The verse and its meaning · Yoga in Practice · Yoga in Practice — The Old Seats

Gomukhasana — the cow's face

Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.20

सव्ये दक्षिणगुल्फं तु पृष्ठपार्श्वे नियोजयेत्। दक्षिणेऽपि तथा सव्यं गोमुखं गोमुखाकृतिः ॥

Meaning · English

The right ankle is set beside the back on the left side, and the left ankle in the same way on the right. This seat is the cow's face, shaped like the face of a cow.

The name comes apart simply: go is cow, mukha is face, asana is seat. Cow-face seat. The verse names its own reason for the name, which is the shape. It says the seat is made in the form of a cow's face. It does not say which part is the muzzle or the ears. Teachers later read the stacked knees as the muzzle and the feet splayed behind as the ears, but that is a reading of the shape, not the text's words. The instruction is short. The right ankle goes to the left side, near the back. The left ankle goes to the right side in the same way. The word for 'likewise' makes it a pair: both legs are placed, each crossing to the opposite side. In this form the text speaks of ankles and the back, so it describes the crossed legs only. It says nothing of the arms. The verse gives no benefit and no purpose of its own. It sits among the seated postures, which the Pradipika lists so the practitioner has a steady place to sit. What it asks is exactness about the legs and patience with a shape that crosses the body.

The text gives only the legs. The arm clasp below is the form taught today, and it is what the lesson shows. 1. Sit on the floor with the legs stretched out in front. Choose a side to begin; the other side follows later. 2. Bend the knees and stack them one on top of the other, the top knee over the bottom knee, close to the midline. The feet rest beside the hips, one on each side. Sit evenly on both sitting bones. 3. Breathe in. Raise one arm overhead. Bend the other arm and take it behind the back. 4. Breathe out. Bend the upper elbow, so the hand drops down behind the head, and clasp the hands behind the back. Let the lower hand come up the back to meet it. 5. Stay here. Sit tall, the upper elbow pointing up, the gaze level and soft. Breathe slowly through the nose, with no strain in the throat or face. Stay for several easy breaths, as long as the breath stays even. 6. If the hands do not meet, hold a cloth between them, one hand on each end. 7. Breathe in. Release the hands and lower the arms. 8. Now change the legs and the arms. Stack the knees the other way, and take the other arm up. Repeat steps 3 to 7. 9. To come out, unfold the legs, stretch them forward, and roll the shoulders gently. Fine points: keep both sitting bones heavy on the floor, even if that means the top knee does not stack fully. Lift from the ribs, not by arching the lower back. Never pull the hands together; move only as far as the breath stays steady.

The shape asks several joints to turn in opposite directions at once. In the legs, the crossing turns both thighs outward at the hips, stretching the outer hip and buttock muscles, while the stacked knees ask the knee joints to bend deeply. In the arms, the upper arm turns outward and lifts, and the lower arm turns inward and rises behind the back. This stretches the shoulder, the chest muscles and the back of the upper arm. The upper arm's stretch comes mostly from the triceps and the side of the chest. The spine does little work except stay tall. The muscles along the back hold it upright while the clasp tries to draw the shoulders open. Breathing in as the arm rises lets the ribs lift and make room. Breathing out as the elbow bends lets the arm settle without forcing it. For the mind, a shape this specific takes attention. It is hard to think of other things while checking whether the sitting bones are level and the hands are still. The Pradipika's own account of why seats are practised is steadiness, which later hatha texts link to calmer prana. That is the tradition's account, not a physiological one.

The Pradipika makes no promise for this seat. Verse 1.20 gives its form and its name and stops there. The Jyotsna, as printed here, adds no reason to it either, so no claim of the text can be stated. What can be said honestly is what schools teaching the modern arm clasp report: that it opens the shoulders and chest, loosens the outer hips, and gives a steady seat for sitting upright. These are the teaching of the schools, not words of the verse. The tradition counts a firm and comfortable seat as a gain in itself, since the practices that follow are done from it.

A house painter, after a week of reaching overhead, sits on the floor with an ache in the right shoulder and tries the clasp. His hands are a hand's width apart, so he takes a cloth and lets the hands hang from it. This is the usual way the pose is met today. What is well understood is plain. Reaching the arms into these positions uses a wide range of shoulder rotation, and crossing the legs uses outward rotation at the hip. Gentle, regular stretching of this kind generally helps people keep that range, and holding the breath slow while staying still is calming for many people. Sitting upright for a few minutes also asks the postural muscles to work. What the evidence does not offer is any special effect on organs, energy or health beyond ordinary stretching and quiet sitting, and the verse itself claims none. The arm clasp is also not in the old text. It belongs to the twentieth-century teaching of modern yoga, which added arm work to the legs described here.

This page is not medical advice. A teacher can see and correct what a page cannot, and this pose is best learnt with one, not from a page. Stop at any pain, and ease out rather than push through. Take particular care with the knees. The deep, stacked bend can strain them, so anyone with a knee injury, a recent knee or hip operation, or a replaced joint should leave it out or work with a teacher. The same goes for painful shoulders, a recent shoulder injury, a stiff or sore neck, or numbness or tingling in the arms. Pregnancy calls for a teacher's guidance before trying any crossed-leg pose. Never force the knees to stack or the hands to meet. Sharp pain, pinching or tingling is a signal to come out.

Gentler: sit on a folded blanket so the hips lie higher than the knees, which eases the knees. If the knees do not stack, let them cross loosely or sit with one leg extended. Hold a strap or cloth between the hands, and climb the fingers along it a little at a time. Or keep only the legs and rest the hands on the knees. Fuller: bring the hands to a full clasp, and fold forward over the stacked knees on an out-breath. Always do both sides, and begin the second with the opposite leg on top and the opposite arm raised.

Lifting one hip off the floor to get the knees to stack → raise the seat on a blanket and let the top knee float. Pulling the head forward and dropping the chest → keep the ribs lifted and the chin level. Holding the breath while the hands strain → ease the clasp and breathe slowly. Shrugging the raised shoulder toward the ear → lengthen the neck and soften the shoulder. Forcing the hands to meet → use a cloth. Doing only one side → repeat with the legs and arms changed.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Svastikasana — the auspicious seat · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.19
• Next: Virasana — the hero's seat · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.21
• All of Yoga in Practice · Ask Krishna about it

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