In Cobra Pose do not use your hands. Snakes do not have hands.

I can vividly remember being told by the teacher of a Bikram-style, Hot Yoga class that snakes do not have hands so I should not be using my hands when lifting into the shape. That cue was burned into my brain and I eventually found myself using the cue when guiding my own classes.

Yes, it is true. Snakes do not have hands. Cobra Pose is meant to emulate the scaled reptile, yes? So why would one use their hands when coming up into the backbend?

By no means am I saying you have to use your hands in Cobra Pose. I just find the cue about snakes kind of silly. It’s a well-intentioned cue that doesn’t actually inform students as to why they wouldn’t use their hands in the shape.

Don’t Use Your Hands

When you do not use your hands to lift up into Cobra Pose you might find that you’re utilizing more of your paraspinal and upper back muscles to peel your chest away for the floor. For some, this is a tricky area to physically activate and inviting people to not use their hands can be an awesome way to encourage people to recruit those muscle groups.

Use Your Hands

I don’t typically encourage students to instantly push down into their hands to get their chest up in Cobra Pose because it often turns into a pseudo-Upward Facing Dog. However, I regularly encourage students to use their hands to traction their chest forward. Rather than just pushing down, in the shape you can create the action of dragging your hands back in order to pull the chest forward.

Do Both!

At the time of this blog entry I am currently teaching this exact approach and it seems to be reasonating with a lot of students.

I initially have students lift up into Cobra Pose without using their hands to help activate their backside muscles. Then, once they’re up for a breath, I have them use their hands to press down and pull the chest forward into a more lifted, leveraged version of the shape.

Try it on!

I see value in all of the approaches. For me, the intention and reasoning behind the approach is more valuable than the shape itself.