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| Asana Analysis - Cobra/Bhujangasana: How Physical Therapists Can Incorporate this Yoga Pose Into Practice |
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by Lisa B. Minn, PT - July 13, 2010
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 Cobra/Bhujangasana:
This seemingly simple posture is actually much more difficult than it appears. It requires simultaneous ‘opening’ of the hips, shoulders and torso. The vast majority of people are tight in at least one of these areas if not all three. And for people who are flexible, this posture is one that is easy to cheat on by holding the posture in a passive manner without any internal support or stabilization.
Muscles Strengthened: Middle and lower trapezius, rhomboids, triceps, transverse abdominus, multifidus, thoraco-lumbar extensors
Muscles Stretched: Pectoralis minor, rectus abdominus, intercostals, iliacus, psoas
Points of Body Awareness:
*The feet and legs should press firmly into the ground. Traditionally the legs are together however hip-distance is fine as long as the legs are in a neutral position and not splayed outward.
*Can you rise up from the ground like a cobra? Rather than peeling up from the floor, try rising up first from the lower back by using your abdominals. Then continue to come away from the floor segmentally, from the lower spine. The head is the last thing to come up. This is especially important for those who are flexible and need to incorporate more stability into their poses.
*Is there any compression or pinching in the low back? If so, come back down and try again or try a modification.
*Notice the alignment of your shoulders. Are they hunched up toward the ears? Are they rounded forward? Try to draw the shoulders down and back to lengthen the collar bones and open the heart.
*Lengthen down through the arms but make sure that your elbows are not hyperextending.
*Keep the gaze strait ahead. Lengthen through the crown of the head.
*This can be an excellent posture for facilitating deep breathing. Try to draw the inhalations to the bottom of your lungs. Exhale slowly through the nose.
To Modify: A folded blanket or block can be used under the pelvis to decrease the stretch on the hip flexors. Make sure that the pubic bone is fully supported by the prop. For less spinal extension ROM try sphinx posture, propped up on the elbows or mini-cobra which I will describe in detail next week.
PT Notes: Most PTs are very familiar with ‘prone props’ and the benefits and precautions of spinal extension exercises. What differentiates cobra from ‘prone props’ is the incorporation of total body awareness. Sure, the lumbar extension may help to centralize a herniated disc but we can use cobra to assess and/or treat tightness in the anterior body, train scapular awareness and to improve respiration.
See Mike Reinhold’s recent musings on why cobra might be an exercise that is undervalued and underused by PTs.
See Yoga Journal for more details.
 Lisa Minn is a licensed physical therapist and yoga enthusiast. She has been incorporating aspects of Yoga and Pilates into her physical therapy practice since 2001 and became a certified yoga instructor in 2004. Her experience ranges from working with athletes at West Point and Georgetown to instructing elderly and wheelchair-bound clients in the fundamentals of Hatha Yoga. Lisa has conducted several lectures and workshops across the US, as well as in Honduras and Peru, where she volunteered her services. She currently resides and practices in Northern California. This and other articles by Lisa can be found at The Pragmatic Yogi.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
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