Bridge Pose: Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

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 primary weblog on the right way to observe 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 cause, 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 an important yoga pose, nevertheless it’s additionally an essential pose in power coaching routines. Bridge Pose confers so many advantages. Listed below are just a few:

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

Cautions and Contraindications

Like all yoga poses, Bridge Pose could be contraindicated in sure circumstances. If you’re at the moment experiencing a neck and/or shoulder damage, it is perhaps finest to keep away from Setu Bandha Sarvangasana till you’re healed. In a future submit, I’ll share a variation of Bridge Pose that is perhaps okay to observe with a neck challenge.

You may additionally 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 girls who expertise an interruption of their regular circulation. This could result in cramping and subsequent “flooding.” (I used to be in a position to observe Setu Bandha on my interval for years. Then sooner or later, I skilled these signs, and it was extremely disagreeable!)

Easy methods to Put together to Follow Bridge Pose

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

Listed below are just a few recommendations for potential warm-up poses. After all, a pair rounds of Surya Namaskar (Solar Salutations) might work as properly:

Easy methods to Follow Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

1. Lie in your again on a nonskid Yoga Mat.
2. Bend your knees and place the soles of your ft 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 in an effort to start to elevate your again off the ground. Maintain 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 choose extending outward by means of my legs to elevate into the pose, relatively than merely pushing up with my glutes. I’ve discovered that after I push up with my glutes, I overextend my hip joints, which might, 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 perimeters after I merely push up with my glutes. This doesn’t occur after I isometrically lengthen my knees outward from my pelvis. You most likely gained’t elevate as excessive as you’ll by pushing into your hip joints, however lifting excessive isn’t the purpose! Working towards sustainably is much extra essential.
8. Rock facet to facet onto the tops of your shoulders and clasp your fingers beneath you. In case your elbows bend whenever you clasp your fingers, observe together with your arms parallel on the ground. You can even maintain a Yoga Strap between your fingers 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, lengthen your arms out overhead, alongside the ground and slowly decrease your backbone down onto the ground, lengthening as you go. Repeat when you like.

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and started instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Conscious Yoga, Conscious Life: A Information for On a regular basis Follow and Yoga for Meditators, each revealed by Rodmell Press. Her third guide 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 people sextet Purple Rock Rondo, whose DVD gained two Emmy awards in 2010.