Are You A Peaceful Warrior
BY ANNIE MOORE
"As warrior souls we are filled with pure light. We desire only peace and harmony for ourselves and those around us".
I’ve always loved the warrior poses, right from when I first began to practice yoga. I used to enjoy the powerful feeling of moving into a dynamic position and the focus that it demanded to stay firm and in control. But I didn’t relate this in any way to how I conducted myself off the mat.
In yoga philosophy the warrior poses are named after the fierce warrior hero Virabhadra, who is said to symbolize our inner ability to overcome ego and ignorance. The western teaching of warrior poses I, II & III do challenge and test us but in doing so bring us strength, focus, confidence and courage.
In the early days of becoming a yogi the fundamentals of this thinking didn’t resonate until one day a wonderful teacher told the class to take inspiration from the inhale and rise up like a warrior and as we exhale to root ourselves into the earth and stand our ground.
Then it struck me… The essential element I needed for my warrior practice was to find inner power. As I practiced more, I realised that physically this power helped me to deeply connect to the earth under my feet, to form a solid foundation. I learnt that with the breath I could draw strength from beneath me, up and out of the earth to stand tall and solid.
These two actions of rooting down and extending up, simply meet in the belly - our energetic centre. When we bring our consciousness into the belly, we can feel more of both of these actions, and stand our ground from a place of balance.
How do we take the potential of what we have learnt from our warrior practice into our daily life?... As I see it, it’s about standing our ground with presence. When challenging situations arise, we take charge of our experiences by owning them. We recognise that our inner strength and capability fully empowers us to take control of our own life and can prevent others from controlling it for us.
We are acknowledging our own possibilities, skills and qualities, from an inner acceptance of ourselves, without judgement, rather than from what others may say about who we are, or what we think they believe about us
During our yoga practice we have the ability to awaken our warrior soul from within. This can have a positive effect on our life off the yoga mat. The warrior discipline helps us find ways to cope with whatever unfortunate events or situations may come our way. They empower us with confidence and help us to stand our ground in a peaceful and balanced way.
As warrior souls we are filled with pure light. We desire only peace and harmony for ourselves and those around us. Having this inner power to succeed and influence the way we handle ourselves, raises our self-confidence and self-esteem, helping us to thrive in times of trouble and hardship because we know we have the strength and ability to rise up and stand our ground.
Annie Moore
Registered Yoga Alliance yoga instructor, mindfulness and meditation teacher, Reiki practitioner.
You may like to join Annie as she leads:
The Peaceful Warrior yoga series on zoom during February 2021
Classes are every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday at 9am from 2nd-26th February.
When you enrol in the series you will have access to twelve live stream zoom classes and you'll receive Four Class Video Recordings, one for each week of the series.
Even if you have attended all classes they will be sent to your inbox.
Click the link below for more details.