Learn How to Do Warrior 3 and Standing Splits With This Photo Tutorial

Warrior 3 and Standing Splits are equivalent balancing poses with a handful of nuanced variations that develop the distinctive asana expressions.

Both are sturdy and active poses that challenge balance, coordination, and focus. They rely on a bit of ease amongst all the work to obtain stillness and area to breathe.

Both of these poses need us to stand on one particular leg, shift our center of gravity, engage our legs, core, and arms, lengthen via the side body, and retain protected alignment. All when attempting not to fall on our faces. It’s no wonder these poses are not crowd favorites.

What’s the Difference Between Warrior 3 and Standing Splits?

The most important variations among these two poses is the tilt of the chest and height of the lifted leg.

In Warrior 3, feel of generating a “T” shape with your body, with your chest and leg horizontal and parallel to the ground.

In Standing Splits pull your chest down toward your standing leg and let your lifted leg float larger into the air, moving into more of an inverted position.

Here’s Your Step-by-Step Guide to Practice Warrior 3 (Virabhadrasana 3):

Ready to attempt this difficult pose? Here’s how:

1. Prepare Your Shape

Start by generating the shape in your body.

Let’s attempt it:

Find Crescent Lunge on your ideal leg
Lean forward and shift your weight into your ideal leg
When you really feel steady, press your left leg off the ground and shift forward till your chest and left leg come parallel to the ground
Make a “T” shape with your body, getting the exact same plane with your chest and leg

2. Refine Your Alignment

Polish your alignment to obtain balance and ease in Warrior 3.

Let’s attempt it:

Check the alignment of your hips, you will probably will need to drop your left hip so that it is level with your ideal
Slightly internally rotate your left leg by lifting the inseam of the leg toward the sky to assist you level your hips
Think of maintaining your left thigh bone plugged into your left hip socket
Keep the crown of your head in line with your spine
Gaze at the ground

3. Engage

Activate strongly to stabilize your pose.

Let’s attempt it:

Flex your left foot and press via your heel
Support the pose by engaging your entire core: abdominals, glutes, and back
Lengthen from the heel of your left foot, via your side body, and all the way to the strategies of your fingers – you can feel of reaching toward the horizon

4. Position Your Arms

There are various hand placement possibilities such as mudras for Warrior 3. So attempt a handful of and see what functions greatest for you.

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Let’s attempt it:

Traditional arm placement has arms outstretched lengthy in front of you in line with your ears, with your palms facing every other
You could also bring your hands to blocks on the ground straight below your shoulders for assistance
Or press your hands into a wall or chair in front of you to assist with balance and assistance
Or fly your arms wide to the side and parallel to the ground for Airplane Pose
Or bring your hands to prayer at heart center, getting Anjali Mudra (Prayer Mudra)
Or extend your arms lengthy in front of you, interlace all fingers except for your pointer finger and thumb, taking Kali Mudra (Power Mudra)
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Here’s Your Step-by-Step Guide for Standing Splits (Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana):

Ready to jump into your next difficult pose? Let’s go!

1. Prepare Your Shape

Start by generating the shape in your body.

Let’s attempt it:

From Warrior 3, bring your hands to the ground and stroll them in toward your standing leg
Pull your chest in tight toward your ideal quad

2. Refine Your Alignment

Polish your alignment to obtain balance and ease in Standing Splits.

Let’s attempt it:

Maintain length in your spine and retain your shoulders active to steer clear of crunching or rounding along your spine
Allow your left leg to float up toward the sky, lifting from your inner thigh
As you lift your leg larger into the air, your left hip will naturally open some, but counter this with a bit of internal rotation of your leg in your hip socket
Focus more on your standing leg than your lifted leg – a sturdy, supportive foundation will assist your floating leg to lift with more ease
Avoid opening your hip wide in order to lift your leg larger into the air – height will come with practice and patience
Gaze toward your left shin

3. Engage

Activate strongly to stabilize your pose.

Let’s attempt it:

Work to retain your hips neutral-ish
Point or flex you lifted foot

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4. Position Your Arms

There are a handful of hand placement possibilities for Standing Splits. So attempt a handful of and see what functions greatest for you.

Let’s attempt it:

Your hands might keep planted on the ground
Or, for an added challenge, grab your left ankle with one particular or each hands

Use These 6 Helpful Tips to Find Balance in Both Warrior 3 and Standing Splits:

If you are struggling in these poses, apply these very simple strategies to acquire balance and manage.

1. Build From the Ground Up

Start by developing these poses from the ground up. Press firmly into the ground via the ball mound and heel of your feet, then lift up gently via the arches of your feet and your inner ankles.

2. Be Aware

Be cognizant of your standing leg. Hyperextending is widespread and can potentially develop injury, so retain your knee joint slightly soft. Put a microbend in your standing leg, and then use your quads to gently lift via your kneecap.

3. Start from Crescent Lunge

Rather than beginning from Warrior I, start off from a Crescent Lunge Pose. For most yogis, our hips are a lot more neutral in Crescent Lunge than Warrior 1, which assists us to obtain right alignment prior to getting into the poses.

4. Find Length

Think about getting length in each poses, rather than height.

5. Flex Your Floating Foot

This assists to retain your leg muscle tissues active and tends to encourage your hip into greater alignment, which leads to greater balance.

6. Find Your Breath

Breathing is what sustains you in any pose, however it is usually the very first point we let go of when we encounter difficult poses like these. So do not overlook to make use of the energy of your breath!

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The Takeaway on Warrior 3 and Standing Splits

Both Warrior 3 and Standing Splits have numerous added benefits for the body and brain. They strengthen the legs, knees, ankles, back, shoulders, and core. They stretch the hamstrings, calves, and quadriceps.

Our balance, posture, stability, and coordination are challenged and enhanced with repeated practice.

Brain added benefits of these poses contain enhanced proprioception and focus. As we practice these, we understand exactly where our body is in space. This assists with injury prevention as we age.

Lastly, the focus necessary to execute these poses assists to train our brains and boost all round concentration.

Although you might not jump for joy the next time you are asked to do Warrior 3 or Standing Splits, you will be capable to confidently do these poses with complete body awareness and understanding of the pose specifics.