| setu bandha sarvangasana
how to do the little bridge
- Lie down on your back and relax. Feel what it's like to be supported by the floor.
- Bend your knees and place your feet on the floor, hip-distance apart. Keep your hips, knees and feet aligned throughout the pose. (The knees may have a tendency to splay.)
- Place your arms at your sides on the floor, or bend them at the elbows with the fingers pointing toward the ceiling, palms facing each other.
- Firm your legs and buttocks. Slowly lift your hips and back. Begin the movement at the base of the spine, raising each vertebra one by one.
- Create a smooth bridge supported by your legs and shoulders. An option is to clasp your hands beneath your back, to further open the chest.
- Hold the pose and breathe.
- To return, lower the upper back, then place each vertebra on the floor in a flowing sequence, as if the spine were a strand of pearls. Keep your legs strong until your entire back is on the floor, then stretch out the legs and relax.
- The Little Bridge can also be used as a wonderful warm-up by lifting and lowering the spine without holding the raised position. Move slowly and with awareness, massaging the back.
reflections
1. Bring to mind the words "little bridge." Write your associations - words, thoughts, images. Take one of your associations into the pose and observe your physical and emotional responses. What do these observations tell you about yourself?
2. Do the Little Bridge, asking yourself, How do I create structure in my life?
3. What do you need to bridge in your life? Are there two areas that need to come together? Reflect as you do the pose. Write your observations.
This material is provided courtesy of ascent magazine.
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