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Every time a teacher cues Eagle Pose—a robust stretch on your shoulders and upper back—it tends to elicit groans of frustration from a few of us, sighs of relief from others. The normal bind is a robust method to lengthen the muscles that develop into tight after we’re sitting at a desk all day, including the lats, rhomboids, subscapularis, infraspinatus, supraspinatus, teres minor, and the trapezii.

Although we typically practice this arm bind only in Garudasana, there are multiple ways to include it into other postures—and in ways in which stretch other hard-to-target areas beyond the shoulders and upper back.

Find out how to come into Eagle arms

First, discover a version of Eagle arms that works on your body. Raise your arms straight in front of you so that they’re parallel to one another and to the mat. Cross your right arm over your left in front of you along with your elbows stacked. Bend your elbows and reach your fingers toward the ceiling. Bring the backs of your hands toward one another. When you are able, proceed to wrap your arms around one another and let your left fingers rest against the inside your right palm for the total bind.

When you’re feeling intense discomfort or your body doesn’t need to move in this manner, cross your arms at your elbows and rest your hands on opposite shoulders. You’ll still profit from a shoulder stretch.

8 creative ways so as to add Eagle arms to your yoga practice

Spirals

Adding a circular motion while your arms are in Eagle position not only opens the shoulders but lets you stretch your side body. To derive essentially the most profit, circle in the wrong way of whichever arm is on top of the bind.

Teacher Tip: Movement methods, corresponding to spirals, are best introduced originally of sophistication from a better posture so as for college kids to achieve an awareness and understanding of it before you introduce the movement in a more difficult posture that requires more coordination. For instance, teach spirals in Sukhasana at first of a category so that they can develop into conversant in it before you introduce spirals in Goddess later.

(Photo: Sarah White)

1. Sukhasana Spirals (Easy Pose With Circles

Begin in a cross-legged position. Find your Eagle wrap. Straighten your spine and push your elbows away out of your body. Begin to lower your elbows toward your left side and let your upper body follow. Let your elbows travel down and across the front of the mat after which rise in your right side as you come back to your starting position. Repeat as again and again as you are feeling your body needs, perhaps even holding yourself in stillness in a selected area that feels needed within the body. Then, after all, repeat on the other side.

(Photo: Sarah White)

2. Utkata Konasana Spirals (Goddess Pose)

Begin facing the long side of the mat along with your feet wide apart. Turn your heels in and toes out in preparation on your Goddess. Tuck your tailbone barely, bend your knees, and shift your weight toward the outer edges of your feet. Bring your arms straight in front of you and find your Eagle wrap. Push your elbows away and start to drop them toward your left side. Let the elbows guide your upper body toward the ground, through center in a forward bend, after which back up along the best side of your body, keeping Goddess legs your complete time. Repeat for a couple of cycles. In case your legs tire, you possibly can straighten them as your elbows go through the highest of the movement and rebend before you progress toward the left. Then, after all, repeat with the other bind. This will be done immediately or whenever you return to Goddess while practicing the left side of your sequence.

Flexion and extension

Combining Eagle arms with the motion of flexing and lengthening your spine can assist you to open your back and front body. It may also assist you to discover a greater awareness of your hip flexors. How? Let me show you.

(Photo: Sarah White)

3. Vajrasana (Kneeling Pose) with Flexion and Extension 

Begin by sitting in your heels along with your spine straight and upright and find your Eagle wrap. Push your elbows forward and away out of your body and lift them toward the ceiling. Take the pelvis into an anterior tilt by sticking your butt out, and arch your back to your maximum extension. Pause after which draw your elbows down toward the ground whilst you tuck your tailbone under in a posterior pelvic tilt and round your upper back. Do that as again and again as you are feeling crucial before switching the arms. Repeat along with your other arm on top.

Tip: If Vajrasana isn’t comfortable for you, try sitting on a block or as an alternative come to a cross-legged position.

(Photo: Sarah White)

4. Anjaneyasana (Low Lunge) with Flexion and Extension

Come right into a Low Lunge along with your right foot forward and your left knee on the mat. Lift your chest and actively engage your legs to maintain from sinking too heavily into your lunge. You may do that by energetically pulling your right heel toward the back of  the mat and your left knee forward. Bring your arms straight in front of you, and cross your right arm over your left to seek out your Eagle wrap. (Notice we’re using the arm opposite the front leg.) Begin to lift your elbows away out of your body and arch through the spine as you sink deeper into the front knee.  Pause after which reverse the motion. As you draw your elbows back in toward your navel, push into your right heel to lift your hips and tuck the pelvis. You’ll find not only flexion but in addition some hip flexor love. Wish to feel more? Tuck your back toes but keep your left knee down and actively press your back big toe into the mat whenever you round your back. Repeat this on the left side.

(Photo: Sarah White)

5. Ashta Chandrasana (High Lunge) Flexion and Extension

Come into High Lunge along with your right leg forward. Bring your arms straight in front of you, cross your right arm over your left, and bend at your elbows to seek out your Eagle wrap. (Notice we’re using the other arm to the leg that’s in front.) Keeping your hips square, raise your elbows up and lift your chest to seek out extension within the spine. Pause here after which begin the journey into flexion. Draw your elbows down toward the navel, bend your left knee toward the mat, and push into the ground along with your back big toe, finding that hip flexor love over again!

Take a couple of repetitions before repeating on the left hand side.

(Photo: Sarah White)

6. Humble Warrior with Eagle Arms

Begin in Virabhadrasana I (Warrior 1 Pose) along with your right foot forward. Square your hips toward the front of the mat and keep your left heel grounded. Find your Eagle wrap. (Notice we’re using the other arm because the leg that’s in front.) Actively push your elbows away from the body and start to attract them toward the ground. You would like your upper body to come back inside your right thigh with little to no weight placed on the thigh itself. Try to maintain your hips as stable and square as possible.

Forward Folds

Taking Eagle arms in forward folds lets you find much more length within the spine. When you’re in your fold, concentrate on drawing your elbows away out of your chest and toward the mat for an increased stretch within the rhomboids, delts and spine.

Tip: Because you’re specializing in spinal length and never a hamstring stretch, bend your knees as much as you would like in these poses. Letting the hamstrings release lets you feel a more intense stretch within the spine.

(Photo: Sarah White)

7. Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) with Eagle Arms

Come to face on the front of the mat along with your feet hip-width apart. Bring your arms into  your Eagle wrap and slowly hinge at your hips in a standing forward fold, bending your knees as much as needed. When you’ve found a depth suitable for you, actively reach your elbows toward the mat. Repeat along with your opposite arm on top.

(Photo: Sarah White)

8. Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend) with Eagle Arms  

Begin facing the long side of the mat along with your legs wide and your feet parallel to 1 other. Find your Eagle wrap. Keep the bind as you slowly hinge at your hips into your forward fold, bending your knees as much as needed. When you’ve found a depth suitable for you, actively push your elbows toward the ground. Repeat this motion again with the other arm on top, either immediately or later in your sequence.

About our contributor

Sarah White is a seamless education provider based in Dubai. Her creative sequencing style is born from her own curiosity and exploration of the human body and lots of other movement disciplines. To learn more about Sarah, her courses, or upcoming Sequencing Teacher Trainings, try withsarahwhite.com or follow her on instagram @Sar_white.