Maybe it’s autumn, maybe it’s my current serene state of mind, fair & balanced, but I’m all about incorporating the Balancing Series into my practice these days.
So, if you’re looking to cultivate strength, balance and open-ness… look no further! The Balancing Series provides you with a well-rounded and challenging set of postures to help you achieve all three!
It’s a personal favourite of mine, and one that I look forward to as I’m sweating through the warrior series in anticipation of the sweet serenity and focused stillness of standing on one foot.
I know it may not be everybody’s cup of tea. Balancing postures, while providing a beautiful payoff, require a heck of a lot in return. Passive it ain’t. You will work… your. butt. off! Heh heh.
But, truly, the balancing postures embody the foundations of yoga and are so worth getting to know better despite the degree of physical endurance. The rewards extend, literally, from head to toe and I encourage you to incorporate it, in part or in full, regularly into any practice.
In an effort to spread the Balance word, breaking the postures down to their manageable parts, I’ll cover each of the poses in the next several posts.
The first posture of the series, Eagle- or Garudasana- can be entered into from Mountain Pose or Chair, depending on your strength and level of energy on any given day…
I typically extend my arms for a desperate lovely, joyous, inspired inhale as I extend my arms (necessary to facilitate the open-ness through the back needed to cross the arms) to the side before crossing them directly in front of my face, right over left to start. Once the arms are positioned, comfortably crossed, I bend the knees and cross the left knee over the right, keeping knees bent throughout the posture.
In fact, once the limbs are comfortably placed, the posture can be intensified by trying to lift the elbows, keeping the forearms straight up and down.
Once established in the posture, to remain, demands gently your presence… there’s no room for thinking about grocery lists, who’s got to be where after school, or the fight you had with your husband that morning… ahem. OK, maybe that’s just me.
In Eagle, as in yoga generally speaking, there really no space to think of all that extraneous stuff that tends to pollute our minds. To ge the most out fo Garudasana, you have to find a point of focus and breathe into it, with ease and lightness, embracing the pull across the back and shoulders as well that through the hips.
Keeping the gaze fixed and soft, likely through the narrow gap between the forearms, keep the breaths deep and even for a count of five. On the final exhale, deepen the bend in the knees and then unwind the arm and leg from there, standing back to Mountain Pose.
Next up… Extended Hand-To-Big-Toe Pose (with modifications) or Utthita Hasta Padangustasana.
If you’d like more information from the higher authority to which I defer, please take a more thorough read….
