Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana): How To Practice, Benefits And Precautions

Cobra pose or Bhujangasana is one of the best yoga asanas for those with back pain. Here's how you can practice it and the precautions you should take while doing this pose.

Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose) is a heart-opening pose that extends your entire upper body and can help if you're suffering from back pain, shoulder tightness, or upper-body soreness.

Experts recommend moving carefully into this pose to avoid stressing your back. Make sure the backbend is distributed evenly across your spine. Bending your upper back is more difficult than bending your lower back. Consider extending your spine to provide more room between the vertebrae to open it up.

How To Do The Cobra Pose

1. Lie on a mat with your feet hip-distance apart and your hands beside your ribs.
2. Straighten your big toes and press down your feet into the floor to engage your quadriceps.
3. Rotate your inner thighs toward the ceiling to expand the lower back.
4. Lift your head and chest, rotating your shoulders back and forth, while lightly pressing down with your hands.
5. Maintain a long back of the neck and elevate your sternum rather than your chin when lifting your chin.
6. Straighten your arms while maintaining a shoulder distance from your ears. Maintain a small bend in your elbows at all times.
7. Release back to your mat to exit the stance.
8. Do the pose 4-5 times.

Benefits

Some of the common health benefits of the cobra pose are as follows:

• For someone with back problems, this yoga pose can be beneficial
• Doing the cobra pose for long can help manage stress and anxiety
• It also helps in relieving menstrual pain and managing period irregularities
• Bhujangasana helps in reducing the stiffness of the lower back
• It firms and tones the buttocks
• Massages the intestinal tract
• Improves the body's blood circulation
• Builds shoulder, upper back and spine strength
• It can help with slipped discs, back discomfort, and sciatica

Precautions

One should be careful at all times while doing either yoga poses or any other form of exercise to avoid injuries. Here are some of the precautions that you should avoid while doing Bhujangasana or cobra pose:

• Don't keep your body stiff
• Pregnant women should avoid doing the pose
• Don't put too much pressure on yourself when practising it
• Keep your buttocks loose during Cobra posture as they tend to tense up naturally
• Make sure your arms aren't straight. Maintain an outward angle with your elbows
• See a yoga expert if you suffer from any underlying condition
• Avoid hurting your back while trying to raise your body too high

Beginner's Tip: The focus should be more on creating strength in the upper back, between the shoulder blades. Make sure you don't come as high in the pose if you feel any discomfort in the lower back.