Don’t you love how yoga makes you feel after practising?

But it’s not just how you feel after a yoga sequence that you can enjoy. The poses themselves hold particular flavours - have you noticed? For example, the cool contact of the forehead to earth and the open back breathing in a Child’s pose can bathe us in comfort and calm. Or the whoosh of decompression from a juicy twist can illuminate a spacious quality as tissue gradually recoils back into place.

How to describe the feeling evoked by standing poses - invigorating, perhaps? Standing poses, in particular, impart a micro-injection of energy. Parts of the body, often dormant, feel awakened, alive and purposeful.

I consider so many asanas to be ‘Power Poses’ in how they can make us feel. A fiery Utkatasana (aka ‘fierce’ or Chair pose), a super sturdy Chaturanga (the ultimate whole body energiser), or an even and elegant Tadasana (Mountain Pose), to name a few that spring to mind.

Let’s take the example of a quintessential power pose, Virabhadrasana II.

O Warrior, you bring me: grounding, expansion, solidity, strength, spaciousness, courage, power, energy, endurance, vitality!

What do I experience in a standing posture like Warrior 2? Connected through broad feet, I feel the grip of legs and buttocks (here we go again with the buttocks!) as they support the pelvis to settle evenly between firm limbs. As I allow the shoulder blades to broaden and soften the top line of the shoulders, the chest expands and opens. The face shines bright as it lifts; the arms grow impossibly long as they seem to reach beyond the fingertips, beyond the body.

And as I gather the elements and steadily build my dynamic Warrior, I satisfy myself with the integrity of my stance by recycling my efforts. Here I learn to mitigate the challenges of battle; a steady breath sees me through an enduring burn.

In a posture like this, we embody a warrior’s strength and stability in majestic body language. Something about unfurling the body and claiming wide space helps you remember that you are a force to be reckoned with. Motivational speakers suggest adopting such poses before an important interview or presentation to infuse confidence in the body and allow the mind to catch up.

Adopting a power pose doesn’t necessarily translate to mean imposition or aggression. Instead, my interpretation of ‘standing in my power’, physically and mentally, means to feel centred and assured so that I can project myself into the world with ease. And what power that is.

Let’s practise.