I recently discovered Upside Down Carl’s blog and besides loving his name, I love the idea of doing a reclining cow face pose! Thank you Upside Down Carl! I have some one-class-a-week guys in one of my classes who are not fans of the deep hip stretches. I try to stick to stretches that are adjustable so that they don’t spend time grimacing when they should be relaxing. But Cow Face Pose isn’t easily adjustable. 

If your hips are uber-tight and you’re in anything  resembling the pose, it feels like your hip bones are coming apart. Not real pleasant. So I make it a ’sometimes’ pose.  I try to stick with hip stretches that are more modifiable so they can at least breath while holding them.

Reclining Cow Face is gentle because your hips aren’t taking the weight of your upper body into the stretch, and it’s more easily adjustable.  I like how Upside Down Carl eases into it with the intial stretches (ones my classes are already familiar with).  I love it, and I will try it at this week’s Tight-Hipped Man class.