Bridge Lifts to Reduce Anxiety
For students with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, simply lying down and being told to “relax and breathe” can trigger Relaxation Induced Anxiety. But deepening the breath is one of the best ways to calm the nervous system. Marisa notes: “What’s helped me a lot are the things that actually have nothing to do with asanas. I’m a pretty shallow breather. Now that I have a regular yoga practice, I find myself automatically breathing more deeply in stressful situations.” You can help students like Marisa connect with the breath by adding a physical movement to the breathing exercise, which will keep the brain busy while simultaneously facilitating deeper breathing. Try Yoga Tune Up® Bridge Lifts with especially anxious students (shown in the video below). They’ll get the benefits of more breath, without the stress of having to lie still.
Ariel Kiley is an avid yoga practitioner and former marathon runner living in Brooklyn, New York. She is a licensed Integrated Yoga Tune Up(R) teacher. Ariel completed her 200-hour teacher training through YogaWorks. She is also a certified Yoga for Runners specialist with Toronto Yoga for Runners master Christine Feldstead and graduate of the Laughing Lotus 300 hour advanced teacher training. Ariel is a prolific writer. Her first book, co-written with best friend Simone Kornfeld entitled "Smitten: The Way of the Brilliant Flirt" will be released by Chronicle in 2013 (www.smittenbook.com). Ariel’s classes emphasize precise physical alignment, an openhearted attitude and absolute self-acceptance. Plus laughter. Always laughter. Her primary intention as an instructor is to help each student merge with the truest teacher possible – the unfailing guide within.
www.arielkileyyoga.com
Genius! A lot of people come to yoga looking for relief from stress or anxiety. The worst outcome would be even more stress! This is a slick way of using a movement that can be nicely timed for slow, deep breath.
I love this! I taught this at the end of class tonight and it had a surprising sedative affect on them for savasana. Thank you for this post and video clip!
So true. Many people I know who quit yoga quit because they feel anxious or annoyed that they can’t relax. Deepening the breath allows the parasympathetic nervous system to kick in and relax the body to decrease the anxiousness that usually causes people to give up.
…what a beautiful combination of breath and movement.
I can see many yogis appreciating this sequence, whether anxious or not.
namaste,
More testimonial stories like this need to be here to truly show the drastic impact YTU is having on the lives of so many people. Thanks for sharing this one with the community.
I have heard this pose called dancing bridge and I love it. I never realized it was a great pose for anxiety issues. I just know it feels good and people in my class enjoy doing it. It’s nice because all levels of practitioner can do this successfully. By sneaking in deep, conscious inhales and exhales, this pose becomes a must for anyone stressed out, which is everyone I know. I also like that this pose can be done anywhere with or without the props. I know a lot of people that struggle with anxiety issues and this is a great pose for me to teach them when they get more anxious thinking they have to practice yoga an hour and a half every day to begin to find relief.
This is a great article about teaching breathing through movement. I have not had the opportunity to work with students that have specific anxiety disorders, but I know that when teaching any student, especially beginners, how to breath, movement is essential. The movement helps to open the breath and the whole exercise becomes a moving, breathing meditation as the student begins to understand the importance of linking the movement to the breath. I have used this particular dynamic pose quite often, but didn’t know it had a name – I just always call it moving in and out of bridge with the breath!
This is such a great idea of tricking people into relaxing! I know of many people who are absolutely terrified at the thought of Savasana, yet asking them to breathe and move may be more approachable. Thanks!
This is wonderful! Thanks for sharing this, Ariel! This is a like a dynamically restorative pose accompanied with a deeply grounding pranayam. The posture itself – starting in ardha savasana then bridge lifts offers a really nice and gentle inversion, nourishing the heart and upper channels through the brain. The feet being on the floor is already grounding. Then, the breath carries and distributes the goodness all around. All that, plus the flexing of the shoulders creating an energetic aura cleanse, releasing tension and anxiety, then grounding back onto the floor. It’s a beautiful and moving meditation. Thank you Jill!
Lying still has always been a challenge for me. I could not agree more that the breathing accompanied by movement is an excellent way to distract the brain and reduce anxiety. I’ve found that while doing bridge lifts the rainbow action of the arms helped to deepen and lengthen they breath. I particularly love that after a few repetitions my body and breath feel as if they’re floating!
Along with all the great benefits of this exercise, this is a creative way of allowing students to work on their breath without getting bored or anxious about it. And for those people who come to yoga for fitness, they may be happy that they are doing more than just breathing.
This is a great idea. So many times when you’re stressed out, or anxious, people will just tell you to “relax.” I’ve been there, and it only makes your anxiety increase. I’ve learned that focusing on my breathing helps to calm down a lot. A simple exercise like this is great and I am excited to give it a try next time.
What a great trick! I’m so happy to find a way to slow it down, relax and breathe while still feeling like I am getting some physical benefits. I will definitely use this in my practice as well as share it with others.
[...] How to reduce anxiety – Read the article. tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.yogatuneup.com/blog/2011/04/22/yoga-nidra-kids/'; Share Bookmark on Delicious About This Author Jill is the creator of Yoga Tune Up®. Having studied Yoga, Dance, and Body Movement for more than 24 years she created the Yoga Tune Up® format to help people find and heal trouble areas before debilitating breakdowns occur. Jill teaches workshops and retreats internationally, is a longtime faculty member of the Omega Institute, and has traveled nationally choreographing programs for Discovery Health Channel. The L.A. Times calls her "kinetically arresting”. For more info on Jill go here. View RSS feed [...]
The simplicity of linking breath and movement can be so challenging to participants who are very disconnected from their bodies – Bridge lifts offer a gentle way of organizing the body, strengthening and balancing the body – and opening it with the breath – and the repetition of the pose allows for expansion of the breath each and every time as the pelvis presses through a little more. NIce.
i love this exercise! it goes soooo naturally with the breath. i love teaching this and cueing it as “do the wave at a ball game.”
Resting one’s back on the floor – automaticly puts you at ease releasing stress. Now to invite this breath work and to coordinatie it with hip raises is even better. Because when you are anxious you want to calm down but sometimes just remaining still is not enough. This excersie allows both movement and rest play via breath work – the perfect convo.
Any one who knows me well would have to say that I don’t know how to sit down for a moment. I have almost mastered the art of multi-tasking, and yet I enjoy practicing yoga. I am full of contradictions, and perhaps this is what keeps my perfectionistic anxiety riddled brain on some level of calm throughout the day. If I am not able to manage at least 30 mins. of practice a day I feel it. I don’t sleep well, my body aches even my allergies act up, so perhaps this is my secret to success and I didn’t even notice. Thanks for the reminder.
Hi there! I was so happy to read this blog! I think subconsciously/intuitively I’ve figured out this trick of adding movement to breath with some of my clients in the past, however, it feels good to read this and have validated what I thought just kind of worked in those moments. I’ve also sometimes felt I was softening the blow of what I thought could be perceived as “hippy dippy” breathing stuff (by those not exposed to pranayama or necessarily open to Yoga techniques) by accessorizing it with movement. I’m not very knowledgeable about General Anxiety Disorder and knowing now that introducing breathing techniques can be a trigger for some people, I’ll better be able to keep an eye out and have movement as a tool! Wooop! Thank you!
Ariel; I have always liked this pose. Now i have a better understanding of why. I have always felt very calm when i am in this pose and following this pose. Now i know why and can share it with my students.
Ariel – Thanks so much, I LOVE this article! I love this moving pose, and I am loving the YTU Level I training. We did this move the other day in practice and it brought me right back home. I teach Kripalu yoga and this is a move we use frequently. Breath coordinated with movement is a hallmark of Kripalu Yoga, I describe it to my students it’s a moving meditation. The body is always in motion, with every breath the body is expanding and contracting, rising and falling, it’s our human nature. For me when I combine a gentle repetitive movement with a conscious slow deep breath it is bliss.
I love the sensational of whooshing the hips up with a powerful breath. It’s an awesome sensation – very uplifting. Just like you, Ariel!
So many people come to yoga to heal, especially if they have problems with anxiety and catching their breath in a panic attack. Lying still (especially in a hot yoga room with lots of other bodies) used to make me anxious. Once I was able to connect the movement to my breath, and focus my attention the anxiety went away–in class and in life!