Like Trikonasana (Triangle Posture) as well as Dhanurasana (Bow Posture), Setu Bandha Sarvangasana is a best example of a present that obtains its name from the way it looks. There’s more to this name– which refers essentially to the ‘building of a bridge’– compared to satisfies the eye.
Derived from the Sanskrit verb si, ‘to bind,’ the word setu additionally indicates ‘bond or fetter, dike or dam.’ In many spiritual traditions, the bridge signifies a link or bond in between 2 financial institutions or worlds, the ordinary and the divine, separated by the river of life. Constructing and also then crossing this bridge represents a radical shift or makeover, where we leave our transitory daily existence and enter the enlightened world of the infinite Self (atman).
The Yoga exercise custom equates the ‘bridge to everlasting life’ with the Self (Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.3). Simply puts, while the objective of technique is to realize our link to the magnificent Self, the Self is also the bridge to getting to that goal. Confusing, huh? By way of explanation, it may be beneficial to assess the definition of words yoga. The most usual translation is ‘union’ or ‘Self-integration,’ which is exactly what everyone specialists are diligently seeking. But a lot of individuals don’t realize that yoga exercise additionally means ‘approach’ or ’em ployment.’ On the one hand, yoga signifies the objective of the technique (union), on the various other, it is the means we should use to reach that objective. A famous proverb, found in an old discourse by Vyasa on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, pithily summarizes this suggestion: ‘Yoga exercise is to be understood by Yoga exercise, and also Yoga exercise itself leads to Yoga.’
This implies we do not require to browse everywhere or buy any expensive equipment for our bridge-building job. Each people is innately endowed with a toolkit, our own Self, which we put together by complying with the plans and also wielding the selection of building tools provided by yoga.
Setu Bandha Sarvangasana is a visual suggestion of the venerable Self-as-bridge mentor. It’s likewise, by expansion, a representation of all the asanas, which could be recognized collectively as bridge-building tools par quality. Asanas assist us ground our bridge in the bedrock of the river as well as company its trusses to sustain our passage.
Richard Rosen, that instructs in Oakland and also Berkeley, California, has been writing for Yoga Journal since the 1970s.
