A Poem for Cobra Pose

" Rise up and become a guide / from beyond who says, Be true to yourself, / that is all there is. " -- from Cobra Pose, by Corie Feiner

Hello yogis, poets, and seekers of inspiration! 

I am excited to share my poem, Cobra Pose, with you today. 

So much comes to mind when I think of a cobra – fear, reverence, power, protection…

So much of my body speaks when I stretch my spine and open my heart in this pose. 

So much can happen at any given moment, if we let it, and we can fall in love with everything around us. Including ourselves.

When I wrote the poem, Cobra Pose, it was as if the poem was a guide to not only move us through a body position, but move us through a journey towards humility and the strength to protect what we love in this world.

Without further delay… here is the poem–

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Cobra Pose 

  

When you lift your head, shoulders,

and chest from the floor, and slowly 

 

arch your back into cobra pose, 

let your breath rattle through you 

like wind. Let it be what lifts and drops, 

 

lifts and drops your spine, let it be 

a prayer to master your fears. Hold it

 

for one extra breath, stretch your neck 

into a threatening hood so that you can protect

all that you have ever loved. 

 

Shed your old skins of who you thought 

you were and how you thought everything

 

should be. Rise up and become a guide 

from beyond who says, Be true to yourself, 

that is all there is. 

 

And learn, again, to be in love with the ground. 

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What comes to mind for you when you think of cobras or cobra pose? What is your relationship with this pose? 

Credit: Ali Rasheed

If you are a yoga teacher, how would you use this poem in a class?

 

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If you are not familiar with Cobra Pose, here are two of my favorite websites/journals that explain it beautifully: 

Yoga Journal

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