Gomukhāsana

Name of contributor: Meg Laing

Sections: 4.2 Syllabus Level 1

Gomukhasana is a pose known to all Iyengar Yoga students from a very early stage in their learning but, for most, just as an ‘arms only’ pose. Although Gomukhasana features in Geeta Iyengar’s Preliminary Course (pp. 61-62), the full pose was not on the pre-2020 Introductory syllabus. This means that in the past many teachers never learned to teach it and, very unfortunately, it tended to be rather forgotten by some teachers even at intermediate level. It is a great joy to some of us that the full pose is now on the extended Level 1 syllabus. Gomukhasana is a marvellous pose, and one that for me embodies the yogic principle of harmony in the embodiment of body, mind and breath.