A Poem for Sphinx Pose

"What if we could reclaim what it means to have enough courage that we protect all that we love, including ourselves?" -- from Sphinx Pose by Corie Feiner

When I set out to write, Sphinx Pose, I had so much fun researching the riddle of the sphinx from the ancient Greek tale of Oedipus, and the mythical sphinxes of Egypt built as protectors near the tombs of royalty and pharaohs.

The Sanskrit word for Sphinx Pose actually translates into something more along the lines of “supported cobra pose,” but the poetic-ness of embodying a sphinx when I rested on my forearms, opened my heart, and gently stretched my often sore back was just too… alluring.

The first line of the poem came quickly with the idea that the answer to the riddle of the Sphinx was within… and with the dare to love myself enough to spend some time with myself and be, again, in wonder.

The rest of the poem came after a lot of research, detours, deep breathing… and finally the version of Sphinx Pose that I have posted below.

If you have not tried Sphinx you can read more about it here, and if this yogic movement is a regular part of your practice, I offer you this poem to hopefully deepen this heart opening pose and imagine these words as you rise…

(…or if you are able to become a paid subscriber, you can hear an audio recording of me reading this poem here. But if this is not in your script right now, no worries, I have mad love for you all.)

Sphinx Pose

By Corie Feiner


The answer to the riddle of the sphinx lives 
on the ground where we press our bellies
and forearms to our mats and lift our chests 
as we reimagine ourselves with the body 
of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and a head
that wears the same crown as the sun. 

What if we could reclaim what it means
to have enough courage that we protect 
all that we love, including ourselves?  

What if in this breath, and then the next one,  
we hold ourselves long enough and still enough 
that we become a stone statue that will remain 
after all that we know is gone, and even 

if no one believes in serpents or mythical 
gods anymore who play jokes on each other
just for fun, we will remain in desert wind stillness 
and be studied for the wonder of the world that we are. 




Sanskrit Name: Salamba Bhujangasana

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Paid subscribers can listen to a spoken word recording of Sphinx Pose here.

Credit: Rebecca Nebert

This poem is for you to take into your practice and your studios. Enjoy it and remember, you are one of the wonders of the world.