Thor Does the Yoga Cobra Pose?!

Desperate times call for desperate measures! My back is all sorts of messed up from countless hours of working at a less-than-ergonomic desk. The countless hours of work came back to haunt me last Monday when my back decided it needed some down time.

Days later I could still hardly get out of bed without severe pain, so I went to visit my chiropractor. After a couple days of excruciatingly painful adjustments, I had made some progress but was still pretty much unable to sit or stand without pain.

My wife suggested (once again) that I should try Yoga. She showed me the Cobra pose (who comes up with these names anyway?) and I figured what the hell – its worth a shot.

The key to this pose is to completely relax all of your muscles while you lay face down on the floor. Anyone who has experienced muscle spasms associated with back pain knows how hard it is to get them relax. After a few minutes of trial and error I was able to completely relax my back as I laid on the floor.

Next I placed my hands flat on the floor and VERY SLOWLY pushed my chest upward in a push-up like motion. Every step of the way I had back pain that would cause the muscles to cease up again and I would just hold the pose until I was able to relax into the pain. Then I went further.

Soon I was successfully into the pose and holding it. After about a minute I let myself down again, very slowly. The last part of the pose is to completely relax again and “melt into the floor.”

As I focused on relaxing I felt a pop around my L5 vertebrae. I was a little stunned because I am used to having to twist or contort my body to get my back to crack. After a minute or so I stood up and had noticeable less pain than when I started.

Over the next two days the pain and stiffness continued to subside. I still have some muscle pain from my back muscles contracting for days on end, but I am able to move again, work again, and most importantly blog again 🙂

I probably won’t become a Yogi anytime soon, but there is definitely something to gaining flexibility through Yoga. I have seen it for myself!