The Yoga Cow Pose

Video Transcript

"Hello, I'm Howard and welcome to this introduction to Hatha Yoga. The first exercise we're going to do it's called Cow Pose. You want to come up onto your hands and knees with your fingers spread wide apart and your middle finger pointing straight forward. Lean forward a little bit so that the weight of your upper body is on the bridges of your hands where your fingers join the palms. So take a little weight off the wrists and when we first do this, we tend to put too much weight on the back of the hands. So you lean forward a little bit and your arch your lower back with your knees about hip width apart, drop your head down and let your heart relax down. Keep arching the lower back and then begin to move in little circles, forwards out to the side and back keeping the lower back arched the belly sagging the heart soft and the head down and feel the body weight roll across the bridges of your hands. Couple time in one direction and then a few times in the opposite direction. Remember to breathe deeply moving the stomach as you breathe underneath you. Feeling the weight of your body roll across the bridges of your hands where your fingers join the palms and then we'll just come back to center. Hold Cow Pose and see if you can push your heart up and then let it go down so you're pushing up towards the sky keeping the arms straight lowering the heart back down. Feels like a push up without bending your elbows, arms stay straight and feel the shoulder blades separating from the rib cage all the while keeping your pelvis in Cow Pose. When you're finished, you can bring your knees together sit back on your heels and down into Child's Pose."