intermediate pose / go-moo-KHAH-sah-na
Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose)
In one breath
Gomukhasana, or Cow Face Pose, is a intermediate seated pose held for 30 to 60 seconds on each side, or six to ten slow breaths. It works mainly on shoulders, chest, upper arms. Read the warnings below before you try it: it is not right for everybody.
On this page
- What Gomukhasana is, and what it is not
- The arms, the belt, and the shoulder that will not go
- The legs, the seat, and the level pelvis
- How long to hold Gomukhasana, and how often
- Where it sits in a sequence, and what to do after
- Who should modify it, or leave it out
- How to do it, step by step
- What it is good for
- Who should not do this
- What Vaithialingam sees people get wrong
- Easier and harder versions
- Questions people ask
What Gomukhasana is, and what it is not
Gomukhasana, Cow Face Pose, is a seated pose with two independent halves. The legs cross so that the knees stack one above the other with a heel beside each hip. The arms reverse each other, one reaching over the shoulder from above and one up the back from below, so the hands meet between the shoulder blades. Go means cow and mukha means face, and the name is usually explained by the shape the crossed thighs and the two feet make, which is said to resemble the face and ears of a cow.
The important thing to understand is that the two halves are separate poses. The arms work the shoulders in rotation. The legs work the outer hips and the knees. They are traditionally practised together and there is no requirement to do so, and a great many people are better served by doing the arms on a chair for six months while the hips are worked on elsewhere. In my classes the arms only version, seated on a chair with a belt, is what most of the room practises, and nobody is missing the point of the pose by doing it.
It is not a pose to be judged by whether the fingers meet. Whether they do depends on shoulder rotation, on the length of your upper arms, and on the shape of your own shoulder joints, which practice does not change. A belt between the hands is the correct answer and it stays the correct answer.
Where it belongs is in the seated group, after the standing poses and the floor work, when the hips and shoulders are warm. It is a good pose to sit into before a breathing practice, because the chest ends up open and the spine upright, which is exactly what Anulom Vilom wants. It is also one of the more useful poses for the rounded upper back described on the yoga for neck and shoulder pain page, precisely because it opens the chest without asking the lower back to arch.
The arms, the belt, and the shoulder that will not go
The arm position asks one shoulder for full external rotation with the arm overhead, and the other for internal rotation with the arm behind the back. Those are opposite demands, and almost nobody has both equally on both sides.
- The top arm. Raise it, bend the elbow, and let the hand fall between the shoulder blades. Send the elbow upwards rather than backwards. Pulling the elbow back behind the head is what makes a shoulder complain, and it buys nothing.
- The bottom arm. Take it out to the side, turn the palm backwards, then bring the back of the hand up along the spine. Keeping the chest lifted while you do it is most of the work.
- The belt. Hold one between the hands and walk the fingers towards each other over several breaths. This is the standard version, not the fallback. It lets the chest stay open, and an open chest with the hands thirty centimetres apart is a better pose than a closed chest with hooked fingers.
The stiff side is usually the bottom arm on your non dominant side, and it is often a difference of many centimetres. That is normal. What matters is that you give the stiff side the same number of breaths, and that you stop the moment you feel a pinch rather than a stretch at the front of the shoulder joint. A pinch there is the joint telling you it has reached the end of its rotation, and no amount of persistence changes that. Less range and more breaths is the answer.
If you have had a frozen shoulder, or a rotator cuff problem, this is a pose to approach with a belt and a good deal of patience, or to leave out until a physiotherapist has looked at it. There is no version of it that is worth a shoulder.
The legs, the seat, and the level pelvis
The leg position is the harder half for most Indian adults, who often sit cross legged easily and yet find this particular stack impossible, because it asks the hips for a different movement altogether.
The check is the pelvis. Sit down, cross the legs, and feel whether both buttocks are on the floor and whether the lower back is long. If one buttock has lifted, or if the lower back has rounded so that you are sitting on the back of the pelvis, the pose has stopped working on the hips and started working on the lumbar spine. Fix it in one of two ways: sit up on a folded blanket, or leave the bottom leg straight out in front.
Both knees are folded deeply and one is also crossed over, so this is a genuine demand on knees. Anybody with a meniscus problem, a knee replacement or an arthritic knee should not do the full leg position. The lying down version in the variations gives the same outer hip stretch with no knee load at all, and the chair version removes the question entirely.
What the legs actually stretch is the gluteus maximus and the deep outer hip muscles, along with the outer thigh. Those get short in anybody who sits for a living, and they matter for walking. If you find the outer hip is what stops you, work on it separately: the lying version of this pose, a few minutes of Baddha Konasana for the inner side, and time in Vajrasana for the knees and ankles will do more in a month than forcing this stack once a week.
How long to hold Gomukhasana, and how often
This is a stretch, not a strength pose, so the holds are longer and the breath decides when to release rather than the clock.
| Stage | Hold each side | Rounds | Breath | Stop if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First month | 20 to 30 seconds, arms only on a chair | 1 each side | Normal, belt between the hands | Anything pinches at the front of a shoulder |
| After three months | 30 to 45 seconds | 1 or 2 each side | Exhalation slightly longer | A buttock lifts off the floor |
| Long practice | 60 seconds | 2 each side | Slow, into the side ribs | A knee complains at all |
| Lying leg version | 60 to 90 seconds | 1 or 2 each side | Left alone | Any pain running down a leg |
Daily is fine for the arms, since there is no load on anything, and the shoulders respond to frequency more than to intensity. Five days a week of thirty seconds a side does more than one heroic attempt on a Sunday, which is the same logic as the guidance in how often should you do yoga.
Where it sits in a sequence, and what to do after
Gomukhasana wants a warm body, particularly warm shoulders. Do it after the standing poses, or after a few rounds of Surya Namaskar, and not first thing while everything is still cold from sleep.
The counter pose is simply sitting straight: Dandasana for a few breaths, legs out in front, arms by the sides, is enough to let the shoulders and hips return to neutral. After both sides, a forward bend such as Paschimottanasana settles the hips, and a minute of Savasana finishes the practice.
The place I most often use it is directly before a seated breathing practice. Two sides of the arm position leaves the chest open and the upper back long, and then the sitting is comfortable in a way that it was not five minutes earlier. If you are practising Bhramari or Nadi Shodhana and find your shoulders creeping up, this is the pose to put in front of it.
It also pairs well with a desk break. The arms only version needs no mat, no floor and no change of clothes, and it is one of the few genuinely useful things you can do at a desk, which is why the shape of the desk sequence is worth knowing.
Who should modify it, or leave it out
This pose is easy to make safe, and the changes are worth making rather than heroically ignoring.
- Knees. Leave the bottom leg straight, or do the arms only from a chair. A meniscus problem, an arthritic knee or a replacement should not be asked for a deep folded and crossed position.
- Shoulders. Belt, always. Stop at a pinch. With a frozen shoulder or a cuff problem, get a physiotherapist's opinion before adding it.
- Hips. After a hip replacement, ask your surgeon: a crossed leg position may be outside the range you are allowed for a good while.
- Lower back. Sit higher. If the lower back rounds when you sit on the floor, that is the single thing to fix before anything else, and the fix is a blanket rather than an effort. Anybody in the middle of a back complaint should read yoga for back pain first.
- Coming back after years away. Arms only, on a chair, five days a week, for two months. Then look at the legs. The reasoning behind that order is on yoga for beginners over 40.
If you want somebody to tell you whether your pinch is a stretch or a joint, that is the sort of thing worth asking in person. Come to a class, or start with a first class and get your belt and your blanket height sorted out.
How to do it, step by step
Read all of it once before you start. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds on each side, or six to ten slow breaths, and come out while the pose is still steady rather than when it gives way.
Step 1. Sit on the floor with the legs straight in front of you and the spine long. If the lower back rounds the moment you sit, put a folded blanket or a cushion under the seat and sit on the front edge of it.
Step 2. Bend the right knee and place the right foot flat on the floor, then bend the left knee and slide the left foot back beside the right hip, so you are sitting to the side of the left heel.
Step 3. Now cross the right leg over the left, bringing the right foot beside the left hip. The knees stack one above the other in the middle, and the heels sit either side of the hips.
Step 4. Check the seat. If one buttock is off the floor or the lower back has rounded, sit on a folded blanket, or leave the bottom leg straight out in front instead. Both are better than a tilted pelvis.
Step 5. For the arms, raise the left arm overhead, bend the elbow and let the left hand drop down between the shoulder blades, palm towards the back.
Step 6. Take the right arm out to the side, turn the palm back, and bring the right hand up behind the back with the back of the hand against the spine, reaching up towards the left hand.
Step 7. Hook the fingers if they meet. If they do not, hold a belt or a towel between the two hands and walk them slowly towards each other. Most people need this, and using it is not a lesser pose.
Step 8. Lift the chest, draw the bottom ribs in, and take the top elbow up rather than pulling it back behind the head. The head stays upright with the chin level.
Step 9. Hold for six to ten slow breaths, breathing into the sides and back of the ribs. Then release the arms, uncross the legs and repeat with the opposite arm above and the opposite leg on top.
Step 10. Do both sides, even though one will be markedly easier, and give the harder side the same number of breaths rather than the same feeling.
What it is good for
- It works two things almost nothing else in a standard practice reaches: the outer hip and the shoulder in full external rotation with the arm behind the back. Both are lost early in a sedentary life and both are needed for ordinary tasks like fastening a garment behind you.
- It is one of the poses used in yoga modules with measured effects on breathing. A sixteen week randomised controlled trial of forty eight men practising six days a week used a module including Gomukhasana, Ardhamatsyendrasana, Paschimottanasana, Ushtrasana and Dhanurasana, after which forced vital capacity rose by 22.53 percent and forced expiratory volume in one second by 27.08 percent in the yoga group, while both fell in the control group. Source
- Held stretching of this kind does change what a body can reach. In a randomised controlled trial of twenty three healthy adults aged sixty to eighty, one thirty minute session a week for eight weeks improved the chair sit and reach test by 83 percent in the intervention group against 3 percent in the controls. Source
- It shows up the difference between the two sides more plainly than any other pose I teach. Everybody has a hand that goes behind the back easily and one that does not, and knowing which is which changes how you practise.
- It opens the chest without a backbend, which makes it useful for people whose lower backs do not tolerate backbends but whose upper backs are rounded from years at a desk.
- It is a long hold pose, so it is a place to practise breathing into a restricted chest. In forty years of classes I have found this to be the pose where students first notice that a stretch releases on an exhalation rather than on an effort.
Who should not do this
- Knee injury, meniscus damage or a knee replacement: the stacked leg position bends and twists both knees deeply. Keep the bottom leg straight out in front, or sit on a chair and do only the arms.
- Shoulder injury, a frozen shoulder or a rotator cuff problem: do not force the hands to meet. Use a belt, and stop at the point where the shoulder feels pinched rather than stretched.
- Sciatica or a disc problem: the deep hip position can pull on an already irritated nerve. Leave the legs out and practise the arms seated on a chair.
- Recent hip surgery or a hip replacement: the crossed leg position may be outside your permitted range. Ask your surgeon before you try it.
- Ankle injury or pain across the top of the foot: the feet are folded back beside the hips. Use a folded blanket under the ankles, or leave the legs out.
- Lower back pain with a rounded seated posture: sit up on a folded blanket high enough that the lower back is long, or do the arms only from a chair.
- Pregnancy after the first trimester: the position squeezes the abdomen and the balance on the seat is poor. Practise the arms only, sitting on a chair.
If any of these apply to you, say so before your first class. There is almost always a version of the pose that is safe for you, and it is the teacher's job to find it, not yours.
What Vaithialingam sees people get wrong
What the teacher corrects most often in this pose, on the left, and what to do instead, on the right.
The pelvis tilts and one buttock lifts off the floor to let the knees stack.
The fix. Sit on a folded blanket, or leave the bottom leg straight in front. A level pelvis with an easier leg position beats a stacked pair of knees on a tilted seat every time.
Yanking the hands towards each other, so the top shoulder rolls forward and the chest closes.
The fix. Use a belt and let the hands stay apart. The pose is the rotation of the shoulders with an open chest, not the meeting of the fingers.
The top elbow is pulled backwards behind the head, which strains the shoulder joint.
The fix. Send the elbow upwards towards the ceiling instead, and let it stay beside the ear rather than behind it. The upward direction is the safe one.
The lower back rounds and the chest sinks, so the whole shoulder work is done from a slump.
The fix. Sit higher. On a blanket, a cushion or a block, whatever is needed for the lower back to be long. Nothing above the waist works properly from a collapsed seat.
Holding the easy side much longer than the hard side, because it feels better.
The fix. Count the breaths and give both sides the same count. The stiff side is the reason the pose is on your list.
Pushing into a sharp pinch at the front of the shoulder and calling it a stretch.
The fix. Come out. A pinch at the front of the shoulder joint is not a stretch, it is the joint complaining, and the fix is a belt and less range rather than more effort.
Easier and harder versions
Arms only, on a chair
Sit tall on a firm chair and do only the arm position, with a belt between the hands. This is the version I give to most beginners and permanently to anybody with knee, hip or ankle trouble. The shoulder work, which is the harder half of the pose, is completely intact.
Bottom leg straight
Cross the top leg over as usual but leave the bottom leg extended straight in front. It removes half the knee bending and most of the pelvic tilt, and it is the version for anybody whose knees or hips object to the full stack.
Gomukhasana with a belt
Hold a belt, a towel or a dupatta between the two hands and walk the fingers along it towards each other over a few breaths. Almost everybody needs this on at least one side, and using it means the chest stays open while the shoulders rotate, which is the whole point.
Seated on a blanket
Sit up on one or two folded blankets, high enough that the lower back is long and both buttocks are down. A great many people who think they cannot do this pose simply need to be twelve centimetres higher off the floor.
Legs only, lying down
Lie on the back and cross one thigh over the other, then draw both knees towards the chest with the hands or a belt. It gives the outer hip stretch of the pose with no load on the knees and no seated balance to manage, and it suits anybody with a sore lower back.
Where these claims come from
Anything on this page stated as a fact about the body is sourced below. Anything not sourced is written plainly as what the teacher has seen in his own classes, and is labelled that way in the text.
From Vaithialingam's class
In four decades of teaching this pose I have almost never seen two hands meet on both sides in the same body. So the belt came out years ago and it never went away. What I ask instead is that the chest stays open and the top elbow goes up rather than back, and then I count ten breaths, and I watch the hands drift a centimetre or two closer without anybody trying. That is the whole lesson of this pose. A stretch releases on an exhalation and not on an effort, and students who learn it here take it into every other pose they do. The ones who yank at their own wrists learn nothing except that their shoulders hurt.
This is what he sees in class, not a medical claim. Where this page states what a practice does for a condition, the evidence is in the sources cited on the page.
Vaithialingam, founder and teacher, 40 years of teaching.
Questions people ask
How long should you hold Gomukhasana?
Twenty to thirty seconds on each side to start with, thirty to forty five seconds after three months, and up to a minute once the position is comfortable. One or two rounds a side, and give both sides the same number of breaths even though one will always be harder. The arms only version can be practised daily, because there is no load on anything and shoulders respond to frequency rather than to intensity.
Who should not do Gomukhasana?
Anyone with a knee injury, meniscus damage, an arthritic knee or a knee replacement should leave the bottom leg straight or do the arms only from a chair. Do not force the hands together with a shoulder injury, a frozen shoulder or a rotator cuff problem, and stop at a pinch at the front of the joint. Leave the legs out with sciatica or a disc problem, and ask your surgeon after a hip replacement. Use a blanket under the ankles with ankle pain, sit higher if the lower back rounds, and practise the arms only on a chair in pregnancy after the first trimester.
What muscles does Gomukhasana work?
It is mostly a stretch rather than a strength pose. In the arms it lengthens the posterior deltoid, the triceps and the latissimus dorsi on the top arm side, and the pectorals, the subscapularis and the front of the shoulder on the bottom arm side, while the rotator cuff muscles work to hold the position. In the legs it lengthens the gluteus maximus, the deep outer hip muscles including the piriformis, and the outer thigh, with the quadriceps and the front of the ankles lengthened by the deep knee fold. The muscles doing genuine work are the ones holding the spine upright.
Why can my hands not reach each other behind my back?
Because of shoulder rotation, the length of your upper arms and the shape of your own shoulder joints, and only the first of those changes with practice. Almost nobody has both sides equal, and a difference of several centimetres between the two sides is entirely normal. Hold a belt between the hands and walk the fingers towards each other over a few breaths. The belt is the standard version of this pose rather than a concession, because it lets the chest stay open while the shoulders rotate. Props for exactly this purpose are the tradition described on the Iyengar yoga page.
Can I do Gomukhasana with bad knees?
Not the full leg position. Both knees are folded deeply and one is crossed over the other, which is a real demand on the joint and not one an arthritic knee, a meniscus problem or a replacement should be asked for. There are two good alternatives. Leave the bottom leg straight out in front and cross only the top leg, or do the arms alone sitting on a chair, which keeps the harder and more useful half of the pose. For the outer hip stretch without any knee bend, lie on your back and cross one thigh over the other, then draw both knees towards the chest.
Is Gomukhasana good for a rounded upper back?
It is one of the better poses for it, because it opens the chest and rotates the shoulders without asking the lower back to arch, which is what most chest openers do. Held stretching of this kind does change reach measurably: in a randomised controlled trial of twenty three adults aged sixty to eighty, one thirty minute session a week for eight weeks improved the chair sit and reach test by 83 percent against 3 percent in the control group. Do the arms only version daily for a couple of months and expect a gradual change rather than a sudden one.
Can beginners do Cow Face Pose?
Yes, in the arms only version on a chair with a belt between the hands. That is where I start nearly everybody, and it contains the harder and more valuable half of the pose. Add the legs later, and add them by leaving the bottom leg straight first. What a beginner should learn on day one is to send the top elbow upwards rather than backwards and to stop at a pinch, because those two habits protect a shoulder for years. How to start yoga at home shows where it fits.
What is the meaning of Gomukhasana?
Go means cow and mukha means face or mouth, so the name is cow face posture. The usual explanation is that the crossed thighs make the shape of a cow's face with the two feet as its ears. It is also spelt Gaumukhasana in some schools, and the same word gomukha is used for the cow mouth shaped opening of a water source, which is where the older texts take the image from. The vocabulary is collected in the yoga glossary.
Practise in the hall, in person
In a hall in north Bangalore, in a small group, with hands-on correction. The hall is within a short ride of MSR Nagar, Mathikere, Malleshwaram, Yeshwanthpur and further out.
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