BRIDGE POSE IN YOGA: with proper alignment

Transcript

(mellow music) - Hey, my name is Jasmina and I am a yoga teacher at Yyoga. and I am also a yoga
teacher trainer for YYoga. And in this segment, I'm
going to take you through bridge pose. I'm going to give you
four different variations so that you have options to choose what works for your body today. A couple of points, just for safety. Number one, once you get
into your bridge pose, please keep your head nice and still, so you're not turning it side to side, to protect your neck and your upper back. And I'll speak also to the positioning and some of the work in your legs to keep them from splaying apart. And you might want to actually
watch the video first, once, so that you can implement
all of those cues in your own body, so you don't have to turn
your head to the screen to see what I'm saying. So you'll set yourself up. And what's really important
is that you set yourself up in a way where your feet
are planted with intention, feet hip distance apart,
pointed straight forward. We have a tendency to turn our feet out, but here I want you to get really specific about planting your feet and
then fix them into place. Your knees can come
directly over your ankles. I find that slightly
behind them is helpful. You'll have a block. If you don't have a block,
a couple of books will work. Just something that is solid, because for the first
variation I'll show you, I'm going to give you the option to come into a supported bridge pose, which is super sweet. So you'll roll yourself down, put the block on the other side. I'll roll myself down nice
and slow onto my back, and, which is really comfortable, and what you'll do is just make sure that your feet haven't moved and that you haven't
pulled yourself so far back that now your knees are
way behind your ankles. So you might have to move
your pelvis forward slightly. Once you have your eye
gaze fixed to the ceiling, I want you to slide one of
your hands underneath it so that you know that you have
space underneath your neck. So, this is really important. So you want the natural curve
of your neck to be maintained. This applies to every variation that I will guide you through today. This option for supported bridge, we'll have you take your
block or your books, have them nearby, and all you'll do is you'll press your feet down and very gently lift your hips up, and you'll slide the block
underneath your pelvis, and you can let yourself
just sink into it, without moving your feet,
without moving your head. I like to keep my arms
just alongside my body. And you can take as many
breaths as you'd like here. Maybe start with five. So that's option one. You will lift your hips,
slide the block out, and roll yourself down. Next option is you'll take the block, and to train your legs and to strengthen the
inner lying of your legs, your abductor muscles, you'll take this block and you'll place it in between your inner thighs, so not your knees. Sometimes I have students
that take their block too far or too low, so find
a place that's comfortable. And, you know, if you're a guy practicing, you might take the block a little wider depending on the size of your
body and what's comfortable. So, place the block and squeeze it gently, don't overdo it, just enough so that the block doesn't drop out when you lift your hips up. Press your feet down. Again, reset your eye gaze, there's still space underneath your neck, and press your feet down and
even your shoulders here, and all you'll do is lift your hips, low back, mid back, upper back. You have an option here to hold onto the long edges of your yoga mat if that feels better for your hands, or walk your hands underneath you and take a little interlacing,
and you can actually very gently guide your
shoulders underneath you. And you'll take a few breaths,
keep squeezing your block. When you're ready, take your hands out, release your arms, from the top of your spine to
the bottom, you'll come out. Once you land, once your hips are down, it's safe for you to move your block. Place it to the side. So, your next option is
to not use any props, which is totally fine. I want you to pay really
close attention to making sure that you don't
over-activate your glutes, which would lead to
your legs coming apart, which can be higher
risk for your lower back and cause compression,
which we don't want. So we want yoga to stay therapeutic. We don't want to hurt our physical bodies. So, it's a mindfulness practice. Pay attention to how
you've planted yourself, feet are still pointing straight forward, knees tracking in line with your ankles. There's, the back of your
head is pressing down and you still have space
underneath your neck. Press your feet down actively. So you'll get a sense here
of your heels and your toes, and press into the
floor to lift your hips, low back, mid back, upper back. Option to hold onto the
long edges of your yoga mat. Option to walk your arms underneath you, interlace your fingers, and very gently walk your
shoulders underneath you. Keep your feet pressing down. Keep the back of your head pressing down. And a refinement now in your bridge pose is with your feet pressing
and fixed into the, into your yoga mat, pull
your feet very gently towards your hands. And after a few breaths,
release your hands, release your arms, and
from the top of your spine to the bottom, lower. You can work any of those variations. The last one is a little more refined, where once you get a little
more kind of connected to your physical body,
you can get more subtle, a little more sensitive. Press your heels down,
and if you don't get it the first time, that's okay,
you'll keep practicing it. It takes a little, a few
times probably to feel it. So press your heels down, take your palms and place them to your outer hips. And as you press your feet down, you can start to scrub your
heels apart from one another. Your feet won't move 'cause
they're fixed in place. What this does for you, and
you might feel it in your body, is your outer hips will engage. So, there's a couple of muscles
outside along the outer hip that will keep your thigh
bones parallel to each other when you recruit your glutes, just enough to help you lift your hips up. So you press your feet down,
scrub them apart energetically, keep that action, make sure
your head's turned straight up, press your feet down, lift your hips, low back, mid back, upper back. You'll notice that my thigh
bones are not splaying apart. Walk your arms underneath
you, interlace your fingers, and here you are in your bridge pose. As I press my feet down,
I continue to pull them towards my hands, towards my shoulders, and I'll get just enough
activation of my back body to open up my front body. When you're ready,
release your hands, arms, and from the top of your spine
to the bottom, you lower. Backbends are amazing, they
strengthen your hamstrings, your glutes, all of the
muscles along your back body, and they open up your quadricep muscles, your hip flexors, and they
get tight if you sit a lot, which we all do, and your abdominals, and of course, your chest. So I hope that those variations, that you will practice them, and thank you for watching. My name is Jasmina and I teach at YYoga.