Eagle Pose/Garudasana: Take a Stance

In the Baptiste yoga sequence, it is in this pose where we finally stand straight and strong, with our gaze fixed steadily ahead.

It always amazes me how different my gaze is at this point than it was when I walked into the room. All the movement and breath and coming into my body brings me to a place of calm and focus. But there is an energy to it. It’s the pose, for me, where I feel alive and free, and at the same time focused. In Eagle Pose -- our arms at first seem like an obstacle. In order to set our gaze and access the feeling of equanimity, we need to see clearly both what is in our way and what is beyond.

Eagle Pose marks an experience I want to re-conjure off the mat. Because it is here, when we finally stand up and take our stance, that I feel powerful and radiant.

It reminds me why I practice yoga:

Yoga makes me more equipped to contribute and fight for what matters in the world - equity, social justice, the future of the planet.

It makes me more equipped because:

-- Yoga is a practice that reminds me to choose feeling, engagement and awakening.

-- Yoga pierces the numbness I carry to cope with today's political reality.

-- Yoga has me ground down, flow, and breathe to process the collective trauma we are all experiencing.

-- Yoga allows me to access my best self and floods me with activist empathy for everyone who does not have the same opportunities.

It's not for the faint of heart and it's never about boot camps, bikini bods and booties. It's about everyone's right and responsibility to take a stance.