Rising Into the Woman You Were Always Meant to Be with Cobra Pose: ‘Bhujangasana’
There's something profoundly beautiful about the moment when a woman decides to rise. Not in the frantic way we've learned to do—juggling demands, pushing through exhaustion, climbing ladders that may not even be leaning against the right wall. But in the way of the cobra: deliberate, graceful, emerging from the earth with quiet power and undeniable presence.
Bhujangasana, the Cobra Pose, arrives in your practice like a gentle revolution. In a world that has taught you to shrink, to apologize for taking up space, to carry the weight of everyone else's needs on your shoulders, this pose asks you to do something radical: lift your heart and claim your light.
Sometimes in yoga class, the instructions might feel overwhelming for what appears to be such a simple movement. But here's the truth that your younger self knew instinctively—the most profound transformations often happen in the smallest, most intentional acts of self-love. Close your eyes. Let the noise of expectation fall away. Listen only to your breath and the voice that has been waiting patiently for you to remember who you are.
This isn't about achieving the "perfect" backbend you see in magazines. This is about using your breath to breathe life back into dreams that may have been buried under years of putting everyone else first. This is about releasing with each exhale—the tension you carry in your shoulders from holding it all together, the toxins of self-doubt, the outdated belief that your dreams matter less than everyone else's comfort.
As you press into the earth and lift your heart, you're not just opening your chest—you're opening to possibility. You're remembering that the woman who once dared to dream boldly is still there, waiting for you to rise and meet her again.
How to Practice Cobra Pose: Your Sacred Rising
Create your foundation with intention: Lie face down on your mat, extending your legs behind you with the tops of your feet kissing the earth. Feel this connection—you are supported, you are held, you are exactly where you need to be.
Plant your hands like promises: Place your palms on the floor beneath your shoulders, fingers spread wide like rays of the sun you're about to become. Draw your elbows close to your body, creating a cocoon of strength that honors both your power and your tenderness.
Rise with your breath: As you press the tops of your feet, your thighs, and your pelvis gently into the floor, breathe in deeply and begin to straighten your arms. Lift your chest forward and up, like your heart is leading the way back to who you were always meant to be.
Honor your edge: This is where the magic lives—at your personal edge, that sweet spot where you can feel the stretch, the opening, the possibility, without forcing or pushing. Your edge today might be different from yesterday, and that's not just okay—it's perfect. Stay here and breathe life into every cell.
Release and return: With your exhale, slowly lower back to the earth, not in defeat but in trust. Each time you rise and release, you're practicing the rhythm of a life lived authentically—knowing when to shine and when to rest, when to reach and when to receive.
Breathe into becoming: In this gentle rise and fall, you're not just moving your body—you're moving energy, shifting old patterns, making space for the woman who has been waiting to emerge.
The Gifts of Your Rising
When you practice Cobra with this intention, the benefits extend far beyond the physical. Yes, you're strengthening your spine—the very backbone that will support you as you step back into your power. You're opening your chest and lungs, creating space for deeper breaths and bigger dreams. You're stretching through your shoulders and abdomen, releasing the physical manifestations of stress and overwhelm.
But more than that, you're stimulating not just your abdominal organs, but your very core—that deep knowing place that has never forgotten what makes you come alive. You're soothing not just sciatica, but the deep ache of a soul that has been waiting too long to be seen and honored.
You're opening your heart not just anatomically, but emotionally—making space for the love affair with life that you may have put on hold while you poured yourself into everyone else's cup.
Fall in love with the Cobra Pose—and in doing so, fall in love again with the magnificent woman who rises each time you practice it. This pose is part of your Sun Salutation sequence, but it's also part of something much more profound: your salutation to yourself, your greeting to the dawn of who you're becoming.
Each time you rise in Cobra, you're not just practicing a yoga pose. You're practicing the art of rising again and again, no matter how many times life has asked you to lay low. You're remembering that your dreams, your desires, your voice—they all matter. They all deserve to rise.
Essential Oils to use with Cobra Pose
“COBRA pose, “Bhujanjasank,” is renowned for opening the heart chakra, Anahata. The OM Blend, as part of our Sacred Yoga Scents, is perfect to use in conjunction with your yoga practice.
Essential oils are used to enhance the vibration of intention, creating sankalpa, and OM is the mantra or vibration traditionally chanted at the beginning or end of a yoga session.
The OM Blend contains essential oils of rose and bergamot which soften the armour around the heart, opening heart felt desires, vibrating love, and compassion.
Cleopatra used to bathe in rose oil and petals, which is why it is known as the “Queen of essential oils.” There is no better oil than rose to connect with the heart. Rose brings comfort and warmth to those who have grown emotionally cold, healing emotional wounds. Rose oil comes from the steam distillation of the whole flowers, needing 4000kgs of flowers to make 1kg of pure rose oil, hence it’s one of the most expensive essential oils.
Bergamot oil is used to cheer your heart and soul and to release blocked emotions. It helps spark enthusiasm for life again, assists in feeling refreshed and uplifted and regulates emotional turmoil. Bergamot oil is also used in Earl Grey tea produced by cold pressing the rind of the Bergamot citrus plant.
To use, place the OM oil on your heart space and allow your heart to open allowing you to embody the pose of the cobra, shoulders back opening through the chest and opening your heart. Visualise a green light in the centre of chest and allow it to shine.”
Sharen Turner, Secret Scent Aromatherapy