Word Meaning : Vira means warrior or Bhadra (god of warrior). Virbhadra is also an incarnation of Lord Shiva according to Hindu mythology. Actually, this pose turns the practitioner’s body into a strong body & that's why this pose is called Virbhadrasana.
It is a standing, balancing, active, gentle hip-opener, beginner type of pose.
Make more gap between your feet than the triangle pose, which is around 4 feet. Generally, the gap between feet is decided by the 90 degree angle in front knee. But in case of a beginner, less gap can be made. The alignment of front foot heel is intersecting in the middle of the rear foot. Your front leg and knee should be directly over your heel, and thigh of the front foot should be parallel to the ground. Lengthen your front leg thigh bone away from the hip. Also keep your knee in the line of alignment of the leg. Usually, the front knee either comes inward or outward from the central position. So remain alert on the proper alignment of the front knee at the centre.
To do the central alignment of the front knee, draw the outer thigh muscles of your front leg towards your buttocks. Also, lengthen the inner thigh of your front leg away from the groin and hip. These two actions keep the knee centralized.
Your weight should be equally distributed in both the legs. To distribute weight equally, press your rear foot into the floor. Lengthen and broaden sole of both the feet along with toes, and do not try to grip the floor with the feet.
The rear foot’s outer edge should be pressing the floor strongly, and entire leg should be active and backward pushed, away from the front knee. Your rear knees should be rotating upwards towards the ceiling, and not falling down. Take your rear thigh skin and the femur bone deeply into the backside of the leg. Now raise the front part of the thigh muscles of your rear leg upwards. Keep your rear leg erect, not bending at knee or at any other place. It should be fully active. Proper alignment and completion of this pose really matters with activeness of the rear leg. If rear leg collapses, whole weight goes on the front knee, which causes knee pain in beginners.
In this posture, hips should be broadened and widened by taking both the knees away from each other. Try to keep groins stretched and separated by both the legs. Tuck your tailbone inward so that hip doesn’t moves backward. At the same time, move your buttocks and hips downwards. Also keep both parts of the hip equally leveled from the ground. Your spine should be vertical and your hips and chest (ribcage) should be in one line. Your chest should not go forward and hip should not go backward. To do that, keep your tailbone tucked in to keep your hip in line with chest, and bring your floating ribs in to keep your chest in line with your hips. The side of your chest and armpits should be moving upward and shoulders going downward to elongate your torso.
Draw your shoulder-blades into the back and extend your arms and hands away from each other. Keep your palms downward in the final pose. Look around and turn your head towards the bent knee side. In short, there are 4 actions in the final pose which are- both the knees going away from each other (1 going forward and 1 going backward), hips going downwards and chest going upwards.
People suffering from knee pain and high blood pressure and diarrhea should avoid it.
This pose can be performed by chair, block and weight.
See also Yoga Teacher Training in Goa
