Surrendering your Strength: Leadership Lessons from the Humble Warrior Pose

Once upon a time, there was a wealthy king called Daksha, who lived in a gilded palace with his beloved daughter, Sati. Instead of marrying a prince, as her father expected, Sati devoted herself entirely to the god Shiva. Daksha rejected the marriage, deeming the ascetic Shiva unworthy of his daughter, and when he later organised a grand celebration, he deliberately excluded the couple.

Sati chose to attend regardless and attempted to reason with her father. When her words fell on deaf ears, she self-immolated in a final act of despair and devotion to Shiva. On learning of his wife’s death, Shiva was consumed by grief and rage. From this fury he manifested the powerful warrior Virabhadra, who stormed the celebration and decapitated King Daksha in an act of vengeance.

When the rage subsided, Shiva recognised the devastation caused by his anger. In an act of compassion and restoration, he replaced Daksha’s severed head with that of a goat. Daksha was revived and bowed to Shiva in reverence. And Sati? She reincarnated as the gentle and nurturing mother goddess Parvati, returning to Shiva’s side to be worshipped by millions.

This story is often told as a lesson in the downfall of ego, embodied by Daksha. Yet there are other teachings here, equally relevant to leadership today.

Sati shows us how damaging devotion can be when it is not accompanied by an assertive voice that is heard.

Shiva shows us how destructive raw power can be when it is not tempered by compassion.

Virabhadra and Daksha

In conversations with other female leaders, certain questions surface again and again:

• How can I feel empowered in a male-dominated field?

• How can I show strength without losing my femininity?

• Is kindness a sign of weakness?

Our posture, how we hold ourselves, directly influences our state of mind and emotional landscape. Try striking a power pose, and compare it with sitting hunched over, arms crossed.

One is pure confidence and power.

The other is defensive and vulnerable.

Which one would you choose when walking into an important meeting?

When practicing yoga asanas, we work with different energies: strength and softness, effort and ease. Over time, physical stability and openness translate into greater mental resilience, willpower, and adaptability.

A particularly potent pose for leaders is Humble Warrior, sometimes translated from bhakti virabhadrasana as Devotional Warrior.

Flowing into the humble warrior pose

Stay Grounded

Everything begins with grounding.

Standing strong and firmly rooted like an oak tree in the wind.

When we are grounded, we are less likely to be swept away by our own emotions, or the emotional turbulence of others around us.

We respond to challenges with calm and clarity, rather than reacting out of fear or anxiety.

Stand Strong

The front leg bends to ninety degrees while the back leg stays active and energised.

Every muscle in the legs is engaged, cultivating genuine strength and a sense of power.

In leadership, this foundation matters greatly.

We need strength to make difficult decisions, to hold boundaries, and to act with integrity when things feel uncomfortable.

Open Your Heart

We enter the pose by interlacing our fingers at our lower back, and pressing our knuckles down, thus opening our chest and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable.

Vulnerability in leadership has increasingly been understood as being authentic, open and emotionally aware, which builds trust and psychological safety rather than signalling weakness.

A compassionate leader creates safe spaces where ideas can be shared freely, collaboration can flourish, and people feel genuinely seen and valued.

Be Supple

As the torso folds forward, the back muscles soften and the spine lengthens.

If the feet are the roots, the spine is the trunk.

Rigid trees snap in strong winds.

Flexible ones bend and survive.

The same is true for leadership.

Rigid leaders struggle in volatile environments, while agile and adaptable leaders can anticipate change, pivot strategies, and support resilient, innovative teams.

Agility enables rapid learning and decision-making; adaptability allows behaviours and structures to shift as conditions change.

Together, they build the “change muscle” needed for long-term organisational success.

Surrender Your Power

My favourite closing cue in this pose is: “Surrender your strength,” as the head bows down.

Strength without softness becomes aggression.

Power without compassion creates destruction.

True leadership asks us to place our power in service of something larger than ourselves.

Finishing reflection

Humble Warrior teaches us that we do not need to choose between strength and kindness, authority and vulnerability, resolve and reverence.

The practice is to hold them together.

In practical terms, this might mean grounding yourself before a difficult conversation, standing firm in your values while remaining open to other perspectives, or consciously softening your stance when power begins to tip into control.

Bowing the head in Humble Warrior reminds us that leadership is not about dominance, but about service. When strength is surrendered to purpose, and power is guided by compassion, we become leaders worth following – and find causes worth bowing to.

Thank you very much for reading, have a wonderful week ahead.

The light in me honours the light in you.

Namaste