Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose) is a staple in my morning yoga lessons. Years in the past, a number of of my college students made up unflattering names for it—Cow Pie, Mad Cow, and many others.—as a result of it was so difficult for them. Now those self same Cow Face naysayers have become Cow Face converts. A few of them even quit a little bit of their Savasana (Leisure Pose) to do it if I don’t provide it at school. The Cow Face arm place is one other story, nevertheless. It may be fairly a problem, however with a yoga strap, anybody can reap the advantages.

Gomukhasana is kind of advanced. It’s labeled as a hip-opening pose, because it stretches all of the glutes—maximus, medius and minimus—in addition to the piriformis and the tensor fasciae latae. My college students—those who prefer it—discover it very grounding, making it useful a useful pose towards the top of a observe. (Observe that the picture that accompanies this weblog reveals solely the arm place, not the leg place. Yow will discover an outline of the leg place within the above “Gomukhasana” hyperlink.)

Cow Face Pose Isn’t Simply In regards to the Hips

Cow Face Pose additionally opens the shoulders. The traditional arm place options one elbow pointing upward and the opposite hand wedged behind your shoulder blades. Mentioned to appear like one raised and one lowered ear on a cow’s head, it creates a robust triceps stretch within the higher arm and a robust biceps and deltoid stretch within the decrease one.

Whereas the leg and arm positions are historically practiced collectively, they will also be useful on their very own for those who’re concerned about placing extra consideration into both your hips or shoulders.

Why Use a Yoga Strap?

Right now’s weblog will deal with the shoulders. The normal place requires connecting the fingers of your higher and decrease arms within the higher again. However many individuals’s shoulders simply received’t enable this. There are lots of potential causes for this, together with the development of the shoulder joints. Some individuals’s shoulders are shaped for stability. They could not be capable of attain their elbow straight up towards the sky as a result of their humerus bones will “hit” the again of the scapula earlier than the arm will get to vertical. This explicit shoulder configuration is just not an indication that you simply’re a “poor” yogi! It’s properly inside what’s thought-about to be regular vary of movement.

Others will discover that when their dominant arm is the decrease one, that their fingers can’t contact, although they could join when the dominant arm is the higher one. This can be because of elevated energy and stability within the dominant arm’s biceps and deltoids, though there could possibly be different causes.

In any case, a yoga strap can assist. It might probably bridge the hole between your fingers, making a connection. Connecting the fingers is essential for energizing the arms in Gomukhasana. Whether or not you join the fingers or use a yoga strap to attach your fingers, your Gomukhasana shall be extra dynamic for those who can join your fingers.

Use a Yoga Strap in Gomukhasana

In case your fingers don’t join in Gomukhasana, do this:

1. Lengthen your left arm out in entrance of you, turning your palm outward, internally rotating your shoulder. Swing your arm round behind your again. Bend your elbow and place the again of your hand in your low again. Now scoot your the again of your hand up your again any quantity—anyplace from the decrease ribcage to between the shoulder blades.
2. Maintain a yoga strap in your proper hand. Dangle it over your again. Flip your proper palm to face inward, towards your head. Bend your elbow and discover the yoga strap together with your left hand. Stroll your proper and left fingers towards one another. If you happen to’d like so as to add some additional vitality to your shoulder expertise, “stretch” the strap, pulling upward together with your proper hand and downward together with your left.
3. Keep for 5 to 10 deep breaths. Let go and let your arms chill out. Take 5 to 10 deep breaths earlier than working towards your different facet.

If you happen to’d wish to see extra makes use of for Yoga Straps, in addition to methods to use Hugger Mugger’s different premium props, please go to the Yoga Props Information.

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and started educating in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Apply and Yoga for Meditators, each printed by Rodmell Press. Her third e-book is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and folks sextet Pink Rock Rondo, whose DVD received two Emmy awards.