These two poses get confused very often because they look quite similar. This is why we’re going to look at them both at the same time. Maybe it’ll help you keep them apart in the future.
Because they are really not the same!
Both are backbends and are really good for “opening your heart” as we say in Yoga. (It simply means stretching your chest muscles and the front of the body.)
But what the rest of your body does is a little differently in these two poses.
Cobra pose
Let’s start with cobra pose – Bhhujangasana in Sanskrit.
If you have back injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, are pregnant, or had recent abdominal surgery, skip this pose!
To get into Cobra pose you want to lay down on your belly, keeping your feet about hip width apart.
Plant your hands under your shoulders, as if you want to get into a pushup. (Don’t push up now though!)
Now, you press your pubic bone against the floor. Imagine you’re slightly tucking your lower belly in, this pulls your hip into a slight back tilt. Your legs stay relaxed.
Still with me? Good!
From here you can – on an in-breath – try to pick up your shoulders and upper body from the floor. But unlike a pushup, try to not press into your hands too much. Instead, see if your back muscles can slowly pull you up.
Keep your neck straight up and forward, don’t push it back.
It’s really important that you keep a long, lower back here. You do not want to feel any pressure in your lower back!
This is why we’re doing the hip movement, that little forward tilt. And this is why we’re not
pressing up into the hands. We don’t want compression in the lower back. Again, that’s
dangerous for your discs and can really hurt you.
Enjoy the stretch in the front of your body, especially specifically your chest and feel how it’s strengthening your back muscles.
And when you breathe out, slowly come back down.
Repeating this for a few breath cycles will increase your spine’s flexibility and over time really strengthen those back muscles.
In the beginning, it’s very likely that you won’t come off the floor a lot at all. And that’s okay! Again, the goal is not to have it look a certain way. The goal is to get these muscles working and stretched.
Upward Facing Dog
Upward Dog or Urdhva Mukha Svanasana looks very similar to Cobra pose, but it’s a little more active.
If you have back injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, are pregnant, or had recent abdominal surgery, skip this pose!
For this one, again, we start on our belly. But this time we put our hands next to our chest.
Now you make your legs really, really strong. Basically, you want to tense the muscles so much that your knees are slightly lifting off the floor.
Keep that strong feeling going and now push into your hands and lift your upper body up as well.
So now only your feet and your hands are touching the floor.
Again, keep a really long spine. You can achieve this by puffing your chest out, as if you were really proud of something.
Pull the lower belly a little bit in, so that your tailbone moves down a little and your lower back doesn’t get compressed.
Press your toes into the floor, to help with the strong legs.To me, it sometimes feels as if I’m “shooting” myself forward from the toes.
Keep your neck straight-ish. Unfortunately, on Social Media you can often see people yanking it back. But you don’t want to feel any compression here. Really listen to your body!
Upward Facing Dog is a strengthening pose. So it’s normal that in the beginning, it might feel really exhausting. If you can’t hold it for too long, just see it as a sign that you really have something to work on here and it’s working for you.
This pose will build a lot of strength for you over time. And it’s also a great counter stretch to the hunched forward position many of us have in daily life.
Do I need both Cobra pose and Upward facing dog?
Make sure to practice both Cobra pose and Upward Facing Dog pose separately from each other and take your time learning them. It’s really important to lay a good foundation with your form so that you keep your spine and especially your lower back safe.
Later when we go into flows, you won’t have that much time to set up every pose. So it’s important that you know what it feels like and how you need to move your body to have a safe stretch.