Cobra Pose Benefits - Yoga Poses
Bhujangasana - Cobra pose. Cobra pose is a backbend position, made for opening our chest and shoulders. The classical variation of the pose is with straight legs, but bending the knees can be nice as well.
Backbends, in general, gives us energy, and connect us with our heart - Anahata chakra. In our society, those poses are very important. Our daily lives include a lot of activities that lean our shoulders forward and close our chest. Examples are driving, studying, computer and phone work, reading, writing, and sitting.
When doing backbends as bhujangasana it is important to remember to connect with your abdomen muscles, not to get pain and compression in your lower back. Lift your chest bone and squeeze your shoulder blades together while melting your lower ribs into your stomach, bread deeply into your chest.
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| Cobra Pose Yoga |
The serpent teaches us the power of transformation, the ability to shed our old skin and emerge a step closer to our luminous self. Letting go of whatever doesn’t work, make sense, or feels right anymore both within body and spirit. The serpent also reminds us that the ability to heal ourselves and those around us resides deeply in us, as a natural part of who we are. During asana, at times that I need to embrace the energy of the serpent, I indulge in slow movements, freeing up my spine and allowing to explore the space between coiling and expansion.
Cobra Pose has So many benefits. It is one of the first yoga poses we learn in our asana practice. It has so many benefits. Cobra pose has these benefits:
- Stretches muscles in the shoulders, chest, and abdominals.
- Decreases stiffness of the lower back.
- Strengthens the arms and shoulders.
- Increases flexibility.
- Improves menstrual irregularities.
- Elevates mood.
- Firms and tones the buttocks.
- Invigorates the heart.
Cobra pose (Bhujangasana), reduces hunching, back pain, low back pain, and myalgia of the back. The spine receives a powerful backward stretch. Each vertebra is pulled back and supplied with blood. The nerves and muscles of the spine are rejuvenated. This asana massages and tones the back muscles, particularly in the lumbar region.
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Psychological and Energetic Benefits of Backbends
Our body’s natural response to danger is to curl in, protecting our most vulnerable part – our HEART, both the physical heart and the energetic heart space. Backbends do the very opposite action opening us up to the world. We are exposing ourselves and that takes courage – but also builds more of it! Overcoming our fears on the mat can give us courage off the mat too.
Sometimes when I posted photos of deeper backbends, I received comments like “my back hurts looking at this”. It’s kinda sad that there are people who associate backbend with pain. Backbend doesn’t have to be painful. If it’s painful, it’s either you are not properly warmed up for backbends, or you are pushing yourself beyond your limits.
By warm-up, I don’t mean just by getting your body warm & sweaty. You need to do backbend specific type of warm-ups. And if it’s a deep backbend, you’ll need to raise the intensity of the warm-up too. If you still feel pain even with the adequate warm-up, you will have to take a step back to the point where you don’t feel pain. Yoga is about letting go of our egos listen to what our body is telling us & respect our limitations. Try to focus less on how the pose looks from outside, and focus more on how we feel while in the pose.
I think one of the biggest challenges we have to face in this life is to deal with stillness. Accepting to stand and observe. We tend to distract ourselves from them, by running from one thing to another. We find excuses and convince ourselves we are filling the blank of boredom. Truth is, we are actually escaping our own true selves. We purposely run away from silence and stillness because it's simply harder to face and sustain. So, next time you witness yourself escaping from silence and stillness, challenge yourself, push yourself. Only through silence and stillness can we observe and see the world through a more mindful, truthful way.
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| Cobra Yoga Pose - Yoga Tips & Tricks |
Have you ever felt certain emotions surfacing while doing deep backbends? In the yoga tradition, backbends are so closely related to Anahata chakra or heart chakra. That is why we often refer to backbend poses as heart openers. Backbends can sometimes be so stimulating and potentially give you a strong rush afterward, but they could also be challenging emotionally.
I read so many stories about yogis experiencing certain emotions like sadness, anger, or even flashback to their past trauma while doing backbends. I personally have not experienced these types of emotions before but oftentimes my fear would dominate me in deep backbend poses and entries to backbend from standing. How about your experience? Please share🙏🏼🤍