Bridge Pose: Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

I’ve been writing for Hugger Mugger’s weblog for 14 years—arduous to consider. And it’s equally arduous to consider that in all these years, spanning greater than 900 posts, I’ve by no means written a fundamental weblog on the best 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 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 a vital yoga pose, but it surely’s additionally an vital pose in power coaching routines. Bridge Pose confers so many advantages. Listed below are a number of:

• Stretches hip flexors, a vital motion for countering the ailing 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 follow two hours after a meal)

Cautions and Contraindications

Like all yoga poses, Bridge Pose may be contraindicated in sure instances. In case you are at the moment experiencing a neck and/or shoulder harm, it could be greatest to keep away from Setu Bandha Sarvangasana till you’re healed. In a future submit, I’ll share a variation of Bridge Pose that could be okay to follow with a neck problem.

You may also wish to strategy Bridge Pose with warning if you’re 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 circulation. This will result in cramping and subsequent “flooding.” (I used to be capable of follow Setu Bandha on my interval for years. Then someday, I skilled these signs, and it was extremely disagreeable!)

Put together to Follow 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 embrace: glutes, hip flexors, quadriceps, chest, shoulders, abdominals and neck.

Listed below are a number of solutions for doable warm-up poses. In fact, a pair rounds of Surya Namaskar (Solar Salutations) might work as nicely:

Follow 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 in an effort to start to elevate your again off the ground. Preserve 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 favor extending outward via my legs to elevate into the pose, relatively than merely pushing up with my glutes. I’ve discovered that once 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 once I merely push up with my glutes. This doesn’t occur once I isometrically lengthen my knees outward from my pelvis. You in all probability gained’t elevate as excessive as you’d by pushing into your hip joints, however lifting excessive isn’t the purpose! Practising sustainably is much extra vital.
8. Rock aspect to aspect onto the tops of your shoulders and clasp your palms beneath you. In case your elbows bend while you clasp your palms, follow along with your arms parallel on the ground. You may as well maintain a Yoga Strap between your palms to create a stronger grounding in your arms.
9. Take 5 to 10 deep breaths, enjoyable 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 in the event 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 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 people sextet Pink Rock Rondo, whose DVD gained two Emmy awards in 2010.