I have been hearing conflicting instructions on where to place the feet during warrior one and warrior two poses. Some instructors say to align your front ankle and your back ankle and others say to align the front ankle with the center(inner arch) of your back foot. Was just wondering which was correct…
Living to learn,
I seem that you want to calrify about alignment issue in both the warrior poses i.e. 1 & 2at after the following steps of instructions at pointers 1 & 2:
- After (Warrior 2) having jumped to spread your (or without jumping… spreading) the
feet three and half foot apart and turning right or left to 90 degree angle and the
other foot at 45 degree in (refer
at a.) - After (Warrior 1) having jumped to spread (or without jumping… spreading) the
feet three and half foot apart and; turning right or left to 90 degree angle and the
other foot at 15 degree in (refer at a.)
a. (Alignment) the heal of the leg (either left or right) which has been turned at 90
degree angle should be in line with ach of the other foot which has been turned at 15
degree angle in case Warrior 2 and at 45 degree angel in case of warrior 1.
Iyenger Yoga attempt to focus on alignment issue, specially in the group classes, much more than Yoga styles (which shares the same roots) such as Power Yoga, Anusara, Ashthanga Vinyasa and Vini-Yoga, etc. Learn about the same.
I presume the conflicting instruction is not coming out of the same mouth?
It is perfectly fine to ask your two sources to clarify their instruction. It is also mindful to remember the phrase “too many cooks spoil the stew”. Having many sources of teaching as a beginner is a nice sampling, even necessary. Having too many sources later on is muddling.
Generally speaking the plane of the poses you mention has a foundational alignment where the second toe of the front foot and center of the front heel bisect the back arch. In this way the foundation adheres to the plane of the pose, has already moved to it, et al. However the other instructions you outline are not inherently wrong. They are more accessible by more students, especially beginners and those with balance issues.
This having been said, the cue using the ankle is not a clear one to use with students that do not have an advanced practice. The instruction does not allow the mind to have clarity since the ankle is a complex joint with a medial and later boney protuberance. Try using the second toe and center of the heel and see if that works for your standing poses. If it doesn’t then of course go back to “ankle”.