Warrior 2

Virabhadrasana II (veer-ah-bah-DRAHS-anna) or Warrior 2 is one of the best postures for strengthening legs and opening up the hips. The front foot is at 90 degrees and the back foot is at 45 degrees, turned slightly inwards. A heel to heel or heel to arch foot alignment is best here. The importance here is to keep your torso straight, as if there is a rod through your spine. Make sure your bent knee is right over the ankle, many people struggle with this, it is very important, a knee that is too far over the ankle will cause strain, and a knee that is not bent enough will not allow the full benefit of the pose. Arms are up strong and at shoulder level, and the Drishti is at the thumb of the front hand. Pose is usually held for five breaths.

Muscles working: Gluteus minimus, medius and maximus. Hamstrings (back leg) and quads (front leg). Not to mention, triceps and biceps, shoulders, pecs, and neck muscles (scalenes).

Step it up: For more intensity here, have a wider stance, that will make front leg quads work harder, and hold 2-5 pound weights in your hands, this adds to the arm workout.

Gita Verse:

Chapter 4 Verse 14

Sri Krishna:
Actions do not cling to me because I am not attached to their results. Those who understand this and practice it live in freedom.

This is one of the biggest mistakes people make. We are going to a friend's house, someone who we always have fun with but who is very introverted, a night with him would mean watching a movie and keeping it low key. As we are about to leave another friend calls inviting us out to a party at his place, sure to be a good time. So what are the options. We can ditch the first friend, make up some excuse and go to the party, where we assume we will have more fun. Or we can not assume anything. We can keep our integrity intact and visit the friend we said we were going to and have the most fun that we can in that night. The fallacy here is that we don't know how much fun we could have had at the party because we didn't go. So why assume that it was more fun than what we choose to do? If we tell ourselves that we had a great night, then we did, but if we tell ourselves that the party would have been more fun we are disappointed. Either way, that doesn't change the outcome of our evening, and dwelling on the results will get us nowhere.

Namaste.