Strong Warrior Flow

Another week….

Wow! It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to sit down and write a post! School has been super stressful and I feel like I only have time for work and working on my 300 YTT training. I got a little behind with the training, so SUPER grateful that they gave us a catch-up week! I’ve been learning SO much, so I want to keep reading instead of writing….LOL

This Warrior flow that I recorded actually came from an assignment I had to do. One of the earlier modules was about the Myths of the Asanas. I LOOOOOVEEEDDD that module. Mythology is something I love overall! It was so neat learning about the asanas, where the names came from, and the stories behind them. For the class, we had to research a pose and write a flow from it. I got a little ambitious and chose the story behind the Virabhadrasana (Warrior) series. I give a little explanation in the beginning of the flow, however, I wanted to give a better explanation in this post. The information I found was partly from what I learned in my training and what I found on the internet on websites explaining the myths and stories of the Hindu gods. If there’s anything I wrote incorrectly, please let me know! I am always learning. There were several versions with slight differences, so I tried to tell the story the best way I could.

The myth behind the Virabhadrasana series

I condensed the story A LOT and left some parts out so that it wouldn’t be too long. I linked one of the websites I used at the end of the story.

First I want to break down the word Virabhadrasana. Vira means Warrior, bhadra means righteous, and asana means pose. So pretty much Righteous Warrior Flow, or just Warrior Flow like we know it. This love story starts with Shiva, which is one of the Hindu gods that not only represents goodness, benevolence, and protector, but also has a darker side. He is associated with “destroyer of all things” and “creation”.

King Daksha and his wife Prasuti desired a daughter and were granted this by the goddess Parashakti. She was determined to bring Shiva out of his long meditation, so the Goddess agreed to be reborn as Daksha’s daughter (later called Sati), however “she warned them that if she were ever to be insulted in any way, she would immediately take her original form, disown everyone and leave their lives forever.” When Sati was born, she adored Shiva. As she got older, she had eyes only for Shiva and left her home to meditate on him, to get his attention. Shiva eventually noticed this and appeared before her. He agreed to marry her. Against her father’s desires, they married. King Daksha was a man of “looks” and was upset that his daughter was marrying someone lowly (in his opinion, because Shiva associated himself with the “misfits” of society). Therefore, Daksha excommunicated his daughter from the family.

Weeks later, Daksha planned a Yagna (sacrificial ritual honoring the gods) where all the kings, gods, and goddesses were invited, except Shiva and Sati. He planned to insult them both to all of the guests. Against Shiva’s warnings, Sati went and her father was furious and started insulting her and Shiva. Upset by all of this, she turned into her goddess form, Parashakti, and tells them that they have insulted her and that she will end her human life. She jumps into the sacrificial fire to disown everyone and leave their lives.

Shiva, learning what happened, was upset and did the Tandava, the dance of destruction, and changed to Veerabhadra (however, in another version I read, it said that Shiva cut a lock of his hair and it turned into Veerabhadra, his destructive reincarnation). This change into Veerabhadra is represented by the asana Warrior I or Virabhadrasana I. Once this happened, Veerabhadra starts destroying the castle and everyone in it. Eventually, he beheads King Daksha (which is represented by the asana Warrior II or Virabhadrasana II).

However, Shiva is very merciful and changes his mind. He brings back all that was destroyed and those that were slain. Shiva also decided to bring back Daksha, but instead, he brings him back with the head of a goat. This part is represented by Warrior III or Virabhadrasana III. Daksha was so humbled by Shiva’s strength and grace that he completely changed and became a passionate devotee of Shiva.

There is definitely more to the story and what happened afterwards, which you can find here.

Strong Warrior Flow

I hope you enjoyed the mythology behind the asana Virabhadrasana. I LOVE learning about this. A book that was recommended was by Devdutt Pattanaik called Yoga Mythology, 64 Asanas and their stories. It is in my “to get” list!

Music

I also added DJ Taz Rashid’s music!!  It makes practicing AMAZING!!!  I incorporated music from his newest album Be the Change.  Love it!!

If you love his music as much as I do, check out my affiliate links to add his music to your videos!

Free Exclusive Yoga Playlist (if you want to listen to an array of his music and use them for your practice)

Royalty Free Yoga Music Sample  (if you would like to download and try out DJ Taz Rashid’s music in your videos, this one is for you!)

Have a healthy, safe, and marvelous week!!

Hopefully the next post won’t be so far off! Take care!!