Cow Face Pose (Gomukhasana) is a full physique stretch that improves your posture whereas dynamically stretching over 10 main muscle teams. With an expansive coronary heart, open hips, and rotated shoulders, this pose counteracts the detrimental results of sitting at a desk all day.
Training Cow Face Pose for simply 5 minutes a day may even relieve again ache, sciatic, stiff shoulders, and leg cramping. Right here is all the pieces it’s good to find out about reaping the advantages of Gomukhasana.
Favor video? Right here’s our full tutorial on how one can carry out the cow face pose:
Why is it referred to as Cow Face Pose?
Cow Face Pose is known as for the form that your physique creates whereas performing this dynamic asana. Your legs are the cow’s mouth, your torso is the top, and your arms are the ears. If you happen to nonetheless can’t see the “cow,” consider the crossed knees because the lips and the bent elbows as ears (one up and one down).
Pose Advantages
Cow Face Pose is understood for its coronary heart opening and hip opening advantages. Your shoulders, legs, and arms ought to really feel further relaxed after holding this pose for a couple of minutes. Gomukhasana is taken into account a restorative posture as a result of it removes stress from the physique and lets you calm down in a seated place. The opposite advantages embody:
- Hip opening: Stacking your knees on high of one another permits the hips to internally rotate and supply a deep stretch throughout the outer glutes. This asana can relieve hip stress and enhance flexibility for different poses that problem the hips.
- Lowered again ache: Cow Face Pose targets the deep connective tissues and fascia between your again muscle mass, which relieves stiffness all through the whole again, notably in your higher backbone and neck.
- Shoulder stretch: This posture rotates your shoulder sockets and gives a relieving stretch throughout your shoulder blades.
- Vitality enhance: If you happen to’re feeling fatigued, Cow Face Pose can reinvigorate your power ranges by channeling prana via all the physique’s main joints. When mixed with deep respiration, this posture is nearly like a day “decide me up.”
- Improved posture: If you happen to spend loads of time hunching over units, Cow Face Pose will help realign your backbone and relieve higher again ache.
- Chakra balancing: Gomukhasana is commonly included in yoga sequences designed to steadiness the 7 chakras. The posture includes actions of all 4 limbs and targets main stress factors in your joints.
Is Cow Face Pose a hip opener?
Cow Face Pose generally is a delicate or dramatic hip opener relying on the place of your knees and toes. For a deeper hip stretch, work in direction of stacking your knees on high of one another and bringing your toes away from the physique. For a better hip stretch, preserve the toes near your hips and permit your knees more room to every facet.
What muscle mass does Cow Face Pose stretch?
Cow Face Pose stretches, strengthens, and elongates the hips, ankles, shoulders, arms, and chest. The interlocking nature of this pose permits muscle teams to stay energetic whereas additionally elongating and relieving stress.
Find out how to do a Cow Face Pose: Step-by-Step Directions
Just like Eagle Pose, Cow Face Pose can really feel a bit like a human shoelace. As a substitute of tangling your limbs collectively, right here is how one can enter the posture with grounded, intentional alignment from the bottom up.
- Begin in a seated place or Dandasana (Workers Pose) together with your legs straight out in entrance of you and backbone straight.
- Cross your proper leg over your left and gently place your proper foot on the surface of your left knee. Then, shift the correct foot to the surface of the left hip.
- Then, bend your left leg and convey your left foot to the surface of your proper hip.
- Alter your legs in order that your proper knee is stacked on high of the left knee.
- For a deeper stretch, slowly scoot your heels towards the surface of your hips whereas conserving the knees bent as a lot as is snug.
- Together with your knees stacked and centered as a lot as potential, root into the mat together with your sit bones. Attempt to stay equally grounded on either side.
- Inhale, press into the mat together with your arms, and elevate your backbone upward to straighten. Maintain the core engaged to maintain your again supported.
- Convey your arms out to either side and bend the correct elbow. Tuck your proper arm behind your again and convey the highest of your hand urgent towards your backbone between your shoulder blades.
- On an exhale, convey the left arm straight up by your ear. Bend the left elbow and attain the hand down the center of your again.
- If potential, grasp your fingertips collectively. If you happen to can’t attain your arms collectively, use a strap or calmly press the arms into your again.
- On an inhale, lengthen your backbone once more to make sure you aren’t hunched over. Maintain your gaze straight forward and breathe deeply. Maintain fo4 1-2 minutes.
- Really feel the hips and shoulders rotating as you calm down into the posture.
- Once you’re finished, unclasp the arms and slowly launch your arms. Stabilize your arms on the ground and gently uncross your legs. Repeat on the other facet.
Ideas for Mastering the Pose
Cow Face Pose is among the finest yoga poses for counteracting all the issues related to extended sitting. Nonetheless, it’s good to be sure that you retain your backbone erect and your joints protected. There isn’t any disgrace in modifying the posture till you’re able to work towards the complete pose.
Right here’s our video on how one can method Cow face as a newbie:
Tip #1: When you have tight hips, elevate your sitting bones
Cow Face Pose is undeniably difficult on rigid hips. Most newbie yogis will profit from working towards Cow Face Pose on a folded blanket or a yoga block. Once you elevate your butt off the ground, it offers the hips more room to regulate to the posture. Experiment with completely different block positions (long-ways versus short-ways) and blanket changes till you are feeling snug with stacking your knees on high of one another.
Tip #2: In case your fingertips can’t clasp, use a strap
If you happen to can’t contact your fingertips collectively behind your again, don’t fear! Many people aren’t used to rotating our shoulders into such an open place. The quickest technique to advance your shoulder flexibility is to carry a yoga strap between your arms. This provides you extra size and lets you modify your grip so you’ll be able to ultimately interlock your fingertips between these shoulder blades.
Tip #3: Level toes sideways
The angle of your toes in Cow Face Pose can dramatically impression the consolation of your knees. Enable your toes to naturally level out to the edges so that you don’t find yourself straining your knee joints. Optionally, you’ll be able to flex the toes for extra muscle activation.
Widespread Errors
Yogis who rush into Cow Face Pose could really feel like a tangled mess. Keep away from these widespread pitfalls to make sure that you get pleasure from all the advantages of this asana with out hurting your again or your joints.
Widespread Mistake #1: Hunched again
Your backbone shouldn’t be curved ahead or uncomfortable in Cow Face Pose. As you attain your arms collectively, it’s pure to wish to hunch ahead to seek out the correct clasp. Nonetheless, this could damage your neck and result in extra of the postural points we are attempting to appropriate! Cow Face is meant to a heart-opening, chest-expanding posture. Keep upright!
Find out how to Repair It: Convey your gaze ahead and up. Don’t look down! Subsequent, sit up, take a deep inhale, and tighten your core. Think about your stomach button reaching again towards your backbone. Then, attain your arms nearer collectively behind your again to open your chest. If you happen to can’t attain, use a strap.
Widespread Mistake #2: Forcing your knees
Most yoga courses instructing Cow Face Pose embody the the cue “stack your knees on high of eachother.” Nonetheless, in case your hip flexibility isn’t fairly there but, you’ll be able to find yourself forcing your knees into an uncomfortable place.
Opposite to standard perception, you’ll be able to reap all the advantages of Cow Face Pose with out absolutely “stacking” your knees.
You shouldn’t really feel any ache in your joints throughout this posture! If you happen to do, it’s time so as to add a prop or modify.
Find out how to Repair It: Attempt coming into Cow Face Pose from a tabletop place. Lean ahead onto your arms after which cross your legs over one another. Press the underside knee into the again of the opposite knee. Retain this knee place. Then, separate your toes and sit again between them.
Add a block beneath your butt to elevate your hips and convey extra mobility to the knees.
Widespread Mistake #3: Sitting in your toes
Sitting in your toes is extremely uncomfortable and never vital. We aren’t little youngsters at story time! Get these toes out from below your butt and let your sitting bones anchor into the mat.
Find out how to Repair It: Maintain your tailbone firmly rooted on the ground. Enable your toes to naturally level towards the outer edges of your mat. The toes might be nearer to the surface of the hips for a lighter stretch, or they’ll transfer ahead (away from the hips) for a deeper stretch.
Variations
You possibly can modify Cow Face Pose for any talent stage.
Cow Face Pose with a Block
Probably the most beginner-friendly model of Cow Face includes a block or folded blanket. That is excellent for anybody with tight hips or stiff joints. To do it:
- Begin in a tabletop place with shoulders stacked over arms and hips stacked over knees.
- Convey the correct knee into the “ditch” behind the left knee so they’re crossed.
- Unfold your toes out to the facet so there’s area beneath your butt. Place a block proper there.
- Then, preserve your knees bent as you sit again between your toes onto the block.
- Sit up, elongate the backbone, after which transfer into the Cow Face arm place.
Over time, keep in mind to not rely an excessive amount of on the block otherwise you’ll by no means advance!
Cow Face Pose with a Strap
If you’re having bother greedy your arms behind your again, maintain a yoga strap (or belt or rope) within the higher hand as you attain again. Seize onto the other finish of the strap as soon as your arms are behind you. Use stress to tug on the strap and stretch your shoulders open. Slowly work in direction of inching your arms nearer collectively alongside the size of the strap.
Cow Face Pose in a Chair
For aged or newbie college students, Cow Face can be practiced in a seated place in a chair. The legs might be crossed or stay impartial whereas the coed focuses on the shoulder stretch with their backbone straight up towards the assist of the chair.
Reclined Cow Face Pose
For a extra restorative model of Cow Face Pose (Gomukhasana), you’ll be able to get pleasure from the same hip stretch whereas laying in your again. That is nice for anybody with loads of again ache or discomfort of their knees.
- Lay flat in your again with knees bent.
- On an inhale, convey the left leg towards your physique and bend the knee so the left foot factors out to the other facet.
- Subsequent, bend up the correct leg and tuck the knee below the left knee.
- Seize the outer fringe of each toes and modify the knees so they’re crossed proper within the heart of your physique.
- Maintain your backbone flat to the ground and slowly pull on the toes or calves to regulate the depth of the hip stretch as you pull the knees nearer to your chest.
Security and Precautions
Keep away from working towards Cow Face Pose if in case you have:
- A shoulder or rotator cuff damage
- Hip replacements or hip accidents
- Ankle, knee, or wrist strains or accidents
- Spinal surgical procedure or another joint situation
Instructing the Pose
These cues are useful for yoga lecturers who wish to correctly information their college students into this posture:
- Begin the pose from Tabletop (all fours) or a seated place. Both means, ensure that your toes stay pointed outwards and your hips sit between them.
- Don’t be afraid to switch the posture to make sure correct kind. A yoga block or yoga strap will help you preserve correct alignment whereas nonetheless having fun with a deep stretch.
- Transfer slowly and thoroughly when exiting this pose. The deep shoulder rotation requires mild launch.
Preparatory Poses
Counter Poses
Conclusion
Cow Face Pose could really feel awkward at first, however it could rapidly change into one in all your favourite postures when you understand how good it feels in your higher again and hips. Don’t overlook to maintain the chest huge and coronary heart open.
Namaste!