Reverse warrior (Viparita Virabhadrasana)

I love poses that stretch the side body making for a long, lean, physique. Whenever I practice reverse warrior pose, I feel so much taller at the end of my practice.  It also strengthens the legs and stretches the entire torso.

Yogi Moves: This pose seems to flow best straight from warrior 2. Take a breath here beginning on the right side. Keep your right leg bent 90 degrees as you slide your left hand down and behind your left leg, taking your right arm up towards the sky or over your ear. Avoid pressing the left hand on the knee. Breath in deeply and with every exhale, open your heart towards the sky without moving your right leg from the warrior 2 position.  Stay here for 3-5 long breaths. To come out, use your your strong abdominal muscles to lift yourself up into warrior 2 and finally back up to standing..

Beginners thoughts-

It’s hard to get my hand that far down my straightened leg.

No worries, keep your hand on your left hip. You’ll still get an incredible stretch!

*My leg burns when I try to get the bent knee to 90 degrees.

It’s ok to straighten the leg a bit as the quad muscles get used to the pose.

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