Bhujangasana aka: Cobra
(boo-jang-GAHS-anna)
bhujanga = serpent, snake
Exercise: Draw your legs close together with your feet pointing straight back. Keep the back of your neck long as you curl your head and look up. Press your knuckles and fingertips firmly against the floor keeping your arms tight.
Physical Benefit: Improves posture.
Mental Benefit: Energizes the mind.
Cobra Pose
With Cobra Pose, or Bhujangasana, you'll build tremendous upper body strength.
Advantages
The root of Bhujangasana is bhujanga, which is Sanskrit for "serpent". Although you'll find this posture in many yoga styles, practitioners of Kundalini Yoga believe that this is one of many poses that awakens the coiled energy at the base of the spine.
The benefits of performing this posture include:
* A more open chest, which improves breathing and lessens asthma symptoms
* Reduced sciatica symptoms
* Relieved stress
Step Into the Pose
Perform Cobra Pose:
1. Stretch out on the floor, hands at your sides with the tops of the feet resting on the floor.
2. Exhale, and press the lower body firmly downward.
3. Inhale and press into the palms as you lift the chest, hinging from the lower back.
4. Make sure your lower body is connecting to the floor and the shoulders are down from the ears.
5. Leave a bend in the arms or straighten the arms completely.
6. Breathe evenly. You shouldn't feel any strain in the back at all.
7. Hold the pose for 15-30 seconds, and come out of the pose into Child's Pose or Downward Facing Dog Pose.
This is not a pose to do if you are pregnant or have a back injury.
Beginner Tips
The power of this pose comes from the arms, not the back or legs. Tighten the buttocks slightly, but don't rely on them to hold the posture. If you have weak wrists, roll up the edge of your yoga mat to support your palms.
* Strengthens the spine
* Stretches chest and lungs, shoulders, and abdomen
* Firms the buttocks
* Stimulates abdominal organs
* Helps relieve stress and fatigue
* Opens the heart and lungs
* Soothes sciatica
* Therapeutic for asthma
* Traditional texts say that Bhujangasana increases body heat, destroys disease, and awakens kundalini.
* Back injury
* Carpal tunnel syndrome
* Headache
* Pregnancy
Don't overdo the backbend. To find the height at which you can work comfortably and avoid straining your back, take your hands off the floor for a moment, so that the height you find will be through extension.
If you are very stiff it might be better to avoid doing this pose on the floor. Brace a metal folding chair against a wall, and do the pose with your hands on the front edge of the seat, balls of the feet on the floor.
Your partner can help you learn about the correct action of the pelvis in a backbend. Once in the pose, have your partner straddle your legs. He/she should bend over and grip the sides of your pelvis, thumbs toward the sacrum, then spread the back of your pelvis, encourage your outer hips to soften, and push your hip points toward each other.
* Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
* Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
* Backbends
If you have the flexibility in the armpits, chest, and groins you can move into a deeper backbend. Walk the hands a little farther forward and straighten your elbows, turning the arms outward. Lift the top of the sternum straight toward the ceiling.
