Bridge Pose on Elbows

How to do Bridge Pose on Elbows

1. 1Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and your feet placed hip-distance apart, roughly a hand's distance from your sit bones.
2. 2Bend your elbows to a 90-degree angle with forearms vertical and fingertips pointing straight toward the ceiling.
3. 3Root down evenly through all four corners of both feet and the backs of your upper arms.
4. 4Inhale to lift your hips and lower back away from the mat, drawing your tailbone toward the backs of your knees.
5. 5Press actively through your triceps and elbows to expand your chest and broaden across your collarbones.
6. 6Keep your thighs parallel to one another and your gaze softly upward, keeping the back of your neck long and neutral.
7. 7Hold for five to eight steady breaths, maintaining gentle engagement in your inner thighs and glutes.
8. 8Exhale to slowly lower your spine back down to the mat, one vertebra at a time.

Benefits

• Strengthens the glutes, hamstrings, and back extensor muscles.
• Stretches the hip flexors, quadriceps, and anterior chest wall.
• Promotes healthy thoracic extension without overloading the lumbar spine.
• Improves shoulder stability by engaging the upper back and triceps.
• Expands the rib cage to support deeper, fuller diaphragmatic breathing.

Common mistakes and cues

• Flaring the knees outward

  Keep your knees tracking directly over your second toes by gently engaging your inner thighs.

• Over-clenching the glutes

  Engage your glutes moderately to lift the pelvis while balancing effort across your hamstrings and feet.

• Turning the head side to side

  Keep your neck neutral and gaze fixed toward the ceiling to protect the cervical spine while under load.

• Collapsing the chest

  Drive downward through the elbows to keep your sternum lifting toward your chin.

• Lifting the heels

  Ground firmly through both heels and the balls of the feet to maintain a stable lower-body foundation.

Modifications and props

• Yoga block under sacrum

  Slide a yoga block at low or medium height beneath your sacrum for passive, restorative support.

• Block between thighs

  Squeeze a yoga block between your inner thighs to maintain proper parallel knee alignment.

• Hands supporting pelvis

  Rest your hands directly under your sacrum with elbows grounded on the mat to reduce lower-body strain.

• Wider foot placement

  Step your feet slightly wider than hip-width and turn your toes out marginally if you experience low back pinching.

Cautions

• Neck injuries

  Keep the pelvic lift modest, avoid pressing the back of the neck flat into the mat, and never turn the head.

• Shoulder impingement

  Reduce downward driving pressure through the elbows if sharp discomfort arises in the shoulder joints.

• Acute lower back pain

  Lower your pelvis slightly and focus on lengthening the tailbone forward rather than maximizing height.

If you are working with an injury, pregnancy or a medical condition, check with a qualified professional before practising this pose.

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