Warrior Within 2
✨ Part 3.
Courage, a second quality of the Warrior, helps us to access our inner empowerment (see previous warrior within post). Many poses in Yoga require us to summon courage and take a leap into unknown territory. When we allow ourselves to step into these new experiences within our poses, we expand our inner sense of what is possible in life. Courage helps to build empowerment and realize we’re capable of doing much more than we have previously believed.
Courage is the willingness to take a risk, even when it doesn’t turn out fruitful. We may try to balance in Headstand in the middle of the room, and instead we fall over or we may try out a new way of trying something and it doesn’t work out they way we thought. Often, when this happens, instead of a feeling of failure, come to discover a new sense of inner power from it – we’ve experienced a failure and survived!
Stepping out into our courage isn’t so bad and in fact understanding this and keeping faith in this, becomes liberating. This is the power of the true Warrior – one who has the courage to step out into whatever life offers, knowing that they have the capability to ultimately deal with anything. They find trust within themselves.
✨ Part 4.
The final quality of the warrior is non-attachment. When we come to a place of mental clarity, we see that it is the action itself that is meaningful and powerful, not the result. Being the best we can be and giving our practice our full attention is the reward itself – regardless of whether we do a pose perfectly. We begin to value life in every moment rather than always waiting for the end results (and often getting disappointed when they aren’t what we expect). Non-attachment is freedom. When we don’t have expectations, we are free to enjoy everything for exactly what it is. And we can accept ourselves just as we are, too. The Warrior does her best in every situation, and because she is unattached, she remains peaceful regardless of the results.
In the Bhagavad Gita, a great treatise on yoga, Krishna says to Arjuna, a powerful warrior, “your right is to action alone; never to its fruits at any time… Having abandoned attachment, Arjuna, and having become indifferent to success or failure – it is said that evenness of mind is yoga.” Non-attachment allows us to maintain that evenness of mind, our inner steadiness. When we have that, the fluctuations of happiness and sadness, pride and disappointment disappear, and we feel our true nature that is unchanging.
Our inner selves- this is the where the Warrior is fighting the real battle – within ourselves, over the distractions of the body, our emotions, and our thoughts. Sometimes we think it’s “out there”, that the world is doing “it” to us, whatever that is. But the battle is going on inside of us, in how we respond to the world.
The Warrior “wins” the battle when he realizes that it’s not really a battle at all. Because when we’re truly in our power, with the courage to look at everything, clarity of mind, and non-attachment, there is nothing to fight within, either. There is understanding. When we understand ourselves and one another, we have no need to fight. We see that the battle is created by how our minds perceive the world. Wars are fought by people only perceiving differences, unable to see the deeper inner truth of our oneness.
You can recognize a true Warrior. They shine from within. They don’t have to do anything to prove their power or their worth. They simply are that. Just like a star shining in the evening sky. The next time you practice any of the Warrior poses, be like Virabhadra. Reach your arms and legs from your inner power. Feel your courage, the confidence to explore anything. Develop inner clarity and peace. And be unattached to the outcome of all your efforts. You may find yourself shining from within.
🙏🏼 Namaste, K.
