Today’s pose is: Bhujangasana or Cobra Pose
Bhujangasana or Cobra Pose is often associated with Surya Namaskara or Sun Salutations. However, this pose stands — or rather lies — well on its own. Isolate it in your practice to help you align correctly and benefit from this great chest opener and back strengthening pose.
Cues: Lie on your stomach and stretch legs long with toes pointed. In the traditional pose, the palms of the hands align by the pelvic region. A more accessible position is to align hands at the chest. Keep the neck spine long, contract the triceps and engage the gluts lightly as you come to lift the torso off the mat by a few inches.
As you continue to refine your pose, consider these additional cues … Press lightly down and back with hands, draw shoulder blades down,
broaden the collar bones and resist pressing the ribs forward. The hip points can narrow as you draw tailbone down and lift pubis toward naval.
Benefits: Bjuangasana can strengthen the muscles in your back to help alleviate disc pain. It is a great chest opener, especially when you follow the cues to draw shoulder blades down, broaden the collar bones and lift the chest, but not push out the ribs. A way to access the strengthening aspects of the pose and get the alignment integrated into your muscle memory is to repeat it several times. Inhale and come up, exhale release down. Repeat for several rounds.
Modifications: Our pose is shown with the head drawing back. To alleviate or avoid shoulder or next pain, practice the pose with your head facing forward. A common misalignment happens with the elbows which can create neck and shoulder unease. Keep the triceps firm and the elbows in close to your side body. Some complain of low back pain in this pose. This can be caused by not lengthening the spine with your inhale. Keep your spine long and do not come up as high because a baby cobra can be even more powerful!