Face Yoga

Cow Face Pose/Gomukhasan

Meaning of Name:

(go-moo-KAHS-anna)

go=cow (sanskrit go is a distant relative of the english word"Cow")

Mukha=Face.

Step-By-Step:

(1) Sit in Dandasana (Staff Pose), then bend your knees and place your feet on the ground. Slide your left foot underneath the correct knee to the skin of the correct hip. Then cross your right leg over the left, stacking the correct knee on high of the left, and convey the correct foot to the skin of the left hip. try and bring the heels equal from the hips: with the correct leg on high you’ll need to tug the correct heel in nearer to the left hip. Sit equally on the sitting bones.
(2) Inhale and stretch your right arm straight bent on the correct, parallel to the ground. Rotate your arm inwardly; the thumb can flip initial toward the ground, then purpose toward the wall behind you, with the palm facing the ceiling. This movement can roll your right shoulder slightly up and forward, and spherical your higher back. With a full exhalation, sweep the arm behind your body part and tuck the forearm within the hollow of your lower back, parallel to your waist, with the correct elbow against the correct aspect of your body part. Roll the shoulder back and down, then work the forearm up your back till it's parallel to your spine. the rear of your hand are going to be between your shoulder blades. See that your right elbow doesn’t slip off from the correct aspect of your body part.

(3) Now inhale and stretch your left arm simple, inform toward the alternative wall, parallel to the ground. flip the palm up and, with another inhalation, stretch the arm straight up toward the ceiling, palm turned back. carry actively through your left arm, then with associate degree exhalation, bend the elbow and reach down for the proper hand. If potential, hook the proper and left fingers.

(4) Lift the left elbow toward the ceiling and, from the rear auxillary fossa, descend the proper elbow toward the ground. Firm your shoulder blades against your back ribs and carry your chest. try and keep the left arm right beside the left facet of your head.


(5) Stay during this cause concerning one minute. unharness the arms, unfold the legs, and repeat with the arms and legs reversed for a similar length of your time. keep in mind that whichever leg is on high, the same-side arm is lower.

Modifications and Props:

Gomukhasana could be a notoriously tough create for tight-shouldered folks, WHO are not ready to hook their fingers along. the easy resolution to the present perplexity is to carry a strap between the hands. Begin the create with a strap draped over the shoulder of very cheap arm. In step 2, as you swing very cheap arm behind your back, slide the forearm as high on the rear body part as potential (Remember to stay the elbow near your side), then grab very cheap finish of the strap. In step 3, stretch the opposite arm overhead so reach down the rear for the opposite finish of the strap. Pull with the highest arm. See if you'll draw very cheap arm higher onto the rear. you are making an attempt to figure the hands toward one another and eventually clasp them. bear in mind too that you just could also be ready to clasp the hands on one aspect, however not the opposite.

Deepen the create:

You can increase the stretch during this create if you are a very little additional versatile within the shoulders and armpits by moving your hands removed from the rear of your body 

Follow-up Poses:

Preparatory Poses
Baddha Konasana
Supta Virasana
Supta Baddha Konasana
Supta Padangusthasana
Upavistha Konasana
Virasana
Follow-up Poses
Ardha Matsyendrasana
Bharadvajasana
Garudasana
Marichyasana III
Padmasana
Paschimottanasana
Upavistha Konasana

Beginner's Tip:

Beginners usually have a tough time obtaining each sitting bones to rest equally on the ground, which may build it tough for the knees to stack on high of every alternative equally. once the pelvis is inclined, the spine cannot properly extend. Use a collapsible blanket or bolster to raise the sitting bones off the ground and support them equally.

Benefits:

Stretches the ankles, hips and thighs, shoulders, armpits and skeletal muscle, and chest.

Partnering:

A partner will assist you increase the stretch within the back of the highest arm. Have her stand behind you as you perform the create (in this instance the left arm is high). She ought to take her mitt on the rear of your higher left arm and gently pull it back and up, as she presses her right forward against your left bone.

Variations:

From the complete create, lean forward and lay the front body part down on the inner high thigh. keep for twenty seconds, then inhale and are available up.