Cobra Pose Benefits: Create Calm with these Easy Tips
/Have you been slumped at your desk all day?
Need an energy break that will calm and uplift?
Feeling stressed or overwhelmed?
Create Calm With Cobra Pose!
Cobra pose, aka baby cobra pose or snake pose, is one of the most frequently practiced yoga poses. It’s a great beginner backbend that helps lengthen and strengthen the spine, among other cobra pose benefits.
As part of the Sun Salutation, cobra yoga pose provides an opportunity to gently warm up the back muscles while stretching the front of the body, chest and shoulders.
Cobra pose offers the chance to explore several fun variations while also playing with various breathing techniques. Come on snakes, let’s hissssss…
Cobra Pose Benefits for Kids (and Grown-ups Too!)
Cobra yoga pose strengthens the back body muscles - hamstrings, glutes, and spinal extensors. While we lengthen the spine and lift the chest, it also opens the front side of the body, chest and throat and expands the breath.
Cobra pose also stretches and strengthen abdominal muscles, providing a gentle core work-out that improves posture!
Because we are lying prone with our bellies on the floor, cobra is one of our favorite yoga poses that calms the nervous system, stimulating the parasympathetic “rest and digest” response. It is a wonderful pose to help us feel calm, grounded and safe when stress or challenging life situations threaten to overwhelm.
Adding a hisss breath focuses and lengthens the exhale, which is a breathing technique in yoga that also quiets the mind while balancing our nervous system. Try breathing in as you lift to cobra and then hissing your chest back down to the floor.
Sing along to “La Serpiente” with Bridget to reap the benefits of cobra pose!
How To: Cobra Pose
Lie on your belly
Bring hands under the shoulders, palms down
Reach the legs long, press through the tops of the feet
Engage the thighs to gently lift the knees away from the floor
Extend tailbone back toward the toes
Draw elbows toward the sides of the body, rolling the shoulders back
Firm the belly in and up
Press palms into the floor, drawing heart forward and lifting the chest
Allow neck to follow the natural curve of the spine
Take a few cycles of cobra breaths - inhaling up and exhaling down
Then stay in the pose for 5-10 breaths
Elevate Your Curriculum
Did you know Yo Re Mi offers an array of children's movement, music and and mindfulness resources for your school? You can:
- Request a professional development workshop
- Join a 30-hour certified kids yoga teacher training
- Download our app for exclusive, ad-free videos and sequences
- Inquire about bringing our Yo Re Mi program to your school
Tips for Mastering Cobra Yoga Pose
If you are new to cobra pose remember it is important to engage through the abs and legs to support the lower back.
Moderate body weight in the hands. Focus on lifting with the muscles of the back and core. Eventually, you may be able to hover your hands off the floor in this pose.
Toes point straight back not allowing the feet to sickle inward. Reaching back through the big toe will help with this and also provide a wonderful stretch along the facial plane of the body.
Hug elbows alongside the body and relax shoulders away from the ears. Hug them into your torso - no chicken wings!
Relax your jaw and keep head in line with the spine. It’s tempting to look up in this pose but make sure you are keeping space along the back of the neck and think more about drawing the chest forward and up to deepen the pose.
Kid-friendly Cobra Pose Variations
Baby Cobra pose is the beginner version of cobra but there are lots of fun options available as you develop more length and strength along the spine.
Try pressing into the hands more to lift into full Cobra pose, making sure to keep the length all along the spine without crunching your low back.
If that feels good, extend the chest and head up and back, bend the knees touching your feet to your head in King Cobra Pose!
Still working up to these variations? Let’s have some fun while singing along with Dan to Slithery Snake, a story about a hungry snake looking for a yummy snack!
In many yoga classes, cobra pose is most commonly practiced as part of the basic sun salutation, also known as Sun A. It provides a perfect transition between Plank Pose and Downward-Facing Dog and frees up space for the breath at the beginning of practice.
Try a few rounds of our Sun Dance to get your heart pumping and your spine warmed up for deeper back bending poses like Bow Pose and Camel Pose.
After practicing several rounds of the Sun Dance and all of those fun backbends, balance the spine with a seated or reclined spine twist before heading into relaxation.
As you twist, see if you can maintain all of the length you have created with your practice. You might even notice you stand a little straighter and feel a bit taller as you go through your day!
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