Cobra Pose

The Cobra Pose can be done by:

1. Begin by lying on your belly and extend your legs out behind you with the tops of your feet connected to the ground.

2. Place your hands under your shoulders, drawing your elbows in close to your body.

3. Activate your legs, extending your toes back away from you and pressing the tops of your feet into the ground. Lift your chest and head forward and up, while drawing the abdomen firmly in and keeping the lower ribs on the floor. Keep your elbows close to your body, opening the front of the chest and drawing your shoulders down and back. Use the strength of your lower back to lift up instead of your arms. You can even hover the palms of your hands for a moment above the ground to make sure they are not working.

4. Now, you can either repeat this fluid motion of lifting down and up a couple of times or choose to come a little further into the opening of the chest.

5. To come further, keep spreading your fingers apart as you push slowly but steadily through the arms and lift the chest and head up a little more, allowing the lower ribs to come off the floor. If you do not have pain in your neck, you can look up towards the ceiling, keeping the neck long and chest open; otherwise, just keep looking forward or slightly down.

6. Keep listening well to your body, and do not go past what feels naturally good.

7. Keep the eyes gazing either upwards or towards your nose and stay here for at least five steady breaths.

8. To come out of the pose lower your body down slowly lower down onto your belly, resting the head on the ground.