Avoid practice in case of injury to the spine, lower back, and shoulder. Also, women with pregnancy and ongoing menstrual cycle refrain from practicing Sarpasana. Practitioners suffering from a hernia, peptic ulcer, and intestinal tuberculosis should avoid doing snake pose. Practitioners can go through the following points in a sequence for the comprehensive and safe practice of the Sarpasana.

But the lower body in sarpasana is more activated than the bhujangasana, hence, strengthens the muscular aspects of that region. Most of the benefits of Sarpasana are similar to the Bhujangasana like a massage of the abdominal organs, core strengthening, and spinal flexibility.The chest is more open and the chin faces the front in Sarpasana, whereas the chin faces the ceiling and the chest is less open in Bhujangasana.Inner thigh, glutes, buttocks are more deeply engaged in snake pose than in cobra pose and both the feet are active and pointed in the back direction in the Sarpasana.From the front body, The hips touch the floor in the former pose while the floating ribs remain in contact with the floor in the latter one. The spine in Bhujangasana is more curved than in sarpasana.In sarpasana however, hands are interlocked behind the body and help in lifting the torso all the way through the spine. Hands in Bhujangasana are placed on either side of the body slightly outward from the shoulder, supporting the upper body weight.

But the symbolic representation of this aspect is because, when celestial beings (those who are more conscious and capably superior than humans) entered this dimension they took the form of a snake. In Yoga, the coiled-up snake symbolizes Kundalini (Subtle life force sitting at the Mooladhara). Historically, snakes or serpents represent fertility and creative life force or subtle energies. This resembles the humble aspect of practicing snake pose, which helps in keeping one’s ego in check. Snakes are reptiles that crawl and remain attached to the earth. So, the practitioners practicing this pose resemble the snake where the extended hands behind create a pull to lift the hood of the snake.

The Sarpasana is a Sanskrit term in which Sarpa means ‘Snake’ and ‘Asana’ means ‘Pose’. In classical Yoga, Sarpasana is considered as the building block for the further advanced practice of back bending Posture. Sarpasana strengthens the spine and also helps in relieving stress.ĭue to its dynamic approach, snake pose energizes the practitioner’s body and for the same reason, it has been included in the flow yoga sequence. This pose stretches the lungs, shoulders, chest, and abdomen with increased influence on the thoracic region. It is an advanced variation of the Bhujangasana, which has almost similar benefits. Snake pose is an intermediate prone yoga pose. Hamstring Muscles, thighs, Pelvic Muscles, glutes, buttocks, Hip flexors, shoulder, fingers, core, neck

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