Kundalini Yoga Cobra Pose for Healthy Back

Hatha Yoga Posture for Healthy Back and Digestion 

Kundalini yoga’s terrific cobra pose is the next entry in our Free Online Illustrated Kundalini Yoga Poses and Exercises E-Book.  Here I would like to mention that Kundalini Yoga, as you can see, incorporates the postures and exercises from other types of yoga as well.  Specially hatha yoga.  In this way, Kundalini Yoga is like a superset of yoga poses and exercises and so is sometimes referred to as the Mother of all Yogas.

For those keen on Hatha yoga poses only, I will be creating a separate e-book which will tease out those poses that are traditionally considered part of Hatha yoga and which form the basis of many other types of yoga practice.

Cobra pose is one of those nice yoga postures, which is easy to do and bestows many, many important health benefits.  It is not only great for the health and flexibility of your back and spine, but is also excellent for regulating your digestive system and toning other abdominal organs.  Full benefits of this pose are listed below the illustrations in the practice instructions section.

From a chakra point of view, cobra pose works on your sex (swadhisthan), navel (nabhi), heart (anahata) and throat (vishuddhi) chakras.  That list should give you a good indication of how helpful this pose really is, as it works on four of the seven important chakras.

Below you will find two illustrations of cobra pose. In this case you can use either pose.  The first illustration shows cobra pose being done with straighter arms, while in the second the elbows are bent.  Either way, the benefits are very similar and you are welcome to pick either or do either from time to time.

Cobra pose can also be done with the eyes open or closed.  With eyes open, one should look up as that also helps tone the optical nerve and is beneficial for your eyes and vision.

Yoga Cobra Pose for Healthy Back

Picture of Kundalini Yoga Cobra Pose w/ Straight Elbows

Picture of Kundalini Yoga Cobra Pose  w/ Bent Elbows

Kundalini Yoga Cobra Pose Practice Details:

a. Step-by-Step Instructions for Kundalini Yoga Cobra Pose:

• Lie flat on the floor, stomach down and feet extended.
  
• Place your hands near your shoulders and then raise your upper body and torso up off the ground.  The upper thighs should remain on the floor.  You back should arch up.
  
• Turn your head up and look upwards as well.  Stretching your neck.
  
• You can either do Long Deep Breathing or do the Breath of Fire Breathing Exercise.
• As a variation, you can go up and down in cobra pose.  Coming up and breathing in, holding the position for a few seconds and then coming back down and exhaling.
  

b. Duration for Kundalini Yoga Cobra Pose:

• 15 Seconds – 7 minutes.
• Start slowly and build up your time steadily from there.
  

c. Benefits of Kundalini Yoga Cobra Pose:

• Very good for improving the health of the back and spine.  Good for toning all the back muscles and tissue related to the vertebrae.
  
• Massages all the digestive organs improving both digestion and elimination.  Works on balancing both the manipura (navel) chakra and the swadhisthan (sex) chakra.
• Works on all the nerve junctions that lie along the spine, as well as the important psychic channels that run through the spinal cord.
  
• Works on improving functions of the ovaries and reproductive glands.
  
• Works on the thyroid and para thyroid glands and the vishuddhi (throat) chakra.
  
• Opens up the heart chakra (anahata) promoting softness of character.
  
• Good for improving vision and toning the optical nerve.
  
• Builds upper body strength.  Specially the shoulders (deltoids), triceps and chest (pectoral) muscles.  This is more true if you use the modified version of cobra pose where you go up and down.
  

d. Practice Tips for Kundalini Yoga Cobra Pose:

• Careful with your lower back!  Do not over strain.
  
• Also, careful with the elbows if you are using the bent arm version.
• Going up and down in cobra pose is excellent for building strong arms, shoulders and chest muscles without risking injury.
  

Online Kundalini Yoga Kriyas Using Cobra Pose:

(Coming Soon).