Bhujangasana | Cobra Pose
(boo-jang-GAHS-anna)
bhujanga = serpent, snake
Benefits
- 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.
Modifications and Props
- Keep a deeper bend in the elbows to decrease angle in low back
Preparatory Poses
- Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
- Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
Contraindications and Cautions
- Back injury
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Headache
- Pregnancy
Deepen
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. Bend the knees and touch the feet to the crown of the head.