So let's have a look at the eagle pose or Garudasana. In Sanskrit, it is called Garudasana
Asan or Asana means posture.
By the way, sometimes you hear asan or sometimes asana its just a matter of pronunciation in India, like the people from the north, when they asan, the people from the South would say Asana, so either one is correct. Garuda is a mythical bird-like eagle.
This is a balancing pose. Let's see how well we balanced. Standing on your right leg, transferring the weight on the right foot.
Remember to try to keep the toes spread and place the weight evenly on the foot.
Then, put your hands on your hips, or waist and balance, transferring the weight to your right leg. And that will enable you to lift the left foot, and cross the left foot around the right leg. This way, you can go all the way around.
Your hips are still facing the front, open your arms to the sides. This time take your right arm underneath the left arm to twist all the way around the hands together. Take long breaths. And then release your arms. And release your leg, Shut your legs out. That's simple Garudasana.
Let's go through some points. If your balance is still improving, if your students have issues with balance, you can simply cross your foot backward so the toes still are on the floor. You can even do just the legs and work on that. Or you can just do the arms and work on that.
Now I'm going to explain to you from the side. The tailbone is pointing in the same direction. You are not reaching back and not reaching the front. Wrap one leg around the other leg and now try to sit down as low as you can and take elbows up towards the face. Nice variation.
Another variation is to release your arms and go into a crow pose Bakasana from here.
So a little note on the arms in Garudasana as long as you're even on both sides doesn't really matter. But here's how you can remember it. Whatever leg is crossing. Then you should have the opposite arm underneath, you will feel more balanced this way. But you can try it out and see what works for you.
Now another check for the arms instead of one arm underneath. Some people prefer cactus arms and bring them together and then you instruct which arm goes on top. So in this case, the left arm goes on top and Places the palms together.
Just remind the students to keep their palms straight. A lot of the time they're doing something with their arms and they're not using their fingers, so the energy is not flowing through the fingers. They're concentrating on something else, maybe on their balance. Maybe on the lower leg too much. But here you have to concentrate on all of your body.