There is a moment in yoga when strength meets stillness, when movement becomes meaning: standing in Warrior II, the feet press into the earth, arms extend wide, heart open, gaze steady. At seventeen, my first yoga teacher offered a lesson that has never left me. She said, “The drishti is your gaze point, an external focus with an internal awareness. In Warrior II, the front hand represents the future, the back hand honors the past and the body stands firmly in the present.”

That single teaching embodies an entire way of being, a philosophy for how to live one’s life.

Yoga is more than a series of postures; it is a practice in presence. It teaches us how to meet life with grace and steadiness, how to stay rooted even when the world asks us to bend. The warrior poses are not lessons in aggression or conquest; they are invitations to embody courage—to stand for what is true, to hold space for both strength and softness and to find balance between doing and being.

When we step into Warrior II, we are not preparing for battle, we are cultivating clarity. The pose asks us to feel the grounding of our back foot—the foundation of experience and all that has shaped us—while the front hand extends toward what lies ahead, open and ready to receive. Our gaze, our drishti, reminds us that we can look toward the future without losing touch with the now.

To be a warrior in your own life is to live in balance. It means honoring the past without being defined by it, envisioning the future without racing toward it, and anchoring yourself deeply in the only place real power resides—the present moment.

In life, as on the mat, there will always be something pulling you forward and something holding you back. The practice is to stay centered—to keep returning to the breath, to the heartbeat, to the ground beneath your feet. This is where strength is born. Not in resistance, but in awareness; not in the fight, but in the alignment.

True warriors do not seek conflict; they seek truth. They know that courage often looks like stillness, that peace can be fierce, and that presence itself is an act of resilience.

Every time we step onto the mat, we practice standing in this way—in equal parts rooted and expansive, disciplined and free. Over time, this stance becomes more than a posture; it becomes a way of living.

So the next time you find yourself in Warrior II, feel the strength in your legs, the openness of your chest, the steadiness of your gaze. Remember that your back hand honors the path that brought you here, your front hand reaches toward what’s next, and your body—strong, centered, alive—holds you in the present where all transformation truly begins.

Alison Mullins is the founder of Coppermoon Collective, a wellness platform weaving yoga, movement and integrative coaching into spaces for personal and collective transformation through retreats, coaching and community experiences. She can be reached at alison@coppermoonrising.com or www.coppermoonrising.com.