Yoga Warrior: Battling The Undisciplined Ego

Have you ever been really angry?  It is like a spark of fire.  It can be scary.  Its a powerful and potent emotion, but it doesn't have create more pain.  In fact, all energy is simply energy.  It is how we choose to express it that either empowers us or robs us of our power. 

I experience anger like a huge rush of energy rising up from my solar plexus.  It cannot be ignored.  By its very nature, it requires my attention.  Basically, I have two choices:  

1.)  explode blindly in reaction to it, doing something I will potentially regret that causes additional pain and suffering.  

Or....

2.) summon the discipline to direct this powerful energy with consciousness and work toward ending pain and suffering.

I'd like to tell you I always choose option #2, but I can't. After all, I'm just a silly human.

I will tell you that practicing the Warrior Series of poses has helped me choose the second option more often by strengthening my discipline and focus.  Warrior pose is not about going to battle with anyone or anything outside of yourself.  Warrior pose is about battling the illusions that we mistakenly build up around ourselves, usually the projection of our egos.  Warrior Pose might make you a little .....angry (or frustrated may be a better word) at first, because it will undoubtedly show you just exactly where you have been undisciplined. But that untapped energy is exactly what will help you power up your pose if you use it to your advantage.  

Practicing any of the Warrior Poses requires great strength and commitment, found in the solar plexus, balanced with flexibility and openness.  Warrior stands steady and unwavering in principle, but open in heart, reaching either up toward the heavens toward her highest self (Warrior I) or out to the world with compassion (Warrior II).  

The warrior is connected to the solar plexus (where the ego is housed) to express who she is and where she stands in this world.  But she does not allow all of the energy of her self-identity to remain stagnant in her solar plexus.  The warrior chooses option #2:  discipline and direct that powerful energy with consciousness and work to end pain and suffering. 

Warrior comes in a variety of expressions (there are many variations), but they all share one essential component:  a disciplined and strong solar plexus to act as the energy center, powering the pose and creating extension through the spine and limbs. 

Whether you are practicing Warrior I, II, III, IV, or Reverse Warrior, you will need to choose option #2 to find expansion and extension in your spine and limbs.  If you mistakenly trap the power in the solar plexus you will cause tightness and gripping in the hips, shoulders, legs, arms, and spine.  You will constrict yourself, instead of expand yourself.  You will have blindly chosen option #1 by reacting and you will cause yourself some pain and suffering in your pose. You don't want this!  

Here are a few tips for practicing option #2 and elevating your Warrior from a competitive ego struggle to a powerful and balanced expression of conscious energy.

First, get into Warrior I:

Warrior I requires a gentle spinal rotation and spinal extension as you reach to the heavens from a broad, grounded stance.  Enter the pose from downward dog, bringing one foot forward in line with the fingertips and turning the toes of the back foot to point slightly out.  Now your back heel is aligned with the inside edge of your front heel.  As you bring your chest and spine upright, you spine should be centered between the front and back foot.  Your chest should be squarely facing forward, broad and open.  Root your back heel as you bend your front knee directly over your front ankle.  Slowly sink the hips and pelvis toward the earth as you find your stance.  Broaden your collarbones, rotating the upper arms away from your center.  Then externally rotate the upper arms and lift them overhead so that your palms face one another at shoulder width.  Gaze at the heavens.

Then, explore these finer points to help you choose Option #2 while you're in the pose:

The heads of your femurs are internally rotated in the hip sockets are the thighs are engaged and working strongly.  On an inhale, engage your lower buttocks, as if drawing your sitting bones closer together.  Feel the perineum draw up and in to elevate the energy through your spine, crown, and arms vertically.  On an exhale, consciously release gripping around your shoulders and hips.  Allow your shoulder blades to slide down your back toward your waist without ever disturbing the extension of your arms upward.  Allow your hips to soften and open, sinking your power center closer to the earth.  As the energy and your awareness sinks into your hips, direct the power of your solar plexus to push the head of the femur of the rear leg back deeper into the hip joint.  Feel the whole femur move toward your hamstring, lengthening the back leg and allowing you to more firmly ground and root your stance through the back heel. In turn, this allows you to feel safe and relaxed, better equipped to start the process over again, inhaling to extend toward the heavens, lifting the heart higher and directing the energy from your solar plexus consciously through the higher chakras  which are the heart, throat, third eye, and crown; where love, communication, intuition, and self-realization are housed.  There.  Now doesn't that feel better???

Happy Practicing!

Namaste~

Tammie