For Beginners: Bhujangasana

Like many backbends, Cobra Pose is a heart opener, subtly releasing held emotions within the rib cage to bring greater joy within the body.

By Shiva Rea

Coming into Cobra

Let's come to the floor and find the pathways between these landmarks within Bhujangasana. Lying flat on your belly, bring your hands under your shoulders with your forehead touching the floor. Begin some of the actions of the full pose while you are still in the starting position: Draw your shoulder blades down your back, lifting the shoulders off the floor and creating space around your neck. Hug your elbows back and into your body. Now activate your legs by pointing your toes away from you and pressing the tops of your feet into the floor. As you firm the tops of your thighs and ground your feet, let only your knees lift off the floor slightly. Then press your pubic bone (the bony point several inches below your navel) into the floor to stabilize your lower back and broaden the sacrum. Pause for a moment and feel your awareness spread throughout your body.

On an inhalation, begin to lift your chest off the floor while maintaining your connection through your pubic bone to your legs. Coming into Cobra, it's tempting to go for height and push the torso up with the strength of the arms, but height isn't the goal; the goal is extension in the spine and opening in the chest. To find the height at which you can work comfortably and strengthen the back instead of straining it, take your hands off the floor for a moment, so that the height you find will be through extension. Replace your hands under your shoulders, squeeze your elbows in, breathe into your chest, and on an exhalation lower down. Try several rounds of inhaling slowly up into this basic Cobra and then exhaling down to the starting position. As you do this, see if you can feel all of the alignment landmarks coming alive—sternum to pubis, crown of the head to your toes, until it feels as if there is one current running up the front of your spine and down the back of your legs. You can also stay for five to 10 breaths in this basic backbend, strengthening your back, opening your heart, and relaxing more deeply into the pose even though it is quite active.

Eventually, with the guidance of a teacher, you can begin to press down through your hands, straighten your arms, and extend up into a full Cobra. But beware: It is easy to get drawn into the allure of height in a backbend before the necessary strength and flexibility are in place, and to jam the lower back. So be patient. Think of creating extension within your spine first and foremost. When you are done with the pose, rest on your belly with your head to the side and enjoy the positive residuals of Bhujangasana, when the entire body is like a dry field freshly irrigated.

Shiva Rea teaches flow (vinyasa) based yoga integrating alignment and intuition, strength and fluidity, meditation and wisdom in action at Yoga Works in Santa Monica, California, and UCLA's World Arts and Cultures Program. She is the author of the home practice CD, Yoga Sanctuary, and leads workshops and adventure retreats worldwide. She can be contacted through www.yogadventures.com.

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