Australian Yoga Journal — November 2017

YOGAPEDIA

r r ti

80

november/december 2017

yogajournal.com.au

PHOTOS: IAN SPANIER; MODEL: MEAGAN MCCRARY; STYLIST: MATTHEW PERIDIS;HAIR/MAKEUP: LAURA DEE SHELLEY; TOP: KIRA GRACE; BOTTOMS: CYNTHIA ROWLEY

setu = bridge · bandha = building or lock · sarva = all · anga = limbs · asana = pose

Bridge Pose

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

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Our Pro Iyengar Yoga instructor Koren Paalman studied with B.K.S. Iyengar and his daughter Geeta, and has been teaching yoga since 1995 to both adults and youths

in a variety of settings. In 2007, Paalman founded Conscious Grieving, a grief-support service that combines yoga with other modalities in individual consultations and

workshops nationally. Learn more at korenyoga.com.

How to move from Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

to Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana

Poses of the month

Opens your shoulders and chest; strengthens your back, glutes, and hamstrings; stretches your

hip flexors and thighs; increases flexibility of your spine; calms your mind

DON’T let your feet turn out, which

closes off the space in your low

back. Instead, keep the outer edges

of your feet parallel to the outer

edges of your mat.

or push your inner groins toward

the ceiling, which strains the low

back. Instead, hug your inner knees

toward one another and release

your inner thighs down toward the

floor before lightly lengthening your

tailbone toward the backs of your

knees.

By Meagan McCrary

Instruction

1 Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet

flat, hip-width apart, heels directly below your

knees. Leave your upper arms on the floor and

bend your elbows alongside your ribs, pointing

your forearms and fingers toward the ceiling.

Turn your palms to face one another.

2 Press your elbows and shoulder heads

down into the floor, lift your chest, and bring

your shoulder blades onto your upper back,

wrapping your outer arms toward the floor.

Keep your gaze straight up.

3 Press into your feet and slowly send your

knees forward, wrapping your outer hips

toward the ceiling; then lift your buttocks away

from the floor. Lengthen your tailbone toward

the backs of your knees.

4 Straighten your elbows and interlace your

fingers underneath you, drawing your shoulder

blades deeper into your upper back, keeping

the tops of your shoulders in line with the base

of your neck.

5 Gently press the centre of the back of your

head into the floor. Broaden your collarbones

and lift your chest, bringing your sternum

toward your chin. Lightly reach your chin

away from your chest, keeping space

between the back of your neck and the floor.

Simultaneously extend out through your knees

as you lift your sternum. Take a few rounds of

breath here.

6 To release, unlace your fingers and slowly

lower your torso back to the floor.