Cobra pose (Bhujangasana)

Twenty seconds, one to three times. 

Start by lying facedown with your hands flat on the floor beneath your shoulders. 

Inhale and raise your head, shoulders, and upper chest off the floor, without bearing any weight on your hands. 

Focus on keeping your buttock muscles as tight as possible and your lower back meticulously in “neutral” as the foundation for the lift. 

Sandra says that if you tighten the buttocks, a strategy she learned from yoga master Vanda Scaravelli, “the spine just lightly lifts up and extends, growing into the pose.”