Warrior 2 Alignment: The Cues Erin Repeats Every Class

Warrior 2 is probably a pose you’ve seen in a lot of pictures. It’s one of the shapes most people picture when they hear the word yoga, and it shows up in almost every flow class I teach. Which means if you practice with me, you’ve heard me say the same few things about it over and over. “Peek down at your big toe.” “Shoulders away from your ears.”

I’m not repeating myself because I forgot I already said it. (Although I have called Warrior 2 in the middle of a sequence by accident and had to take it back halfway through the sentence, so I’m not above getting lost.) I repeat these cues because they’re the ones that matter, and they’re the first thing to go when your front leg starts to burn. So here they are in one place, from the ground up.

Yoga for strength and tone, woman in warrior two pose by a lake

Start with your feet

Step one foot forward and the other foot way back. Depending on how flexible your hips are, Warrior 2 usually wants a wider stance than Warrior 1. Taller people will find a really wide stance on their mat, and that’s exactly right for them.

Your front foot points straight ahead, toes directly in front of your heel. Your back foot works toward a 45 degree angle. If your ankle isn’t that flexible and 45 degrees feels like too much, keep your back toes in line with your heel. That’s perfectly fine.

Then press into the outer edge of your back foot. When I’m moving quickly from Warrior 1 into Warrior 2, I’ll often tell you to heel toe that back foot a little further back. That one small shuffle gives your hips room to open to the side.

Bend the front knee and check your stance

Lunge into your front leg and work toward a 90 degree angle, with your knee right over your ankle. This is where you find out if your stance is the right length. If your knee is coming past your ankle when you lunge, you need a longer stance. I usually do, so I scoot my back foot further back.

Unlike Warrior 1, where your hips are squared to the front of your mat, in Warrior 2 your hips and shoulders open to the side.

Peek down at your big toe

This is the cue I say most. Look down past your front knee. If you can’t see your big toe, your knee is buckling in toward the middle of your mat. Draw it out toward your pinky toe.

It takes a lot of strength in the outer hip and glute to pull that knee open, and while you’re building that strength it’s really common for the knee to drift in. That’s not a reason to feel bad about it. It’s a reason to keep checking, because a knee caving in like that is hard on your knee. If your hips and inner thighs are tight, you’ll probably feel this adjustment a lot more in your inner thigh. That’s the work.

Tailbone down and shoulders over hips

One of the common mistakes in Warrior 2 is a sway back, where your pelvis tips and you end up with a big arch in your lower back. So you’ll hear me say “draw your tailbone down.” A little bit of an arch is okay. A big one isn’t.

Then engage your core so you feel lifted, and stack your shoulders right over your hips. It’s not uncommon to lean a little forward without realizing it (or to lean back to escape the burn in your front leg). Just place your shoulders back over your hips.

Your arms and your gaze

Extend your arms long so they’re parallel with the floor, palms facing down. Glance back at your back arm and make sure it isn’t sagging. Engage your triceps and reach through your fingertips in both directions.

The other thing that sneaks in is hunching your shoulders up by your ears. If that’s happening, take a shoulder roll, then relax your shoulders down away from your ears.

Your head stays in line with your spine. Without moving it out of line, turn your chin toward your front shoulder and take your gaze out across your front fingertips. Keep that gaze soft. Focus your eyes, but relax your jaw.

When your legs start shaking

Hold Warrior 2 for a few breaths and you might start to feel it in your legs, like a good burning sensation. That’s normal, and it’s a big part of why the warrior poses build so much strength and heat.

What helps me is the breath. In my longer hold classes I’ll ask you to make your breaths slow and loud. Softening your mind and softening your breath as much as you can is the real practice in a long hold, more than how low your front knee goes.

Common Warrior 2 mistakes

Your front knee caving in so you can’t see your big toe.
A big sway in your lower back. Draw your tailbone down.
Leaning forward or back instead of stacking your shoulders over your hips.
Shoulders hunched up by your ears.
A back arm that quietly sags toward the floor.

I bring Warrior 2 into a lot of different classes, including my Solar Plexus Chakra class, where I ask you to hold your first warrior and connect to qualities like determination and power. If that sounds like your kind of thing, my free 7-week chakra experience walks through all seven.

Practice it with me

Warrior & Sun Salute Yoga Tutorial (30m 57s). Part of my Intro to Yoga Series, where I break down all of the warrior poses step by step.
Standing Yoga Basics, Wrist Free (57m 54s). Long holds, so you have time to make the adjustments while you’re in the pose.
Longer Holds, Wrist Free (39m 58s). Slow, loud breaths in a long Warrior 2. It’s also part of my 30 Day Five Parks Yoga Tour.
Yoga for Beginners (Bonus Iguana Visit!) (52m 42s). I walk through each point of alignment on both sides.
Warrior Flow (45m 51s). When you want a whole class of warriors.

And if you’d ever like me to look at your Warrior 2 in person, come practice with me at our spring and November retreats in Nosara.