Virabhadrasana III (Warrior 3 Pose) & Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana (Standing Splits)
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Yoga Techniques and Fitness
Overview
In this lesson, we introduce Virabhadrasana III (Warrior 3 Pose) and Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana (Standing Splits), two balancing poses that challenge your sense of spatial orientation.
Objective
Gain understanding of how to strengthen the core, shoulders, and legs while developing stamina, concentration, and coordination in a horizontal body position.
What You'll Get
You'll develop the kind of focus that comes from holding your body parallel to the floor while your vestibular system recalibrates. These poses build serious core and leg strength, stretch the hamstrings, and teach you how to stay present when your world is literally turned sideways. For teachers and trainers, these are excellent tools for helping clients build full-body stability and mental absorption. Whether you're deepening your own practice or guiding others, you'll understand how disorientation can become a teacher of balance and resilience.
Virabhadrasana III
Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana
Virabhadrasana III
veer-ah-buh-DRAHS-ahna
“Virabhadra” = name of a warrior hero
In Bikram Hot Yoga, called Balancing Stick Pose: Tuladandasana
Do you know how the Warrior poses got their numbers of I, II & III? “They are traditionally known as 1, 2, and 3 not because of sequence, but because there are that many limbs extended. How does the joining or releasing of the hands affect your breathing? Your sense of strength? What thoughts or feelings arise in you as you hold each pose?” – Zo Newell
Heart of Pose
- Standing Balance
Joint Actions
The following are from Leslie Kaminoff’s book, Yoga Anatomy.
- Spine: axial extension
- Shoulder: flexion and lateral rotation
- Front leg: nutation, hi flexion and adduction, knee extension, ankle dorsi
- Back leg: counternutation, hip neutral extension and medial rotation, knee extension, ankle dorsi
- See also: Joint Movements & ROM
Effects / Benefits
Energy, Mood, Emotion
Effects to energy, mood or emotion may include the following.
- Builds concentration and focus.
- Stimulating, energizing.
- Increases absorption of mind.
- Clears and quiets the mind.
Inner Body
Inner body effects may include the following.
- Challenges and develops the vestibular system in a relatively unique way. (See quote below.)
- Said to stimulate abdominal organs and digestion.
The pose is disorienting, partly because your torso is horizontal rather than vertical. Our vestibular system, the apparatus in the inner ear that gives our brain information about motion, head position, and spatial orientation, is unfamiliar in Warrior III Pose. The pose challenges what your body knows about its position in space. – Charlotte Bell
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