भुजंगासन
Bhujangasana — Cobra Pose
bhujaṅga = serpent — rising like a cobra's hood
From the floor, the chest rises like a cobra's hood — the seventh step of Surya Namaskar.
In the simplest words
Lie on your tummy, put your hands under your shoulders, and slowly lift your chest up like a snake raising its head to look around. Keep your legs lazy on the floor — only the top half rises.
What it is
Lying face down, palms under the shoulders, the chest peels up and forward while the hips stay rooted — the cobra raising its hood. The lift should come from the back muscles first, the hands only assisting: a true test is to hover the palms for a breath and see what stays. Done softly it undoes a day of sitting like almost nothing else; inside Surya Namaskar it is the heart-opening seventh step, greeted with "Om Hiranyagarbhaya Namah".
Before you practise — health first
Skip with pregnancy, hernia, recent abdominal surgery or acute lower-back pain. Low is beautiful: pinching in the lower back means come down at once.
Getting into it
Lie face down, legs together, tops of the feet on the floor, palms under the shoulders, elbows hugging the ribs.
Inhaling, lengthen the chest forward and up — forehead, then chin, then chest.
Keep the elbows bent and close; shoulders melting away from the ears.
Hips and pubic bone stay grounded; the lower back stays long, never pinched.
Exhaling, lower slowly — chest, chin, forehead — and rest a breath before repeating.
The breath
Rise on the inhale, hold with soft breath, lower on the exhale.
What it is kept for
Countering the hunched-over day, strengthening the back, opening chest and breath.