Originally posted November 13, 2020
The following is adapted from The Inner Life of Asanas by Swami Lalitananda
A dream memory arises. I’m in a busy city looking at a long, complex bridge under construction. I know that I have to climb straight up to the highest point to connect the last few wires. I clutch the central steel pillar and shimmy my way up to precarious heights. But no matter how hard I strive, the wires are beyond my reach. Disappointed, I make my way down and start walking along the edge of the water. The water gradually narrows and becomes a beautiful stream surrounded by forest. Children are laughing and playing here. I see them crossing a little bridge and happily join them.
I had this dream years ago when I was completing my Master’s degree and exploring the intricacies of intellectual challenges. The dream seemed to warn me not to get caught in a striving mental attitude and showed me a more effective, joyful approach. I interpreted it to mean that my path is one of bhakti (devotion).
The dream is a good reminder now, that what ultimately provides support is not my mind’s convoluted theories, but the action of the heart, the desire to understand, to give, to offer selfless service. I see the evolution of yoga as the movement toward embodying love. The Little Bridge pose reinforces the message to lift up my heart and to exercise the skill of bending over backwards to make the vision a reality.
Practicing the Little Bridge (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)
- Lie down on your back and relax. Feel what it’s like to be supported by the floor.
- Bend your knees and place your feet on the floor, hip-distance apart. Keep your hips, knees and feet aligned throughout the pose. (The knees may have a tendency to splay.)
- Place your arms at your sides on the floor, or bend them at the elbows with the fingers pointing toward the ceiling, palms facing each other.
- Firm your legs and buttocks. Slowly lift your hips and back. Begin the movement at the base of the spine, raising each vertebra one by one.
- Create a smooth bridge supported by your legs and shoulders. An option is to clasp your hands beneath your back, to further open the chest.
- Hold the pose and breathe.
- To return, lower the upper back, then place each vertebra on the floor in a flowing sequence, as if the spine were a strand of pearls. Keep your legs strong until your entire back is on the floor, then stretch out the legs and relax.
- The Little Bridge can also be used as a wonderful warm-up by lifting and lowering the spine without holding the raised position. Move slowly and with awareness, massaging the back.
Reflections
- Bring to mind the words “little bridge.” Write your associations – words, thoughts, images. Take one of your associations into the pose and observe your physical and emotional responses. What do these observations tell you about yourself?
- Do the Little Bridge, asking yourself: Am I willing to bend over backward to put my ideals into action? How do love and devotion support my spiritual life?
- Creating bridges is a sacred activity. What bridges do you want to build? How can you make yourself a bridge of communication, understanding, service? To whom do you want to reach out?
- What needs to come together within yourself? As you do the Little Bridge pose, visualize two sides of yourself united in understanding.