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How To Teach Eagle Pose (Garudhasana)

You need strength, flexibility, endurance, and concentration for Eagle Pose which makes it a perfect Peak Pose.

Teach The Sanskrit

Don’t be afraid to teach how to pronounce the Sanskrit name, and what it means.

You pronounce Garudhasana gah-rue-DAHS-anna.

Garuda in English means the mythic king of the birds, the vehicle of Vishnu. The word in English is “eagle,” though it also means “devourer,” because Garuda was originally identified with the all-consuming fire of the sun’s rays.

Pick An Eagle Symbol

To spice up your next Yoga class, consider having Eagle Pose as your peak pose, and weave eagle symbolism into your yoga lesson plan.

1. Action
2. Authority
3. Community
4. Command
5. Control
6. Determination
7. Dominance
8. Efficiency
9. Focus
10. Freedom
11. Guardianship
12. Inspiration
13. Judgment
14. Liberation
15. Masculinity
16. Opportunity
17. Power
18. Protection
19. Ruler
20. Skill
21. Vision

Below are seven examples of eagle symbolism (from above), to get you started.  Use one of them in your next eagle peak pose yoga lesson plan.

1. Communication
As rulers of the sky, the eagle is connected with the air element, which symbolizes communication.

2. Efficiency
Eagles are opportunistic. They’re skilled hunters, but they go about gaining their food in ways that are more efficient than hunting, eating what’s already been killed. The symbolism here could be to work smarter not harder, or that less is sometimes more.

3. Focused Change
The eagle teaches us to use our abilities in a laser-like fashion to bring about focused change in our lives.

4. Fly Higher
Give yourself permission to fly higher.

5. Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover
in spite of its enormous size, the eagle still takes flight seemingly effortlessly.

6. Grounded By Limitation
Don’t allow the illusion of limitation to ground you in your flight.

7. Streamlined
An eagle is streamlined, sleek, and chiseled. Yoga helps the body to become streamlined, sleek, and chiseled.

Modifications

Arm Variation I: Hug Yourself
Bring your arms together and give yourself a hug. Stack your elbows and press them together as you wiggle your arms in tight to the body. For more sensation of Eagle Pose, lift your elbows.

Arm Variation I: Strap
Take a strap into your right hand. Hold the middle of the strap so you have two tails hanging down. Hold right arm straight out in front of you (knuckles facing the ceiling), and then bend your right elbow to 90 degrees. Reach your left arm out to the side with your palm facing forward. Bring left arm under the right. Move your elbows together until they feel like they are on top of each other. Bend left arm 90 degrees. Reach up. Catch the right tail of the strap. Use the leverage of the strap to move your elbows together so that they’re even more stacked, bringing your hands closer together. Create resistance to activate your upper back and arm muscles by pulling on the strap. For more of an Eagle Pose sensation, lift your elbows.

Big Toe
If you find it hard to hook the raised-leg foot behind the standing-leg calf, instead of hooking the raised foot and calf, press the big toe of the raised-leg foot against the mat to help maintain your balance.

Bow
Bow forward and bring your bottom elbow to touch your top knee.

Chair
Set up your Eagle Pose next to a chair, to help with balance. Later, when you’ve gained confidence, let go of the chair.

Eagle Arms
Practice just the arms of the pose (Eagle Arms).

Elbows I: Hold your elbows high and in line with your shoulders.

Elbows II: Draw your elbows down toward the floor.

Hook
Hook the top of the foot behind the lower right calf.

Foot on Block
To help with balance, rather than tucking your top foot behind your calf, rest the ball of the top-leg foot on a yoga block.

Palm Together Variation I
Instead of pressing your palms together, hold your left thumb with your right fingers.

Palm Together Variation II
Instead of pressing your palms together, place the backs of your hands against each other.

Standing Pigeon
Shift weight into your right foot and lift your left foot, crossing your left thigh over your right thigh. Bend your left knee and take hold of your left foot with the right hand. Bend your right knee. Sit back into the pose.

Wall 
Practice against a wall. Stand with your back to the wall, so the wall supports your back torso as you practice the pose. Later, when you’ve gained confidence, move away from the wall.

Variations

Pose variations help your students grow and build further confidence in their yoga practice no matter what their starting ability levels are.

Don’t worry!

Picking pose variations is easy with the Yoga Genie Lesson Planner when you use our “pose filtering” feature.

For example, if you are giving your students a deep backbend pose such as Wheel Urdhva Dhanurasana Pose, you’ll click the backbend filter. With that one click over 100 backbends will be presented to you. All you have to do is single click on a pose to add it to the yoga lesson plan. Easy peasy. You might end up choosing the following gentle backbends: Staff Backbend Pose, Upward Facing Dog Urdhva Mukha Svanasana Pose, Seated Cat Cow Sukhasana Pose, and Heart Opener With Partner Pose.

Picking pose variations is probably the most important job of a yoga teacher. Instead of making it a hard job, use the Yoga Genie Lesson Planner pose filtering feature, to make it easy.

Below are 100+ pose variations of Eagle Pose (balance poses) to give you ideas for your next yoga class. 

Seated Balance Poses

If using the Eagle pose symbolism these “seated balance poses” could be when the eagle is perched in a tree.

Boat Navasana Pose

Both Big Toes Ubhaya Padangusthasana Pose

Compass Surya Yantrasana Pose

Cow Hold Foot Bitilasana Pose

Crow Bakasana Pose

Double Closed Lotus Padma Pindasana Pose

East Stretch Purvottanasana Pose

Half Shoulderstand Ardha Sarvangasana Pose

Shoulderstand Sarvangasana Pose

Standing Balance Poses

If using the Eagle pose symbolism these “standing balance poses” could be when the eagle is flying high.

Bird Of Paradise Svarga Dvijasana Pose

Chair With Arms Behind Utkatasana Pose 

Figure Four Eka Pada Utkatasana Pose

Fig Tree Ashvatthasana Pose

Foot Shaking I Dru Yoga Pose 

Foot Shaking II Dru Yoga Pose 

Foot Shaking III Dru Yoga Pose 

Click here for 100+ more Balance Poses