Bridge Pose: Holistic Benefits

Bridge Pose is a beautiful, heart-opening pose that offers incredible benefits for body, mind, and spirit. It can be done with a range of modifications and variations, making it available to all students, from beginner to advanced.

Bridge practice can ease menstrual pain, stimulate the adrenal glands and kidneys, and instill creativity and love. It’s an empowering pose that anyone can use. But it is especially effective for women who are tired and uninspired.

How-To

Bend your knees while lying on your back and place your feet soles on the mat. Bring your feet as close to your tailbone as possible so that you can reach out and touch your heels.

While lifting your pelvis and tucking in the tailbone, engage your core and quads. Keep your hands firmly on the ground or interlace your fingers underneath the tailbone while pressing the outside edges of your forearms into the mat.

To protect your lower back, push up from the chest. Avoid tension in the neck and keep it long.

Modifications

Place a block beneath the tailbone if this causes too much pressure on the lower spine. This is a great modification for restoring your back.

Practice this pose with bolsters to make it even more relaxing. One bolster should run from the shoulders to the knees and the other under the feet.

Benefits

Here are some holistic benefits you can gain from Bridge Pose once you learn how to perform and modify it.

Menstrual Relief

It is best to take it easy and reduce your yoga practice during your month. We need to allow our bodies to do the hard work of eliminating toxins that have built up over some time. Stressing our bodies at this time, or throughout the entire month, will make period symptoms worse. It is important not to completely invert your body when menstruating, as this will disrupt the natural flow.

It is, therefore, extremely beneficial to practice a vital Bridge version during this week. By placing a block or bolsters under your tailbone, your abdominal, pelvis, and hips can relax completely. It helps relieve any pressure or obstructions to detoxification. This will ease pressure on the lower back and any discomfort that you may experience.

Relax completely by spending 2 to 3 minutes on this bridge while deep breathing.

Increased energy and creativity

Many women today share a common trait: they are exhausted.

Most women have a busy schedule, juggling kids, high-pressure jobs, and trying to maintain a healthy and fit lifestyle. Although these are all good uses of time, many women forget to take time out for themselves and do something they enjoy.

Stretching our creative muscles is just as important as our physical muscles. Creativity brings vitality and excitement into our lives. This in turn helps us to feel better physically.

Poses like Bridges that stimulate the adrenals can help us to be energized and motivated. This boost is needed to get us through the day and also to make room for creativity. Bridge is an excellent way to stimulate your creative side.

Open the Heart Chakra

The heart chakra is located in the middle part of the chest.

If our heart chakra closes, we may feel angry, bitter, or lonely. This chakra opens the door to forgiveness and a greater capacity to love yourself and others.

Love is the key to happiness. Hatred lives in us when we feel anger or hate towards others, even if they are people we do not know. When we find ways to show love to everyone we meet, this love shines brightly in us.

Bridge is often used at the end of yoga to make use of an open body and begin to transition into a relaxed state. This is a great way to find strength, stillness, and surrender.

You can lift your spirits, open your heart to love, and inspire yourself by incorporating the various variations in your month according to your moods or cycles.