The 3 Benefits You Will Enjoy When Practicing the Bridge Yoga Pose

It is no secret that in order to live a peaceful and at the same time fully-energized life, it is of the essence to regularly exercise. One of the most popular types of exercise today is definitely yoga. Yoga is a holistic art that provides many physical and spiritual benefits for its practitioners. It makes you physically and mentally strong, it brings you serenity and it awakens your spirit while positively affecting your thoughts, behavior, and overall attitude towards life.

One of the most commonly practiced yoga poses is the Bridge and it is the perfect one to learn when entering the wonderful world of yoga. It can be done in a very active, challenging fashion, or in a very passive, supported way. No matter how you choose to practice it, it can certainly bring you some awesome health benefits. Practicing the bridge yoga pose is easy and can be done in the comfort of your home. All you really need for it is a good yoga mat.

When choosing a yoga mat, you need to look beyond your favorite colour and patterns. A good yoga mat should help you stay stable while performing your poses, to be portable and easy to store. You can also choose one that’s environmentally-friendly. The standard yoga mat is made of PVC, it’s about 6mm thick and it’s the preferred choice of most yogis as they prevent slipping. Now let’s take a look at some of the benefits of practicing the bridge pose.

Strengthens Legs and Feet

To practice the bridge pose, your feet need to be hip-distance apart, with your toes pointing straight ahead. While performing this pose, you will be strongly activating your hamstrings to get the elevation in your hips and will also be energetically drawing your thighs in towards one another, which will strengthen your adductor muscles. This pose is also great for training your feet. Pressing them down into the yoga mat to assist your lift will help you in all postures where your feet are on the ground.

Opens Hips

If you have a job that requires you to sit for extended periods of time during the day, know that this can cause an excessive tightening of the hip flexors and an excessive lengthening of the muscles in the lower back. This, over time, may lead to imbalances in the skeletal structure which can be quite painful. Because the bridge posture opens up your hips, it helps to reverse this flexion of the hip flexors by creating length and tension in the needed areas. This is a great pose to do after a long day at the office, or even on your lunch break.

Opens Shoulders

Spending countless hours hunched over a desk or a computer can also cause the shoulders to round and droop forward. With time, this will cause tension in the chest and excessive lengthening, which may lead to the weakening of the muscles in the upper back and neck. As the bridge pose also requires you to press your shoulders firmly into the ground with your extended arms opening the chest and strengthening the upper back, it is very restorative for anyone who notices that they droop in the shoulders.