Warrior 1 Family, uh, Cousins

Before I get to the Warrior 2 "Family" of poses, I thought I should mention a couple additional poses that might be considered distant relatives in the Warrior 1 family.

I think what really distinguishes the Warrior 1 family is that the torso and hips are facing the front of the mat as much as possible. So, here are a couple more poses that "square the hips to the front".

Hanuman Asana / Split Pose

I was doing this today, and it occurred to me that I was internally rotating my thighs to try to get my hips to face the front as much as possible. A-ha, this must be a Warrior 1 Family Pose too! And sure enough, you're trying to bring the hip of the leg extended forward back, and the hip of the leg extended backwards to the front. Just like in Warrior 1. And I do think that the internal rotation of the hips, even here, helps to square the hips to the front.

Virabadrasana 3 / Warrior 3

In this pose, you're trying to level your pelvis parallel with the floor, not with the front of the mat. But, since your torso is facing the floor, the floor can be considered the "front" in this pose. What's really of note here is that internal rotation of the standing thigh is absolutely essential to bringing the other side of the pelvis to face the floor. If you externally rotate the standing leg, the hip of the lifted leg lifts, eventually bringing you into Arda Chandrasana/Half Moon. (Which, of course, is a Warrior 2 pose -- hips and torso facing the side of the mat.)

Parivritta Arda Chandrasana / Rotated Half Moon

Rotated Half Moon Pose is actually more like rotated Warrior 3. Your pelvis is facing the floor, and the lifted leg is straight back. But in this pose you rotate the spine to make the shoulders as perpendicular to the floor as you can, facing the side of the standing leg. This pose should be considered Warrior 1 family, if distant, because the pelvis is squaring to the "front" (the floor, actually). And sure enough, internal rotation of the thighs, especially the standing leg, is essential to this pose.

Of course there must be more, there are so many poses, but these are some of the basic ones. Remember, when the hips/torso are facing the front, the hip of the front leg moves backward, and the hip of the back leg moves forward. And internally rotating the thighs is a good way to move in that direction.