CHENNAI: Veerbhadra was a warrior. This yogasan is named after him. Veerbhadrasan 1 makes you strong and the stance conveys strength.
Steps
After an adequate warm-up stand in Tadasan (upright standing pose/mountain pose).
Next step is to move 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. Maintain your shoulders properly 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 and left foot to be kept flat on the floor to maximize groin stretch (these are important details to fine tune and progress the asan).
Next turn your torso to the right so that you are facing the direction of your right toes and your shoulders are on either side of your right knee.
Inhale and raise both your arms overhead. Keeping upper arms close to the ears, join your palms overhead as shown (or interlock your fingers and turn palms to the ceiling/sky) and tip your head back to look up at the ceiling/sky as you exhale. Continue with normal breathing and hold for a few breathing cycles. This is the maximum potential of this posture and is an intense stretch.
Release the posture—bring head to neutral, unclasp fingers, lower the arms, straighten the bent knee, turn to face forward again and just relax.
Repeat on the left side from steps 3 to 7 substituting left for right.
Benefits
This asan will give 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. It also stretches as well as contracts the long muscles in your back and chest. Veerbhadrasan I like all standing poses makes you strong and lean.
(The writer is a yoga and fitness trainer at Sri Aurobindo Society, Bengaluru)