Are you struggling to lose belly fat? Are you searching for an exercise that will support your weight loss journey? You can practice Setu Bandhasana or the bridge Yoga pose. This will help you shed the extra pounds by boosting calorie loss and hormonal balance.
Known as an effective exercise for weight loss, this Yoga Asana also has many other physical and mental benefits. It’s further effective for activating the throat chakra and balancing many other chakras.
Do you want to know more about the benefits of this physical exercise? Here’s a complete guide for you. However, we will start with brief details about Asana and how we can practice it.
What Is Setu Bandhasana?
Setu Bandhasana, or the bridge pose, is a backward bending pose. So, it helps open the front part of your body. If we want to decode the name of the pose, we will find three parts.
- Setu – Bridge
- Bandha – Lock
- Asana – Pose
The pose is pleasant and firm, like many other Asanas. Also, it targets major muscle groups like the quadriceps, Tibialis Anterior, and hamstrings. So, it makes our legs and abdomen stronger. You will even get a more flexible and functional body if you practice this Asana regularly.
How To Do Setu Bandasana?
Setu Bandasana is a relaxing pose. However, to get the techniques right, you must practice this Asana under expert guidance while doing it for the first time. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide for you.
- First, take a Yoga Mat and lie on it. Then press your hands behind your back.
- Now, slowly bend your knees and try pulling your feet closer to your hips. In this position, your feet should be closer to your hips.
- Then, keep your knees above the ankle. Face the second big toe.
- Point your toes at the front, and your heel’s outer edge should remain aligned with the pinkie toe.
- Next, press your palms and feet on the ground and try lifting your stomach and hip.
- Your knees must not pop at this stage, and they should be knee-width apart.
- Afterward, roll your shoulder back and interlock the fingers of your two hands. As you pull your hands toward your heels, you must try lifting your chest and body higher.
- Stop when your chest is close to your chin, and upon reaching the position, let your shoulders and back relax.
The Variations Of Setu Bandhasana
You can do certain modifications to the basic steps of Setu Bandhasana if you have existing health issues like asthma or cervical spondylosis.
Follow the modification tips if you have asthma:
- Maintain a gap of four fingers between your hands and feet.
- You have to adjust your legs, and you can put your feet forward to maintain the right distance.
Follow the modification tips if you have cervical spondylosis
- Take a Yoga blanket and place the edge of your shoulder on the outer edge of the folded Yoga blanket.
- This Yoga blanket will also help to alleviate any form of minor pain in your shoulders and neck.
In addition, if you find out that your knees are being popped out or they are getting dropped, you must use blocks. Hold one block using your knees and place one block between your feet. Thus, your feet and knees will remain stable, and they will not get dropped.
What Are The Setu Bandhasana Benefits?
Setu Bandhasana promotes holistic well-being by improving your physical, mental, and spiritual health. Let’s find out how it helps you get a fit body, an alert mind, and an evolved personality.
Health Benefits Of Setu Bandhasana
Along with promoting weight loss, Setu Bandhasana can improve your health in the following ways.
Improves Respiratory Health
With Setu Bandhasana, your chest gets expanded or opened up. So, as you breathe in, your lungs stretch, increasing the vital capacity.
So, breathing in will be easier for you, and problems like shortness of breath or asthma will be gone with time.
Helps You Maintain A Healthy Weight
Setu Bandhasana is an effective exercise to manage your weight. It is much more than an exercise that tones your abdominal muscles. It improves the functionalities of our endocrine system. As a result, your metabolism gets a boost, and you find it easy to manage your weight.
So, you can include this exercise in your fitness regime every day to lose weight and improve your weight management.
Boosts The Blood Circulation Of Your Body
In Setu Bandhasana, you need to bend your torso back. So, once you get the posture right, your heart is placed above your head. This practice encourages proper backflow of blood.
Further, with an improvement in the blood flow, oxygen reaches all the cells, tissues, muscles, and organs properly. As a result, the cells in your body recover very fast, and you experience an improvement in your energy level. Adequate blood circulation also helps the cells to get rid of wastage.
Moreover, with a boost in blood circulation, this exercise can improve your cardiovascular health. There will be adequate lymph drainage with mild compression in the body, and that will further result in low water retention.
Tones Your Abdomen
When you practice the bridge pose, you feel a mild compression in the muscles of your abdomen. As a result, these muscles get toned, and even the organs in the abdomen get stimulated.
With well-toned abdominal muscles, you can also experience an improvement in your posture.
Makes Your Lower Back Stronger
In Setu Bandhasana, you will need to lift your pelvis, and to do so, you will need to engage your hamstrings and gluteal muscles. Further, while practicing this pose, your spine gets enough support, and there is a lack of pressure in your lower back.
In addition, the stronger muscles keep your back properly aligned, and you enjoy better flexibility. Your lower back muscles and the spine also become less prone to injury with this exercise.
Overall, this exercise promotes relief from discomfort and pain in the lower back.
Promotes Spinal Decompression
Backbending is the basis of this Yoga Asana. When you hold the position in this Asana, the adjacent muscles will support your vertebrae and ensure proper alignment. Also, some parts of our spine may get curved due to strain and our daily counteractive activities. This bridge pose opens up those spinal curves.
In addition, by spinal decompression, this pose helps you to get rid of minor back pain. Overall, this Asana will help you get an elongated, flexible, and functional spinal cord.
Improves Chest Mobility
Your shoulder blades go down and back as you interlock the fingers of your hands and keep your hands beneath your body.
As the shoulder blades move back and down, the front part of your shoulders and pectorals open up. In this way, the posture improves your chest mobility and poor posture.
Promotes Hip Flexor Stretching
As you hold the Setu Bandhasana pose with your shoulders rolled back and your thighs or hips opened, you feel that the muscles in your hip flexors are relaxed. As a result, you will not experience tightness in your hip flexor muscles.
Further, the muscles will become more flexible and functional with the regular practice of this Asana.
Helps Better Digestion
This Yoga Asana targets the muscles in your abdomen. So, it promotes better digestion and reduces the acid level in your stomach. It also helps to regulate constipation-related problems.
Do you want to optimize the benefits of Setubandhasana for improving digestive health? You can combine it with the wind-relieving Yoga pose or Pawanmuktasan.
Setu Bandhasana During Periods Can Alleviate Discomfort
Setu Bandhasana is very effective in alleviating back pain during menstruation. Further, this Asana is helpful in stretching your pelvic region. You will also find comfort from period cramps by practicing this Asana during menstruation.
In addition, it will help you maintain emotional balance and get rid of fatigue. You will not even experience a sudden drop in your energy level if you practice this Asana during menstruation.
Some Therapeutic Effects Of Setu Bandhasana
Setu Bandhasana has multiple therapeutic benefits. It helps your feet to get rid of tiredness. Further, if you have sinusitis, hypertension, or osteoporosis, this Yoga Asana will bring many improvements in your health condition.
Effective For Thyroid Problems
In Setubandhasana, you have to bend backward. Further, with the spine bent backward, your neck and thyroid glands get the necessary massage.
As a result, there is an improvement in the functionalities of your thyroid glands. To put it simply, when your thyroid glands function properly, you notice an increase in the secretion of thyroxin hormone.
So, along with medication, this Yoga pose can be an effective way to fight thyroxin deficiency or hypothyroidism.
Mental Health Benefits Of Setu Bandhasana
Setu Bandhasana or bridge pose is an excellent exercise to have a calmer and relaxed mind. Let’s find out how this pose can help you.
Setu Bandhasana Alleviates Stress
Do you feel stressed, or are you diagnosed with mild depression? You can practice Setu Bandhasana to alleviate your stress.
When you practice this exercise, there is a slight inversion and compression in your body. As a result, your chest, diaphragm, and shoulders become relaxed. These are the areas that accumulate the maximum tension in our body.
Further, with this exercise, there is an activation of your parasympathetic nervous system. As a result, your body achieves a “rest and digest mode.” The activation of the parasympathetic nervous system happens because of deep breathing.
Also, when you practice this exercise, there is a drop in your body’s cortisol level. So you feel relaxed and rejuvenated after each session of this exercise.
Setu Bandhasana Helps You Sleep Better
Do you have sleeping disorders or something severe like insomnia? You can try this Yoga pose to get rid of this problem.
By relieving stress from your body and mind, this exercise will help you sleep better. Further, if you are someone who feels sleepy all the time, you will feel fresh after waking up. The exercise also boosts your energy level and makes you mentally and physically active.
Setu Bandhasana Calms Your Nervous System
Do you feel cluttered in your mind? Are too many things going on in your head? This bridge Yoga pose can help you.
- As you hold the bridge pose, you target many muscle groups in your body.
- So, this meditative practice is helpful to calm your mind, which is wandering everywhere at present.
- Further, you have to do controlled breathing in this exercise, and there is an improvement in the blood circulation and oxygen flow to your cells. So, there is a release of the tension and stress stored in your tissues.
Moreover, Setu Bandhasana directs your energy inward. So you feel more relaxed and have better mental clarity. This relaxed feeling further balances out the repercussions of sympathetic nerve activation in our bodies.
Setu Bandhasana And Chakra Activation
Setu Bandhasana is a versatile pose if you consider the activation of various chakras. It activates the following chakras in our bodies.
- Throat or Vishudhha Chakra
- Muladhara or Root Chakra
- Anahata or Heart Chakra
The throat chakra helps you to be more vocal and improve your communication skills. Further, with the stimulation of this chakra, you become more receptive to the idea or others. In other words, you become a good listener.
The Muladhara, or root chakra, on the other hand, imparts you a feeling of stability and security. It also keeps you grounded in the present and more focused on the things to do on an immediate basis.
In addition, the stimulated Anahata, or heart chakra, gives rise to a feeling of empathy, bliss, and happiness.
So, overall, by practicing this Yoga exercise, you will emerge as a more confident, empathetic, focused, and happy person.
Final Words
A busy and unhealthy lifestyle often takes a toll on our bodies and minds. From obesity to anxiety and stress, we have to deal with many common problems these days. Setu Bandhasana is an effective Yoga pose that helps you to manage your weight, mild depression, and anxiety along with imparting many other health benefits.
So, if you want a metamorphosis in your physical and mental health and you want to emerge as a better person, you can practice this Yoga pose every day. Wish you sound health and an alert mind always!
