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Buddha Bose teaches two versions of Eagle. The first, for beginners, involves wrapping only the legs (pictured above left). The arms are relatively uninvolved, allowing the practitioner to focus on balance in this tricky position. The second version includes the arms, twisting them together while the legs are still locked on themselves (pictured above right).
The origin of its name, Garuda, is somewhat of a mystery. It is hard to imagine any sort of eagle or bird when looking at the shape of the posture. Dr. Gouri Shankar Mukerji sheds a little light on it. “Garudasana is named after Garuda, the Indian mythological bird. Garuda, the king of birds, has a trick of attacking in a coiled form. Maybe that is why the asana is named as it is.”
The word garuda also means eagle in Sanskrit. Most often, this posture is called Eagle.
