Are you stressed out, spending most of your day infront of a computer or experiencing back pain? Strike a cobra! Cobra pose, or in sanskrit called Bhujangasana is one of the most important and foundational backbends in yoga. As cobra pose is included in sun salutations this is one of the most common yoga poses you might do during a yoga class with numerous health benefits from the feet to the head:
- Relieves back pain: there is a saying in yoga that you are only as old as your spine is flexible. This pose improves spine flexibility and range of motion and has a therapeutic effect of relieving back pain, discomfort and stiffness in the lower back.
- Relieves stress: cobra pose encourages deep breathing and effects the adrenal gland, responsible for balancing stress hormones like adrenalin and cortisol. It also has energizing effects and elevates mood.
- Improves digestion: stimulates and target the organs in the abdomen, especially the digestive organs and the liver.
- Improves posture: it is not un common to spend most of our time in our day to day life slightly slouching forwards in our upper back with our shoulders rolled forwards, therefore this is a perfect position to counter pose - do the opposite - to balance the body and to help correct forward rounded shoulders.
- Strengthens the abdominals and buttox muscles and builds upper body strength in the biceps, triceps and deltoids.
- Stretches the abdominals, muscles in the shoulders, chest and neck.
- Opens the heart: as we expand the chest we target both the physical and emotional heart and relieve tightness in upper back, where we according to yogic philosophy store emotions, like guilt and sadness.
How to own your cobra:
Lie down on your stomach with your hands under shoulders to prepare. Take a deep breath in and press the ground away with the palms, pressing the feet, thighs and pubis into the mat. Keep your elbows slightly bent close to the body with your shoulders and chest broad but relaxed.
You can remain in a low cobra, with your chest only slightly raised of the ground or rise higher towards a full cobra. Only rise up as high as feels comfortable in the lower back. It is important to remember not to overdo any backbends including cobra pose. When practicing backbends (or any yoga poses for that matter) your breath is always your guide. If your breath becomes shallow or you find yourself using your breath to push through sensations it is a sign for you to back out of the pose slightly.
Now that you know many of the amazing benefits cobra pose has I advise you to give your cobra some extra love and awareness next time you practice, strike it like you mean it and open your heart to the world and to yourself.
Happy practicing,
Amanda
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Photo by Saara Oinonen
