Thoughts of a Warrior

What do you think about when you here the word “warrior?”

Does it conjure images of heavily armored men with helmets and spears, or something of that vain? Do you every think of a woman?

Warrior comes from the old French guerroieor which translates to “a warrior, soldier, combatant, one who wages war." Guerroieor comes from the Old Germanic word werreier translating to “one who wages war.”  War comes from the old Germanic word 'Werran' which translates to confuse or to cause confusion. 

In yoga, we work towards uniting, towards yoking, towards building relationships. War is the antithesis - to destroy, to confuse, to combat. But when we look at a posture like savsana, we approach a practice aimed at moving closer to profound uncertainty, we move closer to sitting next to death. This profound truth that we all will eventually embody stokes the fear in humans that often is a decisive catalyst in poor choices, competitiveness, self preservation, and bullying. What happens when we die? I am not the person to answer that question as I have no clue. And that can be frustrating and anxiety provoking. But I do know that when Ii think about death, and try to wrap my head around the possibilities of what happens, I meet uncertainty that makes me squirm within my skin. Thus, I practice savasana with the intention of lying in stillness, lying in relative silence, lying with the understanding of the innate vulnerability that savasana presents to all aspects of my being: physical, spiritual, and emotional. 

I love a savasana that has weight added. Give me sand bags and bolsters and blankets. Give me something to help me ground into the floor and encourage my body to rest. Help me move into stillness as I lie on my back with my belly exposed, my chest unencumbered, and my pelvis spacious. In most environments this posture is the embodiment of vulnerability. Oh right, and then close your eyes. Weight helps make me feel safer in savasana so that i can slowly work with that vulnerability. It looks so simple. And then the experience is so complex. 

Childs pose is the opposite. The belly is guarded by the spikes of our spines rounding over the torso like a protective shell. The thighs create the side walls around the torso and the face is protected by snugging up to the floor. While not invincible, childs pose is the posture of protection and self soothing. 

And then there are the warrior postures. By name, you might imagine their activation, their engagement and their assertiveness. But yoga is not about being aggressive. Yoga is about attuning to the body and receiving information in order to feel more, learn better, and make choices with conscious understanding of consequence. The yoga warrior is one who grounds in order to feel. The yoga warrior is one who steadies in the face of discomfort and uncertainty. The yoga warrior is one who finds a root to hold space during times of chaos so that they may continue to feel, choose and act rightfully. 


So how do we practice this in yoga? By finding. Your back leg. The back leg is often forgotten in effort to lunge deeper in warriors one and two, or to balance on one leg in warrior 3. But if the back leg is the priority the rest of the posture will brighten and unfold. Moving from the heel and finding a rebounding energy up through the body is imperative to rooting down to find sustainability. It may be effortful, but what about sitting with uncertainty is easy? It may be “less deep” but depth does not create mastery. It might feel really integrated (and that’s a good thing). 

Practice warriorship on your mat by grounding through the legs, having a receptive front and a strong back. Practice warriorship off your mat through practicing steadiness in the face of stress and adversity. Warriors are not effective individually. They are effective in battalions or sanghas. Find your community to receive and offer support for the development of the yoga warriors that could offer compassion and empathy. Find those you need for your own growth that can help you refind your warrior when you feel the inevitable hamster-wheeling mind spin out of control. Practice warriorship.