ēka pāda ūrdhva dhanurāsana at the Taj Mahal. Author’s photo.

Poetry, Yoga

Eka Pada Urdhva Dhanurasana*

One-footed wheel pose — a yoga poem

Caught between the earth and the sky,
I fly with the wind, my heart pounding
with the high of arching backwards
to the ground.

The sound of my pulse rushes through
my ears. My breath rises with a tide
of joy, as I spread my fingers wide,
riding the currents of bliss bubbling
up from within.

The skin on my abdomen stretches
taught, the sinews beneath fraught
with the task of building a bridge.

I am a conduit.

I am a force.

And for a few moments, I am a link
between now and forever, a tether
to the wisdom of the ages, to the sages
who practiced this pose in the depths
of the forest, those who implored the divine mother
to imbue them with health and, maybe,
immortality.

Breathe, I tell myself. And I walk in
a little tighter, lifting my extended leg
a little…