Today’s Pose is:
Setu Bandhasana ~ Bridge Pose
In Sanskrit, setu means bridge while bandha translate to formation or construction. Use this thought as you imagine constructing the bridge that is most supportive and beneficial to you.
Cues: Press into your feet, keep the legs parallel to one another by internally rotating hips and activating adductor muscles on the inside of your thighs. As you lift your hips skyward, there is an engagement of the gluts, but not a gripping. Keep the spine long. Press firmly into the triceps and draw your collarbones wide.
Do not turn your head while in the pose for the safety of your neck. If your feet turn out or your knees go wide, 
work with a block or bolster under the sacrum to attain proper alignment and slowly practice lifting off the support.
Benefits: Bridge pose is a gentle inversion because the head is below the heart. As such you may feel the calming effects of this pose which help you relax and release. The movement of the spine in this pose, as you lengthen and then arch at the thoracic spine, helps maintain flexibility and is said to positively impact the nervous system. Mr. Iyengar professed: a person with a healthy spine indicates a healthy nervous system and if the nerves are healthy, a person is of sound mind and body.
Modifications: The feet turning out or the knees jutting away from midline often means you need to work at strengthening the adductor muscles (the muscles of the inner thighs). A block between the thighs will raise this awareness. Press into that block gently as you lift the hips off the floor. Others may prefer to practice with a bolster or block under the sacrum which gives the advantage of the backbend and inversion — opening the chest and providing calmness from a gentle inversion — with a more supportive offering.
As you welcome the first official day of summer and the longest day of the year, use your constructed bridge pose to emphasize your capacity to open your heart fully to the new season!