The Warrior 1 and Warrior 2 "Families" of Poses

Here's a concept that I like a lot, that I use all the time in my classes. I have never heard a teacher in class mention this -- I got it from a Shiva Rea DVD. I did take one class from Shiva Rea in Santa Monica, but it didn't come up.

So she mentions certain poses belonging to either the Warrior 1 or Warrior 2 "Families" of poses. I'm pretty sure this refers to just standing poses.

I really like thinking of the poses this way, because it helps you see what the poses have in common. And you can transfer things you know or do or think or whatever from one pose to the other. For instance, in Warrior 1 I push the sitbone of the front leg back. I do the same in Parsvatanasana, a member of that family.

The split is incredibly obvious. Warrior 1 Family poses all have your hips facing the front of the mat, as much as possible. The Warrior 2 Family poses all have your hips facing the side of the mat, again, as much as possible.

I'm going to do separate posts on each of the families, talking about the things the members of the families have in common. But quickly, I'll mention the basic poses that fall in each family. Of course there are variations and obscure poses that I won't mention, but these are the ones that we do over and over.

Warrior 1 Family
-- Virabadrasana 1 / Warrior 1
-- Parsvatanasana / Pyramid Pose
-- Parivritta Trikonasana / Rotated Triangle
-- Parivritta Parsvakonasana / Rotated Side Angle

Warrior 2 Family
-- Virabadrasana 2 / Warrior 2
-- Trikonasana / Triangle
-- Parsvakonasana / Side Angle
-- Arda Chandrasana / Half Moon