Prana Pages

In essence, each of us holds a little bit of Garuda energy inside us.  We are spiritual beings, larger than life, and once we are born into this human world, we reduce ourselves in size and energy.  Our physical bodies are limiting to our spiritual capabilities.  In performing eagle pose, we start large, with arms and legs open and expanded, and reduce our size to pull into ourselves, hold the pose, and then release back into the vastness.  As spiritual beings living a human experience, we are constantly challenged to bring the nectar of heaven to earth, which is what Garuda is known to have done.

photo from www.givingyoga.org

Physically, when we perform eagle pose, we constrict the blood flow of the body at every major joint (ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, and wrists).  This constriction of the blood flow produces a tourniquet effect, squeezing the blood out of the joint.  While holding the pose and breathing deeply, the heart is able to oxygenate the blood that is not affected by the tourniquet.  When the pose is released, that freshly oxygenated blood from the heart rushes to the dammed points at the joints, like a pressure washer, it cleans out the joints of toxins and poisons.  Energetically, each breath is like a download of Spirit to the physical system, so when the tourniquet effect is released, we are flushing our bodies with the essence of Spirit, that “larger than lifeness”.  By making ourselves small, reducing our size and energy in eagle pose, we are pulling into ourselves to reconnect with the spiritual largeness of our being, to drink of the nectar from heaven and bring it to earth.

On another level, eagle pose is extremely self-nurturing and centering.  On one side, we are wrapping the feminine energies of surrender, nurturing, and support around the masculine energies of action and power and strength.  Our feminine is loving and holding our masculine.  On the other side, we are wrapping the masculine energies of giving and strength and power around the feminine energies of support and surrender.  Our masculine is providing for our feminine.  Thus, this pose is the physical representation of merging our left and right sides of our bodies (see Body Wisdom) or balancing our yin and yang, or equalizing sthira and sukha.  Physical balance of eagle pose on one leg will not occur until you balance effort and grace.  Try too hard and you will fall, relax too much and you will fall.  Find center, and you can hold.

Alignment

• root the bottom foot deep into the earth and bend the bottom knee as if in chair pose.  The grounding of this pose is important to maintain the connection to our humanity as we tap into the energy of greatness that we learn from Garuda.
• wrap the top leg over and around the bottom leg, constricting at the inner thighs, knees, and eventually ankles.  Squeeze all light and air from between the legs as you sit deeper into the heel of commitment of the bottom leg.
• wrap the same arm of the upper leg (if right leg is on top, the right arm is underneath) under and around the other arm, constricting at the inner elbows, forearms, and eventually the wrists.
• lift the elbows and push the wrists away from the face to access the heart chakra, opening both at the breastbone and the space between the shoulder blades.  This teaches that even when our wings are clipped or restrained, we can access the energy of the heart that extends the wings to full expression.
• pull the chin in and tuck the tailbone down to elongate the spine, balancing the twisted joints around the length, strength, and stability of the center, the spine.

Modifications

• if you have tender knees or knee injury, it is not recommended that you wrap the top ankle around the bottom calf muscle.  This can be a strain on the meniscus and the AC join in the knee. Allowing the foot to dangle next to the leg will save the strain on the knee.
• if balance is an extreme challenge, or you are hindered by foot pain such as plantar fasciitis, using the top foot big toe as a little kickstand on the floor outside the bottom foot ankle is a nice alternative.  The benefits of this pose then can be focused on the compression at the joints rather than the balance.
• If wrists are tight or inaccessible to wrap around, the backs of the hands can slap together rather than the palms of the hands.  This will be helpful for those dealing with tendinitis, wrist pain, or tennis elbow.
• If shoulders are tight or the muscles of the arms are simply too big, wrapping the arms around each other might be simply impossible.  An alternative would be to place each hand on the opposing shoulder in a self-hug, gaining all the benefits of self-nurturing and working to open the heart by pulling the shoulders back.