Opening Towards Bridge Pose

Hi. Thanks for being here. Thanks Jackie for being here and thank you Chewbacca and Han Solo for being here. So we're gonna mess around towards Bridge Pose. Sometimes you'll hear it called Satu Bandasana. Essentially just what we'll do is we'll ask Jackie to demonstrate Bridge Pose first. Do you mind just so our friends at home know what we're talking about? Yeah. Okay. So again like we've been saying there are as many ways to do Bridge Pose as there are people doing Bridge Pose but since all of these postures have varying names we'll just make sure that we're talking about the same pose on our way to beginning. So as you can see what's required is an ability to be able to bend the lower back, the lumbar spine. What's required is an ability to be able to roll these shoulders underneath you. What's required is the ability to stretch the neck quite a lot and then what's required is a is a strong opening through the front of the thighs and an ability to root the feet. So that's a lot of parts that have to be online. Okay. Pretty. Thank you. So what we'll do okay we'll start out with the shoulders okay and then we'll move to opening up through the fronts of the thighs getting some action in the low back and we'll find our way towards Bridge. Okay let's come back to standing. We're going to use a strap for this early shoulder opening. If you don't happen to have a yoga strap at home you could use a necktie, you could use a karate strap. Okay what I'm going to suggest is as you find your strap, whatever it is, that you hold it as wide as possible to begin with. This is deceptively difficult and if you start with your arms too narrow you will be disappointed. So feet about hip distance apart, spread the toes wide, big delivered inhale, exhale let it happen and then as you're ready take a look at how you're holding the strap. Hold the strap taut and be slightly attentive of the wrist being in line with your shoulders and just yeah nice. So you know what I mean? Cock the wrist a little bit like let them go like like right okay and then un right and then straighten and just do that a few times and then straighten because the temptation here will be for the wrist to go and if you know what that feels like you'll be able to identify it. Okay that's a technical term by the way that's an ancient Sanskrit word. Okay inhale reach the arms up over the top of your head now pause here and lengthen through your arms and notice what your wrists have done they might have gone a little and so lengthen soften the shoulders a little bit and right here just kind of wiggle up a little bit side to side like get some space. Okay I didn't mention this when we were looking at the bridge pose but you've got to have a lot of room in between the ribs. Now for some of you in your shoulders this is already deep enough but for some of you inhale here and only as much as feels good you'll exhale you'll start to let the arms come behind you a little bit. Now pause here lengthen notice what the wrists are doing make sure they're haven't gone wah. Okay perfect some of you this is deep enough some of you inhale here exhale you'll let the strap come all the way behind you super nice. Okay then inhale bring the arms all the way back up to the sky nice and as you exhale let the arms come out in front of you. Now we're gonna repeat that now if that was felt like you were in some kind of like Texas rodeo widen the arms a little bit like if it was too much widen the grip but if you felt nothing shorten the grip. Okay try this again second round inhale reach the arms up pause now just be aware of what your wrists are doing soften the shoulders let a little happen in the sit bones and then as you're ready this might be deep enough but some of you are gonna let that strap start to come behind you pause where you're at that first point of feeling the stretch through here yeah so pretty sit bones dropped yeah some of you are gonna stay right there some of you are gonna let that strap come more behind you yeah beautiful okay so pretty let an inhale bring your arms all the way back up and an exhale let your arms come out in front of you if when you're doing this you can feel your face going to pick the reason it's not working you gotta keep your face out okay inhale reach your arms up to the sky pause soften the shoulders back and down okay inhale here exhale come back just a little bit just at that point where you first start to feel that stretch through here and for many of you this is enough relax the sit bones yep some of you are gonna let those arms come all the way behind you so beautiful Jackie nice okay inhale bring your arms all the way back up and then exhale let your arms come out in front of you now keep holding the strap loosely as you inhale squeeze your shoulders up and around your ears get super hunched up in your exhale let them drop inhale roll the shoulders back and up exhale let them drop forward and up drop and back nice nice now for some of you this might already be enough that's quite a lot okay we're gonna get a little bit of different opening and what I'm gonna suggest is you fold your strap in half and then you're gonna bring your strap behind you and I'm gonna ask Jackie to turn around so you can see what she's doing so as you bring your strap behind you you're gonna hold the strap so your hands are about shoulder distance apart so walk your hands in a little closer so for most of you this will be the right distance if this is asking too much you just widen the hands generally when you need more room you make more room and when you need more challenge you make less room it's just like any relationship shoulders back and down hold the strap taut okay will you turn around again to face our friends at home hold the strap taught inhale here and as you exhale you bend your knees your chest is gonna come towards the thighs towards the operative word there you're gonna let your head drop you're gonna reach your arms up out and over the top of your head keep holding the strap taught so pretty as you hold the strap taught back of the neck is long now most of you keeping the knees bent the way to go if it's appropriate to bring your hamstrings into the equation yep you'll roll the weight into the balls of the feet and let the sit bones lift yes okay from here then you let the hands come back to your hips now as you let the hands come back to your hips you're gonna let the hands come all the way down towards the earth you're gonna hold the strap in one of your hands and then you're just gonna let the knees bend chin into the chest and let yourself roll all the way back up and you feel the belly and you feel the heart and you feel the throat and you feel the face and now we're gonna repeat that with the option of increasing the intensity so bring the strap behind you again and this time let the sands come just a little closer will you just turn so everybody knows what I mean so let their hands come a little closer so you might have them like this some of you might bring them so the the hands are actually touching you decide what what makes sense okay then turn will you turn around again and then from here same idea shoulders roll back and down hold the strap taught inhale exhale let the knees bend the chest comes towards the thighs towards head drops arms reach up out over the top of your head so pretty strap is taught again Jackie's bringing the stretch into her hamstrings by letting her weight roll forward sit bones lift that may or may not be useful okay couple more moments can you allow the front of your heart to brighten just a little bit yes okay let the strap come back to the hips let the elbows relax as the hands come back down towards the feet hold the strap in just one of your hands and then roll on back up feel the belly feel the heart feel the throat and feel the face now for many of you continue to work with the strap on this third one okay the strap what it does is it gives the shoulders more room Jackie's gonna show though how you might work the third one son strap without strap so reach your arms out from your shoulders straight out to the sides rotate your shoulders forward let your elbows bend let your hands come behind you and I'm gonna have Jackie turn around to show this as your hands come behind you you interlace the fingers and then you start to wiggle the shoulders back and down so remember when we were looking at the bridge pose so now essentially your upper body is in that same shape that it's gonna want to be for the bridge pose okay if this is too much or too demanding then you use the strap okay otherwise keeping the arms like this will you turn around again you let your knees bend and you start to move back into that forward fold so pretty okay if it's become too much as you come into that forward fold simply release your hands if it's okay you can give a little extension through the hands like you can actually reach through the hands back of the neck is long so gorgeous she's brought it into her hamstrings you may or may not do that and then when you feel ready the hands can come back to the hips you can relax the interlace and the hands can come down towards the earth and then you'll eventually let your knees bend chin into the chest and roll on back up feel the belly and feel the heart and feel the throat and feel the face so now you have a lot more room in the shoulders does that feel okay and so for some of you that might be enough of this sequence today okay what we'll do next though is we'll take some of that room in the shoulders and we'll start to try to get some more room through the front of the thighs so we'll come towards the top of our mat stand tadasana okay separate the feet about hip distance okay spread the toes wide big delivered inhale exhale let a happen and soften down through the knees yes practice feeling grounded press just enough into the feet to feel the heart brighten and you'll see what Jackie's chosen to do with her arms like she's just naturally inclined when we turn the palms forward it naturally helps the anatomy of the shoulders roll back and down it naturally helps the heart start to bloom I mean palms open and available is is much closer to the quality of the heart that we're tuning towards as yogis okay what we'll do now is we'll find the hands together at the center of the heart and we'll move through just a very simple two rounds of lunge salute so inhale here Jackie exhale press your hands towards the earth let an inhale circle your arms up over the top of your head so pretty and as you exhale swan dive forward forward fold over the legs let an inhale create a half arch and as you exhale step your right foot back let your left knee bend come into the shape of the lunge now wiggle wiggle wiggle back through here curl the sit bone under and let that right knee come down towards the earth now we're on a nice big padded yoga mat so you might put a blanket underneath here some kind of padding now introduce yourself inhale draw your hips back a little bit and exhale sink in and inhale draw back a little bit and exhale sink in and just do this at least one or two more times this just lets the front thigh know that you're coming things are more willing to relax and then eventually when you found that right spot well we're just gonna stay low this first one just letting the front of this thigh get used to this possibility and the more you play with drawing this sit bone under and the more you kind of play with reaching back through this heel when the more you create an opposing line here the more opportunity you'll have that makes sense okay let us haha in the job beautiful okay then from here as you're ready lift up through the back knee you're gonna kind of rock and roll and we're gonna step forward back towards the front of the mat inhale half arch exhale step the left foot back let the right knee bend pretty so pretty we go back through there curl that sit bone under let this left knee now find the earth and again introduce yourself so inhale draw back a little bit exhale sink in inhale draw back a little bit exhale sink in at least one or two more times just depending on you and again on this first one you're just getting used to being sunken you're just drawing the sit bone under and you're reaching back through the heel and you're getting used to the front of the thigh being stretched easy in the mouth and be attentive to what you're doing in your wrist like that you're not just collapsing down into the wrist keep those soft and you're just getting used to this and some of you will feel it more in the hamstring of the front leg some of you will feel it more in the inner groin this isn't so much a question of where should I feel it's more a question of where do you feel it so while this shape is designed to get an opening through the front of the thigh something else could very easily be happening okay when you feel ready you'll lift up through the back of that left knee rock and roll you'll step forward inhale half arch exhale forward fold and then you'll soften the knees and on an inhale you'll circle your arms all the way back up reach and then exhale hands come back to the center of the heart so pause at the top of your mat and just feel the result of those openings through the front of the lunge and what we'll do now this next one we'll take that lunge one more time with just a little bit of extra addition and then we'll find our way towards the earth so with the hands at the heart inhale exhale press your hands towards the earth inhale you'll circle the arms over the top of your head so pretty exhale you'll swan dive forward gorgeous inhale half arch this time exhale step your left foot back first let your right knee bend we go back through there curl the sit bone under find that knee on the earth and if today it makes more sense for you to stay low you'll stay low if it feels all right bring the hands up onto that front right knee back off a little bit so you come out of the munchiness yep if this feels a comfortable let an inhale circle your arms up over the top of your head now reach up through these arms remember when we were reaching with the strap can you remember how to wiggle up through one side and then the other can you let your elbows soften enough so the shoulders relax back and down yes and for the last couple moments now while you have this extension curl the sit bone under let that that left sit bone come forward reach back through the heel so pretty Jackie so beautiful yeah gorgeous inhale here exhale let the hands come back down around that front right foot now a little different transition lift up through the back left leg and this time rock and roll step back downward facing dog okay high up onto the balls of the feet lengthen okay and you can you can tune this a little bit and we've been playing with this this season let your elbows bend relax a little bit let your shoulders find that wrap and then rude and lengthen and do you remember how to soften your neck from that earlier episode yeah gorgeous okay beautiful now this next move can get a little tricky and we haven't yet explored this and we'll just find out how Jackie does it Jackie would you find your left foot forward between your hands so you're gonna find that other leg forward between your hands curl that right sit bone under and let that right knee find the earth okay super nice now again some of you it just might be better medicine tonight today this afternoon this morning whatever it might be to stay low but as Jackie showing some of you are gonna bring your hands up onto that front knee you're gonna come out of the munchiness you're gonna circle your arms up remember our earlier work with the strap remember holding that strap so like there's a sense of reach so pretty there's a sense of length through here softness through the shoulders maintain that as you now sink that right sit bone under and find that opportunity through the front of the thigh yes so beautiful so you've got your heart opening you're already starting to bend your back a little bit you're getting the front thigh stretch so you've got a lot of the elements happening necessary for the bridge pose oh my gosh so pretty you have such radiant fingers Jackie just okay inhale here exhale hands come down around that front left foot you lift up through the back right leg and then step back down we're facing dog get long be in your down dog as long as feels correct and then when you're ready we'll come forward into plank shoulders over the wrist drop your knees down to the earth and lower all the way down pause for a moment get used to being on your belly what can sometimes feels nice is just let the buttocks wobble a little bit okay and then the suggestion now is that you're gonna find your way onto your back so gently just roll onto your back and hug your knees into your chest and wobble so again understanding that you've already done a lot of the elements necessary for bridge pose we've opened up the shoulders we've owned up in the thighs we've even done a little low back bending in that lunge and so if this next part which is weight bearing across the shoulders and requires a strong stretch in the neck is not correct for you there's no need to continue otherwise the way we'll set up is Jackie will show she's got her heels in line with her sit bones her arms are down along her side and you remember how when we were standing she had her palms turned open because when you turn your palms open the shoulders are already rolling back and down now don't take my word for it though try that just turn your palms down see how that feels and then and then turn your palms up see how that feels okay most people find palms turning up helpful we'll find out what you feel okay soft in the base of the skull and the neck spreading the toes now as you're ready inhale and as you exhale you're gonna start to root through your feet as your sit bones draw towards your knees lifting your hips up off the floor now pause here and just check in make sure it's okay this might already be deep deep enough for some of you let's get a little higher inhale and as you exhale you press into your feet lift your hips a little bit more now for some of you in your shoulders this is asking enough now we've done a lot of that shoulder opening but it doesn't mean that it's been enough so only if it's correct and Jackie will show you begin to kind of wiggle your shoulders underneath you she's gonna show the pinky press first do you mind showing with just yeah yep no with the arms exactly but pinky press first shoulders rolling back and down you have a nice stability in the arms without it being so demanding does that feel okay softer in the neck you want room in the front of the throat so for some of you the pinky press is the way to go okay if appropriate some of you might wiggle your arms underneath you just like we did standing interlace also pretty interlaces you press down through the feet in the arms and you allow your hips to lift pressing into the feet and just one little extra detail here is if you press into the outer pinky pads and the heels a little bit that extremely rotates your hips which will help yes does that make sense right to come out of it release your arms up towards the sky come up onto the balls of your feet and roll back down upper back mid back low back hips land heels land and pause and rest make it really feels good to come out of a back bed there's this immediate hit of like e are you catching that or am I lying okay okay let's see that one more time so heels in line with the sit bones now this heels in line with the sit bone business this is just one idea so as we talk so often this is these are just beginnings just like the tall house chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back it's just a beginning okay big deliberate inhale exhale everything let up then you inhale and as you exhale you press into the feet that sit bones lift towards the knees now pause here for some of you this is deep enough you've got an inversion happening you've got work in the thighs you've got work in the feet only if it's appropriate you'll continue inhale exhale root you'll lift the hips a little higher you'll start to wiggle the arms underneath you snuggle snuggle snuggle maybe it's the pinky press maybe it's the interlacing yes roots and lift and you're soft in the throat and if you happen to have a yoga buddy something that's super nice this is super nice your yoga buddy can bring her legs around and press into my legs yeah is that okay what that does that action in the legs creates yes it creates this nice ability to lift higher nice okay a couple more moments oh so beautiful I do look like the Death Star against your pants okay up on the balls of your feet arms up towards the sky get round in the upper back roll back down upper back mid-back low back and just pause and see how Jackie's choosing to go into bada khanasana you may or may not choose that Jackie's chosen to put her hands on her body that can feel quite safe and comforting and just let yourself rest in the effect let yourself rest in the ease like soak it up be here as long as feels good and only when you're ready and and I'm not rushing you so only as you're ready the eventual counter pose to this will to let your knees come into your chest because it's just like everything else in life it's like pose counter pose so after the backbend the forward fold okay after the forward fold the back it's just like that so thanks for playing along thank you Jackie for being here so fun see you next time