I’m never fully explored yoga, but I’m devoted to the pursuit of supreme health and well-being. I’m convinced of the applicability of power posing after reading the studies and I’m ready to take it a step further by incorporating an ancient practice.

As a twenty something in the midst of my playing career, I flirted with yoga. I had big muscles then, making those classes sheer misery. The postures were torturous, and I hadn’t discovered my inner tenacity to push through the pain for the perceived upside of the Om. I knew I was inflexible, but that wasn’t motivation enough. To share my precise state of mind at the time, I asked a yoga instructor if practicing the art would make it more difficult to hold mass. When he couldn’t answer the question with an affirmative “no,” I was out. While I might not be all in yet, I comprehend the true upside potential these days. Boosted immunity is a perpetually hunted benefit round here. From yogajournal.com:

When you contract and stretch muscles, move organs around, and come in and out of yoga postures, you increase the drainage of lymph (a viscous fluid rich in immune cells). This helps the lymphatic system fight infection, destroy cancerous cells, and dispose of the toxic waste products of cellular functioning.

You know how we feel about taking the first step. We don’t have to see the whole staircase. As such, I picked the Cobra Pose to start practicing, in large part because it looked like it would feel good. The Cobra Pose is utilized to strengthen the spine and ass as well as stretch the chest, shoulders, and abs. The poses Sanskrit name is Bhujangasana and comes from the words bhujanga, meaning serpent, and asana, meaning posture. Most importantly, the name incorporates a badass snake, so we can avoid feeling emasculated by the fact that we are performing yoga (I kid, relax). Here are the steps I followed, from yogaoutlet.com:

1. Begin by lying face-down on the floor with your legs extended behind you, spread a few inches apart. The tops of your feet should rest on the mat — do not tuck your toes, as this can crunch your spine.
2. Place your hands under your shoulders with your fingers pointing toward the top of the mat. Hug your elbows in to the sides of your body.
3. Press down through the tops of your feet and your pubic bone. Spread your toes.
4. Inhale as you gently lift your head and chest off the floor. Keep your lower ribs on the floor.
5. Draw your shoulders back and your heart forward, but do not crunch your neck. Keep your shoulders dropped away from your ears.
6. Beginners and those with neck pain should keep their gaze toward the floor. Those with more flexibility can bring their gaze to the sky.
7. Begin to straighten your arms, lifting your chest off the floor. Press the tops of your thighs down firmly into the floor. This is Low Cobra.
8. Do not push yourself away from the floor, forcing the backbend. Instead, allow the lift to come as a natural extension of your spine. There should be almost no weight on your hands — you should be able to lift your palms off the mat for a moment while in the pose.
9. Only straighten your arms as much as your body allows. Deepen the stretch as your practice advances, but avoid straining to achieve a deeper backbend. If your flexibility permits, you can straighten your arms all the way while maintaining the connection of the front of your pelvis and legs with the floor. This is High Cobra.
10. Actively press your shoulder blades into your upper back. Keep your elbows hugged in to your sides. Broaden across your collar bones and lift your heart. Glide the tops of your shoulders away from your ears. Distribute the length of the backbend evenly through your entire spine.
11. Hold the pose for up to 30 seconds. To release, exhale as you slowly lower your chest and forehead to the mat. Turn your head to the right, resting your left ear on the mat. Relax your arms alongside your body. Repeat the pose up to five times.

I’m not diving into yoga yet, but I have to say that the hormone benefits of this specific pose are attractive. Here at KL, we encourage natural sourcing of testosterone for power production. From a 2004 human physiology study posted at springer.com:

Cortisol, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and aldosterone were measured in the blood serum of healthy subjects who adopted the cobra posture (bhujangasana), a key posture of hatha yoga. The subjects were trained in yoga; blood samples were taken before and after the exercise at an interval of no more than 5 min. As revealed with a new confidence interval–evaluating method developed by A.I. Ivanov, cortisol decreased by 11% with a reliability of 0.99 in all subjects, while testosterone increased by 16% with a reliability of 0.95. Changes in DHEA and aldosterone varied. Proceeding from ideas about motor–visceral interactions, the authors hypothesize that, when the subjects adopted the cobra posture, the production of steroid hormones was controlled by neural mechanisms.

That’s right; perform the Cobra Pose in the on deck circle, youngstas. Bombs, bullets, lasers and other tools of war are inevitable.

Kap