I’ve been writing for Hugger Mugger’s weblog for 14 years—laborious to imagine. And it’s equally laborious to imagine that in all these years, spanning greater than 900 posts, I’ve by no means written a fundamental weblog on the right way to follow Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana). In my protection, I’ve written two articles about practising Bridge on a Customary Yoga Bolster, right here and right here. I’ve additionally written about practising Setu Bandha with a Yoga Block. However for some purpose, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana sans props escaped my thoughts.

Bridge Pose Advantages

Bridge Pose is a star amongst yoga poses, and it’s been a staple in my lessons for many years. Not solely is it a vital yoga pose, but it surely’s additionally an essential pose in power coaching routines. Bridge Pose confers so many advantages. Listed here are a number of:

• Stretches hip flexors, a crucial motion for countering the unwell results of an excessive amount of sitting
• Strengthens again muscle tissues, glutes and hamstrings
• Can relieve again pressure
• Promotes improved posture
• Stretches the chest, neck and shoulders
• Calms the nervous system
• Could assist digestion (so long as you follow two hours after a meal)

Cautions and Contraindications

Like all yoga poses, Bridge Pose will be contraindicated in sure instances. If you’re at present experiencing a neck and/or shoulder harm, it is perhaps greatest to keep away from Setu Bandha Sarvangasana till you might be healed. In a future publish, I’ll share a variation of Bridge Pose that is perhaps okay to follow with a neck challenge.

You may also need to method Bridge Pose with warning in case you are within the early, heavy days of your menstrual interval. Many ladies expertise no unwanted side effects from practising Bridge Pose on their interval. However there are some ladies who expertise an interruption of their regular move. This could result in cramping and subsequent “flooding.” (I used to be capable of follow Setu Bandha on my interval for years. Then sooner or later, I skilled these signs, and it was extremely disagreeable!)

Put together to Apply Bridge Pose

Earlier than practising Setu Bandha, it may be useful to heat up the areas of the physique that can be doing a lot of the stretching and strengthening work. These embody: glutes, hip flexors, quadriceps, chest, shoulders, abdominals and neck.

Listed here are a number of strategies for attainable warm-up poses. In fact, a pair rounds of Surya Namaskar (Solar Salutations) may work as properly:

Apply Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

1. Lie in your again on a nonskid Yoga Mat.
2. Bend your knees and place the soles of your toes on the ground.
3. Draw your arms shut in to your sides, then bend your elbows in order that your forearms are vertical.
4. Press your higher arms into the ground, and concurrently arch your low again away from the ground.
5. Lengthen your arms alongside your physique.
6. Lengthen your knees outward, away out of your pelvis with the intention to start to raise your again off the ground. Hold extending your knees outward away out of your pelvis as your pelvis lifts into Bridge Pose. Preserve this outward extension isometrically as you maintain the pose.
7. I want extending outward via my legs to raise into the pose, quite than merely pushing up with my glutes. I’ve discovered that after I push up with my glutes, I overextend my hip joints, which may, over time, put on down the cartilage and labrum. The opposite factor that occurs is that my knees are likely to splay out to the edges after I merely push up with my glutes. This doesn’t occur after I isometrically prolong my knees outward from my pelvis. You in all probability gained’t raise as excessive as you’d by pushing into your hip joints, however lifting excessive isn’t the purpose! Working towards sustainably is way extra essential.
8. Rock aspect to aspect onto the tops of your shoulders and clasp your arms beneath you. In case your elbows bend while you clasp your arms, follow along with your arms parallel on the ground. You can even maintain a Yoga Strap between your arms to create a stronger grounding in your arms.
9. Take 5 to 10 deep breaths, stress-free your neck, throat, jaw and facial muscle tissues.
10. To depart the pose, prolong your arms out overhead, alongside the ground and slowly decrease your backbone down onto the ground, lengthening as you go. Repeat in the event you like.

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and commenced educating in 1986. Charlotte is the creator of Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Apply and Yoga for Meditators, each printed by Rodmell Press. Her third e book is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and folks sextet Pink Rock Rondo, whose DVD gained two Emmy awards in 2010.