How to Assume the Cobra Pose in Yoga

Video Transcript

"Ever notice at the end of the day that your low back is nagging at you? The Cobra pose is a great way to stretch your lower back muscles. Namaste. I'm Cindy Mastry and Willy is going to help me demonstrate the Cobra pose. We're going to ask Willy to lie down on his tummy. Good. Forehead down and just try to generally lengthen his body. Good. We want his toenails to press down into the ground and just leave his legs, his toes on the ground. He's going to bring his hands underneath the shoulders. Good. Now I want him to think about lengthening the crown of the head forward, so the back of the neck stays long. And he's going to inhale and lift up with that length still think about lengthening, pulling length out of your spine and forward, opening up through his heart, squeezing his elbows in as if he was holding a beach ball behind him and shooting his chest forward. Good. Now if it's okay for you, you can look forward and let your head tilt back a little bit. But, if you have any neck issues, you might want to leave the neck down, so that you have those long line. Good. And so, he's pressing his chest forward. He's internally rotating his thighs and squeezing them and reaching hist toes back. So he's drawing length out of the spine. Now he needs to tilt his tail bone down, draw his belly button off of the mat and his pubic bone towards the belly button. And you need to do that because if not, you could possibly get some pinching and crunching back here in the lower part of your back, and that's what we're trying to avoid. So we're trying to draw length out of the spine. So if you feel any compression back here, be sure to tilt your tail bone, draw your belly button in and then reach the chest forward. Cobra pose to relieve low back pain. Namaste."