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Let's learn Warrior Three, We're going to come to a runner's lunge pose to begin the foundations of this posture, and I like getting into it from kind of the earth up, from the ground up. Gives us a chance to really connect to our center, and of course build a strong foundation. So, let's take the ‘right leg forward’, ‘left leg back’, and lift that back knee up, just stretch it out. Take a deep breath in here. Keep a deep bend in the front knee, so nice stacking of ankle and knee. And then we'll slowly roll it up. So, I want you just to roll it up today to feel this connection to center. So, tailbone lengthens down, navel draws in, and we roll it up. Back leg is nice and strong. All right, so I'm engaging from the ground up. Now, bring your awareness to that front foot here, strong back legs still, but bring your awareness to the front foot. We're going to really press into all four corners of the feet. So, the back two corners of the heels, and then the ball joint of the big toe, and the ball joint of the pinkie toe. Four-part equal standing. Now I can reach my hands up in Warrior if I want to just kind of shine and feel good, or I can keep my hands on the waistline. Take a deep breath in here, spread awareness, press into that, front foot strong. Navel draws in slightly, we inhale, think up with the crown of the head, up with the heart. Keep this upward movement, and there's this kind of energetic lift as you peel the back heel up and step halfway in.

Now, I'm going to have a soft bend in this front knee, and I'm just going to play with a little buoyancy. So, this might seem weird at first, especially if you're new to the practice. Feel strong front foot as we kind of find this lift and lengthen up through the front body. Now, inhale in and on a swift exhale, bend both knees, lift that back leg. I'm going to step back just a little bit, just chill, nice, focus on the foundation. So, a soft bend in the front knee, and now I'm just checking in again with that front foot again. So, before we even get to here, guys, spread awareness to all four corners of that front foot, draw the navel in towards the spine, shoulders away from the ears, find places where you can lift and lengthen, and then of course places where we can ground. I'm not locking that standing leg here, but rather keeping a soft bend in the knee. So, soft awareness as my muscles wrap around the support. Belly's going to come out here and we're going to start to get crazy. Draw the navel in. You might even spiral the lower rib cage, draw the lower rib cage in just as support with your center. Hands come to the waistline here, and now we bring our awareness to this back thigh. We might just lift the toes up here for now and slowly begin to work. Rather than coming into the full posture right away, work on creating a full-body experience. I just can't say that enough. It's so important. And then one day, you'll be so in that full-body experience that you'll soar in this insane Warrior Three. You're going to be like, "Ah, working from the inside out, right on."

Bring your awareness to this back thigh. Rather than imagining hoisting your foot up, keep the hips level, and see if you can kind of bring awareness to this back thigh, lifting from the back thigh. So, we hoist our body up. We throw our body around all day long. In Yoga, we get a chance to really work with integrity. So, consider that here in this balancing posture, so don't rush it. Charging that back thigh or bring awareness there, so we're not just lifting from the foot, but we're keeping the hips level. So, maybe dropping that left hip here. Chest is open, supportive in the center. We can stay here, gaze is strong, or we can reach the fingertips forward. Take a deep breath in, feel it out, then slowly we'll bring the back foot down, come back to Warrior One, and release the arms. Rock on. Okay. We're going to try one more time, this time with a little variation. And this is my favorite way to teach Warrior Three. I just think it's really great in terms of finding that opposition that's essentially going to support. So here we go again. Hands come to the waistline, soft bend in the knee, awareness in that front foot. Step the foot in if you haven't already.

Warrior Three, soft bend in the knee, inhale in, on a swift exhale take that buoyant energy, that buoyant quality, and press away. Now, press is actually the perfect word for this next variation. I'm going to level the hips, draw my navel in, keep that extension through the crown. Again, don't worry about being in the perfect shape for now, just worry . . . In fact, I can impress you with my Warrior Three, but I don't want to. I want us to kind of find that integrity as we slowly build up to a nice, strong, and supportive Virabhadrasana Three. So, this time I'm going to send my fingertips back. It's funny; I'm on a creaky wood now, creaky plank. Soft bend in the knee, now think about that back inner thigh. Now this time, imagine you're pressing the palms into the earth. So, in fact, imagine that the earth came up here, and in class I would come and maybe give you a little resistance. So, imagine that you're pressing away, so just like we do in our twist when we find kind of a little resistance there. See if you can find a little resistance here, and again, you can do this without even lifting that back toe. So, if you're a super beginner, then you want to give it a try anyway, so I go from here to pressing away, really finding that lift and lengthen, that marriage of strength, but also length and grace. Might be here, might be here. Again, I'm pressing into imaginary floor here kind of like Superman. Once you have your resistance here, you might begin to slowly come to here and we breathe. Breathe. I can't believe I'm on this crickety piece of wood. One more breath, and then we softly bend that front knee, step it back to Warrior One, take a deep breath in, and exhale. Tadasana.

All right. Let's try the other side. Same thing. We're going to break it on down, starting with our runner's lunge. This time, the left foot's forward, of course. Right foot back; take a second to just get into it. Take Breathe…Breathe…Breath. Plant the back foot. through the feet, drawing energy up through the arches, and connecting to my center of gravity, which is obviously so necessary for this Warrior Three, and just so good for the back and the whole body. So take a second here to just check in. Again, if you want to reach the fingertips up to your Warrior One, shine on, babes, shine on. And then we'll bring the fingertips to the waistline, soft bend in the knees here, I lift the back heel up, and step it in halfway. I'm going to come to the center of my mat again. Soft bend here, bring your awareness around to that front foot just like we did before. So we're going to have this woo thing. See if you can spread awareness through all four corners of the feet, press down, and then find places to lift up. Now here we go again, the sissy bounce.
Soft bend, we find a buoyancy. Let's grab a Drishti, a little focus, something to set our gaze on in front, and then we might lift that back leg up. Notice I'm not locking this front leg. It might be like big Tony on the ground, you guys. There's no right or wrong. Let's really do this. It's like, have integrity and be in our bodies. That's called self-love, too, it's a great practice. So, navel draw in, woo, take it nice and slow, draw the shoulders away from the ears. Now we might begin to lift the back leg and, again, I encourage you rather than just considering lifting this back foot, consider everything from your center, from your foundation. So, I'm leveling that right hip. I'm bring my awareness to that right inner thigh. As I drop the hips, spiral it up towards the sky. Now, hands can stay on the waistline here. Maybe you can take this variation of sternum to thumb, which is nice. Neck is nice and long, not crunching, and then maybe we just experiment with reaching the fingertips out, maybe we're at the wall here too. Check in with the shoulders, the hips, breathe, breathe, breathe, then softly bending back to Warrior One we go. Take a deep breath in and exhale, float it down.