What’s a Garuda?

A divine mix of eagle and human - Garuda has a wing span large enough to cross the expanse of the universe. In Yoga, the pose of Garuda - garudasana - opens the shoulder girdle — particularly useful to address neck and shoulder tension, and general modern stress. The metaphor of stretching out our wings — learning to lift up and out of our of habits of compression and/or joint mis-alignment — guides us profoundly on our path of healing.

What is healing?

The damaging effects of modern stress — how it gathers in the physical body - and accumulates into injury — can be addressed on many levels through the application of yoga. Yoga is about balancing physical alignment with states of the mind — and in the process learning about the breath and meditation. World renound healer Yogachara BKS Iyengar writes that "health is the perfect equilibrium of the body and mind, intellect, and soul."

"Health is like the flowing water of a river, always fresh and pure, in a constant state of flux."

The Tibetan thangkha featured here depicts Garuda in wonderful combination with the mystical Snow Lion, along with 2 other difficult to imagine combonations: a fish head with a lion’s body - and a magical dragon sailing in a lowly ocean shell. Held together, these images hint at a deep and dynamic way of understanding health - through the balance of our own odd, even opposite habits and desires - - - a yin-yang of mind-body-spirit — we find a dynamic guide to creating the flow of health in our lives.

Continue this discussion with Senior Iyengar Instructor Ramanad Patel . . .

Who is Garuda Healing?

We are yoga practitioners from the larger Iyengar yoga community around Mary Lou Weprin and Donald Moyer, at the Berkeley Yoga Room, San Francisco Bay Area .

We have taught Yoga in a number of Bay Area venues:

Yoga for Reptitive Stress Injuries — at the Stanford Research Center, Palo Alto; for the Alameda County Social Workers’ Retreats; and even at the local Berkeley business of Nabolom Bakery.

Furthermore, one-on-one yoga sessions, designed around individual problems are also offered - for those with special needs, or a pressing busy schedule - or simply for those who learn better in a private setting.

Finally, each year we make time to organize Yoga and healing retreats - for both various groups in different settings, and smaller retreats at local hot springs.

 email jim at garudahealing@yahoo.com