Cow Face Pose
गोमुखासन
Gomukhāsana — an intermediate seated pose that works the glutes, hip adductors, shoulders.
How to do Cow Face Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
From all fours or a cross-legged seat, cross the right knee directly over the left and stack them in the midline.
Slide both feet out to the sides and sit back between the heels, on a block if the seat does not reach the floor.
Raise the right arm, bend the elbow, and drop the right hand down the back.
Take the left arm behind the low back, palm facing out, and walk the hand up towards the right.
Clasp the hands or hold a strap between them, sit tall, and hold before changing both sides.
Hold: 45–90 seconds each side. Keep the breath moving throughout — if you are holding it, the pose is too much for today.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Cow Face Pose does
Described mechanically — what the movement does to muscle and joint. Not a list of conditions it treats, because a pose does not treat conditions.
- Stretches the outer hip and glute of the top leg through deep adduction.
- Puts one shoulder into external rotation overhead and the other into internal rotation behind the back.
- Loads the rotator cuff at both ends of its range within a single hold.
Cow Face Pose is one of 29 seated poses in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses taken on the floor, where the pelvis is the base and the spine works above it.
Who should skip Cow Face Pose, or change it
- Knee injury — the stacked knees take a strong rotational load; sit cross-legged instead.
- Shoulder injury or impingement: use a strap and do not force the clasp.
- Recent hip replacement, where deep adduction is often restricted.
- Sacroiliac pain, which the stacked-hip seat can aggravate.
General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or managing any health condition, ask your doctor before starting a practice, and learn the pose itself from a qualified teacher who can see you move.
Common mistakes in Cow Face Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeYanking the top hand down with the bottom one to force a clasp.
FixHold a strap between the hands and let the gap close over months.
MistakeSitting with the pelvis rolled back so the spine rounds.
FixRaise the seat on a block until the trunk can be vertical.
What a practice like this costs in energy
Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values per style of practice, so Cow Face Pose is mapped to the nearest published code — 02150, yoga, Hatha, 2.5 MET — and the figures below are for a practice of that kind, not for holding this one pose.
| Time practising | 10 min | 20 min | 30 min | 45 min | 60 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
Calculated as MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 kcal per minute — the standard ACSM relationship, shown in full on the method page. Scale it to your own weight by multiplying by your weight in kilograms and dividing by 70. The whole activity dataset, including every non-yoga activity, is at BurnLab.
Questions
How do you do Cow Face Pose?
From all fours or a cross-legged seat, cross the right knee directly over the left and stack them in the midline. Slide both feet out to the sides and sit back between the heels, on a block if the seat does not reach the floor. Raise the right arm, bend the elbow, and drop the right hand down the back. Take the left arm behind the low back, palm facing out, and walk the hand up towards the right. Clasp the hands or hold a strap between them, sit tall, and hold before changing both sides. Hold for 45–90 seconds each side.
What does Cow Face Pose work?
Primarily the glutes, hip adductors, shoulders, with the triceps, rotator cuff, spinal erectors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: stretches the outer hip and glute of the top leg through deep adduction.
Who should not do Cow Face Pose?
Knee injury — the stacked knees take a strong rotational load; sit cross-legged instead. Shoulder injury or impingement: use a strap and do not force the clasp. Recent hip replacement, where deep adduction is often restricted. Sacroiliac pain, which the stacked-hip seat can aggravate. This is general information, not medical advice — if any of these apply to you, ask your doctor and learn the pose with a qualified teacher rather than from a page.
Is Cow Face Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Cow Face Pose is rated intermediate here: it assumes a working base of strength and range, and a teacher who has watched you move. Build up through the seated poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Cow Face Pose burn?
The honest answer is that nobody has measured a single asana. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values for styles of yoga, not for individual poses. Cow Face Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02150, yoga, Hatha, at 2.5 MET — about 92 kcal for 30 minutes of that kind of practice for a 70 kg adult. Holding one pose for a minute is a rounding error either way.
Related poses
More seated poses — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.
Asana names are traditional. Every step, benefit and caution on this page is written for YogaPath rather than reproduced from any book, studio or other library — see how this site is written. Energy figures derive from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.