Yoga Poses – Cobra – Bhujangasana

Do this in easy stages. Lie down on your mat, legs tightly together and stretched back, heels of the feet together, forehead on the floor. Put your hands, palm down, fingers together, thumbs open, just under your shoulders.

Imagine a cord at the top of your head extending outwards like an energetic extension of your spine. Inhale slowly and raise your head imagining your head being drawn upwards by this cord, feel your neck extending by the vertebra lengthening as they are drawn upward by the cord.

Next use your arms to push your upper body up continuing the extension from the top of your head into the vertebra of the back. Contract the anus and muscles of the buttocks. Maintain the sense of the cord lengthening the spine. Make sure you are not compressing the place where the skull sits on top of the neck by overextending at that point. If there is any pressure in the back of your neck, your probably are overextending.

Lift upwards, lengthening through the spine, through the neck up through the cord at the top of your head, until you are bending in a beautiful arc from your lower spine to the back of your neck. You need go no further than this.  You should feel no strain in the lower back, and remember to keep the heels of the feet together. My own advice is to not extend beyond 70% of your capacity, remember yoga isn’t stretching!

If you are supple enough, you can now straighten your arms further.  Make sure that you are not lifting the shoulders toward your ears, keep the shoulders down and the front of the shoulders open, with a feeling of lifting and opening from the sternum in the center of your chest.

Bend the legs at the knees and drop your head back towards your feet following the extension of the cord. Even if your head goes nowhere near your feet, imagine the cord touching the middle of your feet while maintaining the lengthening of the vertebra and hold the posture with deep breathing. 

Consciously relax the diaphragm as you breathe and look to find exactly where the energy is needed to maintain the posture. See if you can relax around these areas that are actually necessary to maintain the pose so that you are not exerting more energy than you need to. Keep breathing as deep into your body as you can without tension or strain for five breath cycles.

Come out of the posture very slowly, returning to the face prone posture. Relax fully and consciously with your head to one side. Repeat.

Yoga Pose Cobra – Bhujangasana is beneficial for opening the chest and shoulders, activates the kidneys and is helpful for stress, diabetes, heart disease and IBS.

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