Yoga Poses: My Experience with Eagle Pose or Garudasana

I remember the first time I heard that word, it was close to 90 days ago and I do not believe I have ever willingly been that hot before and though I did not know it at the time I was not even a third of the way done with my first Bikram yoga class. Additionally, there was a very real possibility that I might pass out (which I did not out of sheer mortification of waking up with a large number of skinny, beautiful women standing over me while I looked a little too much like a beached whale for my comfort)

I had been listening to a friend of mine talk about Bikram yoga for the past six months. Along with talking about the benefits of her yoga practice I saw a number of outward changes. The one that was most apparent was that she was glowing and I mean glowing, life an elf in a Peter Jackson film. I thought that I wanted to glow - glowing and kissing Viggo Mortenson might be worth 90 minutes of my time a day.

The next change was her mood. My dear friend does the same "work" that I do, she is a lawyer with a focus on issues that revolve around child welfare. It is a job that tends to make anyone who chooses to practice this type of law very grumpy very quickly. But not my friend, she was prancing around, glowing and joyful. It was annoying. I also was intrigued.

The third change was her body. Not only was she losing weight but her body shape was changing. Things that should stick out were not only sticking out but they were higher. Places where one is supposed to curve were curving. Her body was becoming a piece of art.

At this point I figured I had a few options.

1. I could stop looking and listening to her and seeing as how I love her and think she is one of the kindest people on the planet this was not realistic. Additionally I work with her so I had to talk to her.
2. I could just say screw it and as I moved into the second half (that is a scary phrase) of my forties I could just let my body slump into the sofa never to work again and accept the fate of achy shoulders and backs and feet and blah blah blah
3. I could go with her to yoga and that is what I did

As of today day 71 I have lost 12 pounds and have lowered by blood pressure. While my skin may not be glowing at a Peter Jackson rate my complexion is clearer then it has ever been. I am sleeping better and while I am nowhere near prancing I do appear to be a little less cranky as my desire to kill people has gone down from 10 plus times a day to maybe only four or five. I may have even had one or two days when I felt at one with the world.

So back to Garudasana/Eagle Pose my favorite. It is my favorite for two reasons the first is that it is the first pose where I am seeing a real improvement. When I first started I could not wrap my arms or legs around themselves. Today I can stand for the full minute with my hands clasped before my face balancing on one leg with my foot behind my calf. For me this is a minor miracle. The second reason is Eagle Pose is right before PARTY TIME and anyone who knows anything about sweating in a Bikram Yoga studio for 90 minutes while the temperature rises to 105 degrees knows how important party time is!

Namaste