The word for warrior or courage in yoga is “Vira”. You may have heard of the Virabadrasana poses or warrior poses.

In the tantric yoga philosophy I study, there are three things you need to have a warrior’s courage. 

Vanity, pride and style. Yep – not the qualities you thought would show up in a blog post about yoga right? Many yoga traditions want you to try and rid yourself of your ego. But really, who would you be without it?

I think there is a big difference between egotism and having a healthy sense of who you are, and making the most of your unique self. Let me explain this more tantric philosophy.

Vanity is the hardest one to wrap our head around because it gets such a bad rap but I agree with Dianna Vreeland,

“I loathe narcissism, but I approve of vanity.” Diana Vreeland

Vanity to me just means you care. To become self obsessed is narcissism but vanity means you care about yourself. If I am going out into the world, it matters to me how I present myself because that is how I will be received by others. A little lipstick goes a long way. For you, the act of caring about yourself may take a different form. When women are battling breast cancer for example, they will often get a ‘makeover’, complete with makeup and sometimes a fetching scarf or a wig. Is this act of vanity wrong; or is it in fact an act of self affirmation?

Pride is another one of those tricky subjects. It is included as one of the seven deadly sins, but let’s look at its definition.

The Oxford dictionary says pride is

A feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of one’s close associates, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.”

If you can do something really well, please do it! Being proud of your accomplishments is much better than holding back out of some false sense of modesty. Has anyone ever said to you ‘who do you think you are?’ It is usually meant to keep you down and ‘in your place’. A warrior must believe she is worth fighting for, worth standing up for, worth being proud of.

Style is not fashion. Style is how you wear yourself, it is your unique way of presenting in the world. Your style may be elegant, flamboyant, minimal or over the top but it is an expression of how you wish to be seen. Every good warrior has style. If you don’t believe style is important, Check out this trailer for a movie called “Advanced Style”  or this video with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“Show class, have pride, display character. If you do that winning takes care of itself”  Paul Bryant