretch for your biceps and shoulders. It also stretches as well as contracts the long muscles in your back and chest and gives a nice release to your neck.

Contraindication:: Avoid this asana if you have chronic knee pain.

(The writer is a is a yoga and fitness trainer at Sri Aurobindo Society, Bengaluru)