Bhujangasana, Zazen and Lahiri Mahasaya
August 24, 2025
8 min read
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{Body}
Bhujangasana aka cobra pose
Bhujangasana, or Cobra Pose, is a classic posture in hatha yoga, mimicking the graceful arch of a cobra raising its hood.
Feel free to try along as you read to discover the physical and energetic effects of this āsana:
Can you feel how when you lift your chest in Cobra, you begin reversing the effects of spending hours hunched over? Notice also how your heart rises above your pelvis, creating space in compressed organs and encouraging deeper breathing. The pose also strengthens the erector spinae muscles along your back (super important for overall strength – I talk about this more in the Practice section) while simultaneously opening your tight hip flexors and abdominals.
More subtly, Bhujangasana stimulates your sympathetic nervous system in a controlled way, building your capacity to handle stress while maintaining breath awareness. You can feel that activation right now through the spike in your heart rate. This also gently compresses your kidneys and adrenals, helping regulate them and support the energy production and detoxification process.
Most subtly, Bhujangasana opens the heart chakra and builds courage — it cultivates the fierce, protective energy of a serpent while maintaining groundedness through your pelvis and legs.
Read below to gain a few extra important tips for ensuring correct alignment while holding this shape:
{Mind}
Zazen: Watching, waiting
By far the most powerful practice I’ve engaged with during my meditation career is that of zazen, the Japanese Buddhist technique of ‘just sitting.’
Unlike every other practice on the market, zazen has no goal. You do not practice it to purify the mind, control thoughts, reframe negative experiences, reduce stress, expand consciousness, become a better version of yourself, transcend your current condition…
No, one practices zazen for the simple purpose of watching, waiting.
The soul has a game plan whether one is aware of it or not. The mind perceives and comments upon reality whether one tells it to or not. The body functions whether one is present for it or not.
Zazen converts these truths into a practice: just watch and wait; wait and watch.
With patience, while ‘just sitting’, the natural process of existence automatically reveals itself. You needn’t seek truth – you see for yourself how it all works. And through this process of neutral, clear seeing, one is spontaneously purified of the neuroses and diseases that plague the psychosomatic system.
I rarely speak about zazen in these newsletters because there is nothing to be said about it. The desire to sit arises → the body situates itself on the cushion → and consciousness occasionally becomes aware of itself. There is no way to make zazen more productive or effective, simply because there is no way to force oneself into being more aware than they currently are.
Allow me to “guide” you through a zazen session. Click below and just sit with me.
{Soul}
What could be more fulfilling, happy or expansive than making contact with the very Source of being?
Sure, toys are cool, games are fun, and relationships mean a whole lot. But they will eventually lose their appeal if you don’t make contact with their transcendental essence.
Find the Supplier that creates your toys. Find the Joy that allows for your games. Find the Light that constitutes your people. Only then will you be satisfied.
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