About Eka Pada Galavasana

Eka Pada Galavasana is dedicated to Galava, one of Visvamitra’s pupils. This pose is literally dedicated to the yoga student!

Eka Pada Galavasana may be a pose honoring the yoga student, but many yogis struggle to achieve its full expression. Although the hand and arm placement is similar to other arm balances, the leg and foot placement is unlike any other pose. The foot literally wraps around the opposite upper arm and is a key component to achieving stability in this pose.

This arm balance requires completely understanding the energetic flow of power from the focal point at the heart moving to the floor to help you ground and then the shift of this power back up to the core and out through the back leg. The deep hip opener makes for a compact feel to the pose. This shift is something that needs to be practiced to understand it both physically and energetically.

In Eka Pada Galavasana, your shin is literally hugging up into your body and there is a compact feeling in the pose. From this deeply compact place there arises a powerful cord of energy (Galava is also the name for ‘cord’) that stretches out to lift the back leg.

The practice of yoga is literally a challenge of drawing deeply into yourself and then trusting that when you do extend out to something bigger, you will be offered a taste of real freedom and grace. Eka Pada Galavasana helps us learn to marry strength with trust to achieve the freedom and grace that we all seek.

This pose is very rewarding and is extremely empowering once you realize you really can fly. We want to ensure that practitioners of all levels experience that flight, even if you need to be supported along the way. After all, this pose is dedicated to the student of yoga, not the master of yoga.

Happy flying all yoga students!

The Eka Pada Galavasana video & Companion Guide can be found in our store.