Bridge Pose
सेतु बन्ध सर्वांगासन
Setu Bandha Sarvāṅgāsana — a beginner backbend that works the glutes, hamstrings, spinal erectors.
How to do Bridge Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie on your back with the knees bent and the feet flat, hip-width apart and close enough to brush the heels with the fingertips.
Rest the arms alongside the body, palms down, and press the feet firmly into the mat.
Peel the hips up one vertebra at a time until the thighs and torso make one long line.
Roll the shoulders under and either interlace the fingers beneath you or hold the mat edges.
Hold with the chin slightly away from the chest, then lower slowly from the upper back down.
Hold: 30–60 seconds, 2–3 rounds. Breath: Inhale to lift, exhale to lower.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Bridge Pose does
Described mechanically — what the movement does to muscle and joint. Not a list of conditions it treats, because a pose does not treat conditions.
- Strengthens the glutes and hamstrings in hip extension with the shoulders anchored.
- Extends the thoracic spine and opens the chest without any weight on the wrists.
- Lengthens the hip flexors and the front of the thighs at the top of the lift.
Bridge Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Bridge Pose, or change it
- Neck injury — do not turn the head once you are up, and place a folded blanket under the shoulders to protect the cervical curve.
- Disc injury: lift lower and keep the glutes firm so the lumbar spine does not hinge.
- Shoulder injury that makes interlacing the fingers underneath painful — keep the arms alongside instead.
- Late pregnancy, where long periods flat on the back are not recommended — keep it brief or use a supported version.
- Knee pain when the feet are placed too far from the hips.
General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or managing any health condition, ask your doctor before starting a practice, and learn the pose itself from a qualified teacher who can see you move.
Common mistakes in Bridge Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeFeet drifting too far from the hips so the hamstrings cramp and the lift stalls.
FixWalk the heels in until you can just touch them with your fingertips.
MistakeThe lift arriving as a sharp arch at the waist rather than an even curve.
FixFirm the glutes, lengthen the tailbone towards the knees, and press the upper arms down to lift the chest instead.
What a practice like this costs in energy
Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values per style of practice, so Bridge Pose is mapped to the nearest published code — 02150, yoga, Hatha, 2.5 MET — and the figures below are for a practice of that kind, not for holding this one pose.
| Time practising | 10 min | 20 min | 30 min | 45 min | 60 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
Calculated as MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 kcal per minute — the standard ACSM relationship, shown in full on the method page. Scale it to your own weight by multiplying by your weight in kilograms and dividing by 70. The whole activity dataset, including every non-yoga activity, is at BurnLab.
Questions
How do you do Bridge Pose?
Lie on your back with the knees bent and the feet flat, hip-width apart and close enough to brush the heels with the fingertips. Rest the arms alongside the body, palms down, and press the feet firmly into the mat. Peel the hips up one vertebra at a time until the thighs and torso make one long line. Roll the shoulders under and either interlace the fingers beneath you or hold the mat edges. Hold with the chin slightly away from the chest, then lower slowly from the upper back down. Hold for 30–60 seconds, 2–3 rounds.
What does Bridge Pose work?
Primarily the glutes, hamstrings, spinal erectors, with the quadriceps, chest, shoulders assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: strengthens the glutes and hamstrings in hip extension with the shoulders anchored.
Who should not do Bridge Pose?
Neck injury — do not turn the head once you are up, and place a folded blanket under the shoulders to protect the cervical curve. Disc injury: lift lower and keep the glutes firm so the lumbar spine does not hinge. Shoulder injury that makes interlacing the fingers underneath painful — keep the arms alongside instead. Late pregnancy, where long periods flat on the back are not recommended — keep it brief or use a supported version. Knee pain when the feet are placed too far from the hips. This is general information, not medical advice — if any of these apply to you, ask your doctor and learn the pose with a qualified teacher rather than from a page.
Is Bridge Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Bridge Pose is a beginner-level pose on this site, which means it is learnable in a first class and has a version that works for most bodies. The cautions above still apply.
How many calories does Bridge Pose burn?
The honest answer is that nobody has measured a single asana. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values for styles of yoga, not for individual poses. Bridge Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02150, yoga, Hatha, at 2.5 MET — about 92 kcal for 30 minutes of that kind of practice for a 70 kg adult. Holding one pose for a minute is a rounding error either way.
Sequences that use Bridge Pose
Related poses
More backbends — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.
Asana names are traditional. Every step, benefit and caution on this page is written for YogaPath rather than reproduced from any book, studio or other library — see how this site is written. Energy figures derive from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.