The myth of Garuda, Eagle pose Garudasana

Lord Vishnu carried by Garuda

CREATING GARUDASANA

Start in tadasana, standing with your feet parallel and hip width apart, your arms at your sides, and the crown of your head rising toward the ceiling. Widen your peripheral vision.

1. On an inhale, raise your arms to shoulder level with palms facing up.
2. Exhale, bring your right arm under your left so that they are stacked with the left elbow on top.
3. Bend your elbows so that the backs of the forearms are parallel, with the backs of the hands facing one another. Wrap your forearms around each other, align the wrist with palms and extend fingers up. Press your forearms in opposite directions. Notice the space created across your "wings" (shoulder blades).
4. Bend your knees, sit in chair pose, and shift your weight to your left foot.
5. Cross your right leg over your left above the knee.
6. Wrap your right foot behind your left lower leg, and see if you can hook it over the left calf or ankle, or simply by your ankle on the floor. If you cannot bear full weight through one side, do not wrap the legs. Instead, keep your feet parallel. Balance. On inhale, lengthen the spine and draw your navel back and up. Breathe. Imagine that you're an eagle poised on the edge of a rock, still to all outward appearances, but intensely active and alert inwardly.
7. Breathe smoothly. Lift through the base of your skull. Lean slightly forward from your hip crease, keeping chest lifted. Continue to press your forearms in opposite directions, widening through your shoulder blades. Focus your gaze at your palms, like an eagle sighting before soaring.

Acknowledge the qualities of softness or hardness in your body, your eyes, and your breath. Can you be soft and focused at the same time? Can you keep your muscles active and your breath soft? Experiment with breathing into the back of your lower lungs, expanding the ribs like wings on the inhalation. Breathe like a gliding Eagle!

Remain in this pose for 30 to 60 seconds, then return to tadasana.

Repeat with the left arm on under and the left leg on top.

REFLECTIONS IN GARUDASANA

Garuda is the transportation of Vishnu, the sustainer/preserver/protector of all Creation. Contemplate what it means to preserve and sustain. What qualities would you need to be the vehicle of the preserver? How do you breathe as the vehicle of preservation? How does that energy feel in your muscles and bones?

Try the pose again. As you sustain it, let your awareness pervade every part of your body, especially your joints, knees hips, elbows then your breath, your sense organs, being equally present. When you find any part of your attention wavering, renew your commitment to being present. Where is this most challenging?

Inquire: when ego-related ideas threaten to disrupt your focus, how do you muster the Garuda-energy to protect it? Compassion. As the saying goes, you lose the battle but win the war. Ponder on this for a moment. Have you ever struggled in a difficult situation and thought you'd failed, only to find later that the end result was much, much better than you could have expected?