Pose of the Month: Virabhadrasana 1

The OTY pose of the month is Virabhadrasana 1, modeled here by Abigail. It's the warrior 1 pose. In Sanskrit, vira means a hero or a brave person and bhadra means good or auspicious. Warrior 1 is the good hero and it takes some heroic effort to make this shape. The pose is essentially a lunge, but is made 100x harder by the back heel spinning down. Hello outer shin and ankle!

To get into this shape, take a big step back from the top of your mat. Pivot your back heel down and before you bend into the front knee, turn your hips toward your front leg a little more. This will help you to keep the alignment in the pelvis. Bend into the front knee and keep your back leg strong and straight. Pull your navel toward your spine and lift the sides of your waist.

Once your legs are set, add any arm variation that works for you. You can keep hands on the hips, stretch the arms up or for a big chest and shoulder opening, join your palms together and look up, just like Abigail does above. Take 5 breaths and don't forget to do the other side.