Eagle pose is named after a mighty bird Garuda who's story can be found in the first book of the Mahabharata. Garuda the Almighty would bring nectar to earth from the heavens. When Garuda hatched from his egg he was a raging inferno equal to the cosmic conflagration that consumes the world. Garuda was too Big to stay in this energetic inferno & so the Gods begged him to have mercy & in his mercy & love Garuda reduced himself in size and energy.
In essence, each of us holds a little bit of Garuda energy inside us. We are more than our bodies we are spiritual beings larger than life, & grandeur than we can ever begin to fully comprehend & once we are born into this human world, we reduce ourselves in size and energy. Our physical bodies limiting to our innate spiritual capabilities & potential. In connecting with your 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 down to our earth as Garuda teaches us.
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 / INFUSION / balancing of our yin and yang... equalizing sthira and sukha. Physical balance of eagle pose on one leg will not occur until you balance effort with grace. Spread your wings like an Eagle & soar into your YOUniverse inside of you ..
