Yoga is an ancient form of Hindu discipline which is originated in India and aims at strengthening and bringing inner peace to your mind, body and spirit. With the help of meditation and physical workout involving stretching or contorting your limbs, Yoga helps you to maintain a healthy state of body and mind. A Yoga disciple regularly practices many Asanas or Yoga postures in order to keep their body strong, healthy and also attain a balance between their mind and body.
Each Yoga posture varies in design and objective and it depends upon the disciple’s ability to perform these postures comfortably and at ease. The Bridge pose is one such Yoga posture which needs the disciple to depict the image of a bridge with their body. Known as Setu Bandhasana in Sanskrit, the term itself means the construction of a bridge as “Setu” means bridge, “Bandha” means lock and as mentioned earlier, Asana means posture.
The main objective of Setu Bandhasana or the bridge pose is to promote relaxation and reduce stress. Although practicing this posture helps in stretching your entire body but most of the work is done by your legs and hips. If you do some work which often results in tired feet or you frequently get tired feet for other reasons, then this Bridge pose of Yoga is most suitable for you as it can rejuvenate your tired feet and provide you with more energy. However, the Bridge pose along with other poses like Shoulderstand and Plough should be performed only by advanced students of Yoga as lack of experience or knowledge can lead to serious injuries sometimes.
How to perform the Bridge Pose
If you observe other Yoga practitioners performing the Bridge pose, it may look very simple and easy and may hardly seem to deliver any stretch to the body. But, in reality, performing this pose may be very painful at the beginning due to its rigorous physical stretching. However, there are three main steps to exercise this pose and they are as follows:
Step 1
Lie on your back and bent the knees while keeping your feet together. Then keep your arms onto our sides while keeping your palms flat against the floor.
Step 2
Keeping your palms and feet flat against the floor, try to lift your hips upward towards the ceiling.
Step 3
While maintaining your previous position described in Step 2, lift your arms and move them over your head.
Practicing the Bridge pose regularly will help in toning your muscles and will also strengthen your spinal column. You can also perform this posture by using some props like a pillow, a chair or any kind of tool that can support your legs or your back while you stretch.
