Yoganida

H.E.A.V.E.N.
Watching the sunset illuminating winter skies.
Admiring the moon from my balcony at night.
Laughing… a lot.
Spending quality time with loved ones.
Noticing wonder & pure joy in a child’s eyes.
Taking amazing care of ourselves.
Sharing a lovely meal in great company.
So many priceless little things.
And I could keep going.
No need to go anywhere.
No need to spend a lot of money.
It’s just about opening our eyes & our hearts.
And enjoying heaven on earth.

~Yog’Art~
Gomukhasana, aka cow face pose, is a pose I've always found fairly challenging (especially for the hips), while I know some yogis also struggle with the deep shoulder opening as illustrated by . That being said though, grabbing your fingers is by no means the goal of this pose; grabbing your t-shirt or using a strap is equally fine if your shoulders are on the tighter side ;)
How to?
*From a seated position with the legs straight, bend one knee and bring your foot closer to the hip joint on the other side
*As you cross the legs, bend your other knee as well, bring the foot closer to the opposite hip joint too and as you draw the knees closer to one another, feel the stretch in your buttocks muscles / outer hip area (NB: there can be a LOT of space between the knees)
*Bring your arms to the sides & up and bend the elbow of the arm on the same side as the bottom leg
*Either place the opposite hand onto that elbow (nice upper arm stretch already) or see if you can grab a piece of clothing or your fingers behind your back for a deeper version.
*Hold the pose for 5-10 breaths before repeating on the other side
If you'd like to try a different version, why not giving a go at happy cow face pose? It's a combination of happy baby & cow face as you might have guessed ;)
- Laying on your back, cross your legs and bring your knees as close as possible to one another
- Grab the outer edges of your feet and draw the feet both closer to your face and towards the ground until you feel a stretch in the glutes (NB: make sure to not go too far as it can be quite intense)
- After you feel you've had enough (e.g. 5-10 breaths), take some rest in savasana before repeating on the other side
Who was already familiar with this variation? How do you like the seated vs. supine version? Tell us in the comments ;)