Improve Your Balance with the Eagle Pose!

  The Eagle pose helps improve your balance!

Acording to certain schools of thought (as reported in a recent issue of the Yoga Journal), beyond childhood and young adulthood, few of us participate in activities that engage our body's ability to maintain balance.

I have never been very coordinated and haven't tried sports requiring a lot of balance.  I  went water skiing once when I was 19 but could not get above a low squat on the skis. My beau says he wants to get me out on snow ski slopes during the winter but he may have to drag me there... 

Being able to keep your balance and remain upright can be even more significant as you age because, many people in their 70s and beyond are vulnerable to severe injuries and life-threatening falls.  I often fear that my mother, now 82 and who was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in her late 60s, will take a dangerous, incapacitating spill.  She hasn't tried yoga even though she has seen me do yoga since I was 15 and practiced in her living room at night.  I was hoping to lead by example but I can only do so much...

Nevertheless, you can learn  yoga poses such as the Eagle shown above which help improve your balance. Can I always stay in the Eagle for 30 plus seconds without losing my balance a bit?  No - sometimes not!  I had to "practice" photo shooting this pose several times so I could show it to you in the photos below.

But, it feels great when I do and I accept whatever I can do on any given day.  Some days I can balance easily with no problem at all.  Other days I am wobbling back and forth like a trapeze artist on a tightrope for the first time. 

Regardless, the effort I put into the Eagle I believe helps my overall balance, poise, and body awareness. If you haven't already tried to Eagle, see the instructions below and give it a shot!

Eagle (Sanskrit name is Garudasana)

Type of yoga pose:  Standing pose 

Body parts targeted:  Legs, thighs, upper back, hips, knee joints

How to do the pose:

1. Stand erect and focus your eyes on one spot in front of you at eye level.
2. Inhale and shift your weight onto your left leg. With your left leg (which is standing) slightly bent, bend and raise your right leg off the ground.
3. Wrap your right leg around the front of your left standing leg and tuck your right raise foot behind the left knee. To stay balanced, you may need to bend your left standing knee slightly more and it may help to hold out both your arms to your sides, parallel and in an L-shaped angle to keep you balance.

 

1. Next, extend your left arm in front of you and cross your right arm, bent at the elbow, over your left arm at the elbow and gently lock that position so that the right elbow is resting on the left arm at the point where the upper and lower arm meet.
2. Entwine your hands so your right wrist is wrapped around the left wrist and your hands are clasped palm to palm.

 

     1.  Place your forehead on your clasped hands and rest in this pose for a few seconds, keeping your           balance.    

     2. Exhale and gently bend forward, taking at least 5 seconds, until your chest rests on your upper leg          and knee. Keep your arms entwined. As Jess Stearn said in his book, Yoga, Youth, and          Reincarnation, you should look like an American eagle ready to swoop down on its prey.

 

1. Hold the pose for 5 seconds (inhale and exhaling deeply). Then take at least 5 seconds to come up slowly, vertebra by vertebra.  Raise your head last. Gently unclasp your arms and legs.
2. Repeat on the opposite leg.
3. At first, when you are developing the balance and coordination needed to hold the pose, you may have to adjust your balance by gentling touching down the right leg to the floor as you rise up out of the pose.
4. Repeat pose by standing and shifting weight to right leg.

Practice time:  Hold for 5 seconds; add 5 seconds a week until you can hold the bent over position for 20-30 seconds.

Number of repetitions:  1 or 2

Key benefits from this pose: 

 Improves and develops balance, poise, and nerve coordination.

1. Tones legs and thigh muscles.
2. Stretches upper back muscles and hip and knee joints.
3. Helps relieve varicose veins.

 Yours for improving your balance with yoga!

  Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginner's Yoga at Home Coach

 

  ^TM

Also see:  http://www.DoYogaAtHomeNow.com

 

 

 

Yours for improving your balance with yoga,