08/11/2023
Gomukhasana.
👉Gomukhasana is a combination of three words i.e., go-mukh-asana where “go” refers to cow, “mukh” refers to face and “asana” refers to pose. The folded legs form the shape of a cow’s mouth while the elbows resemble a cow’s ears. Therefore, it is commonly referred to as the cow-face pose.
The Gheranda Samhita (Sanskrit text of yoga) and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15th-century yoga manual in Sanskrit), both mentions Gomukhasana (Cow-Face Pose).
Gomukhasana is a perfect position for people who spend most of their workweek sitting down. Cow face pose helps in expanding your hips and chest and overcoming the slouch many people acquire while they are sitting. It is a stabilizing and relaxing posture. This posture allows you to stretch your arms, shoulders, back, thighs and ankles. It is a hip-opening posture with legs being together unlike other postures that help in correcting the posture and adjusting the flexibility of one’s body.5 Gomukhasana is simple to perform and relaxes the superficial as well as the deep muscles, which play a crucial role in lower back pain.
Do You Know?
👉It is interesting to know that gomukhasana is one of the 84 hatha yoga asanas handpicked by lord Shiva. According to the 17th-century Haṭha ratnāvalī, a Sanskrit book on asanas written by Srinivasa, Lord Shiva taught gomukhasana along with 83 other asanas to humans to introduce physical health and well-being.
Gheraṇḍa-saṃhitā, a Sanskrit encyclopaedia, mentions gomukhasana as one of the important 32 asanas as enough if practis asanas as enough if practised in this mortal world.
Benefits of Gomukhasana in Diabetes Management
Ali et al. 2021, mentioned that diabetic patients (increased glucose level) practised gomukhasana during a session. Ali observed the decrease in glucose levels and increase in insulin levels. The stimulation of kidneys may also help in the management of diabetes.
2. Benefits of Gomukhasana in Sciatica
Dr. Ravindra et al. 2018, evaluated the effect of gomukhasana in management of gurdhasi (sciatica nerve pain), in patients with complaints of sciatica nerve pain. His team concluded that cow-face yoga may help relieve the pain from muscles and joints involved in sciatica. They also revealed that post- treatment with gomukhasana, there were no recurrences.6
3. Benefits of Gomukhasana in Non-Alcoholic fatty liver disease
Kumar, P.A., et al., 2021 presented a case study to evaluate the role of yoga including gomukhasana in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients without medication. This study showed that asanas including gomukhasana are beneficial when practised for 20 minutes daily. It may also help in reducing blood sugar, blood lipids and elevated lipid enzymes. 4
4. Benefits of Gomukhasana in relieving tension
Gomukhasana may help in persuading relaxation. It may help in easing tiredness, tension and anxiety if practised for more than 10 minutes daily. It may also help in calming and centering the body.5,7
5. Benefits of Gomukhasana in improving posture
Gomukhasana or cow-face pose may counteract the slouch, especially faced by individuals working on computers for the major part of the week.5 It may decrease the general stiffness in the arms and shoulder and can also help in correcting posture by opening the chest area.7
6. Other benefits of Gomukhasana:
It may help in relieving backache as it stretches back muscles to relieve tiredness.7
It may help in easing leg cramps as this posture helps in stretching hamstring and gluteal muscles making legs feel relaxed.7
It may increase flexibility of the body as it stretches shoulders, upper arms, chest, hips and thighs.7
It may help in elongating the spine as the whole body is stretched allowing good flow of oxygen from base of the spine to the head. Stretching in gomukhasana decongests the entire abdominal region which massages the kidney, liver and pancreas.4
