April 2026

Rainbow Warrior

From our teaching team · January Shannon

A fun flow variation on Warrior II — there isn't a formal Sanskrit name for it. It isn't a pose you hold and talk through; it makes for a nice flowing variation. January learned it in her Inside Flow training. It feels good to "unload" the front leg and stretch it out, and the motion with the breath gets you into a flow state.

Practice safely

These guides are for general education and are not medical advice or a substitute for in-person instruction. Yoga is physical, and every body is different: practice at your own risk, move within your own limits, and stop if something hurts. Talk with your physician before starting any new physical practice, especially if you are pregnant, injured, or managing a health condition. The safest place to learn any of these poses is in the room with a teacher who can see you, and our teachers adjust for every level in every class.

How January calls it

  • Exhale into Warrior II (from the inhale of Warrior I, as normal).
  • Stay for an inhale (walk over to the hot-box side to demo if you're starting on the right leg).
  • On the exhale, cue Rainbow Warrior: straighten the front knee, lift the front toes, bend the back knee, sweep your arms to the back wall and look back. It's hard to keep the flow and say all that, so maybe just demo and pick one thing — they'll get it. January often says "Rainbow Warrior," and if students don't seem to know it, she demos and says "it's like a standing skandasana while you sweep your arms back."
  • Inhale to Reverse Warrior. Then exhale to whatever you want next (low lunge, chaturanga, side angle lunge, etc.).

Options to play with

  • You can exhale right into Rainbow Warrior instead of Warrior II if you want — it works the same.
  • Arm variation: from Warrior II, inhale and cross your arms across your chest to prepare, then on the exhale move the legs into Rainbow Warrior but extend the arms out at a diagonal and look toward your front fingers as you extend the front leg. A little like a deep "curtsy."
  • Many students take it all the way back into skaters pose / skandasana.

The best way to learn it is in the room.

Our teachers break down poses like this in every class, at every level. First class is $8.

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