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Ah, good old Cow Pose. I can still recall learning it—and its trusty companion, Cat Pose—more than a decade ago. That’s also around the same time I stopped feeling excited about the front-body stretch.
As happens with things we experience again and again, I started taking Cow Pose for granted. I came into it almost as a formality; as a means to an end. My hands and knees were on the mat, back arched, chin lifted, but my mind was elsewhere, anticipating more complex poses and envisioning greener pastures (cow pun intended).
Then one day I was taking an early-morning Pilates and I learned a unique and, well, kinda silly way of conceptualizing the stretch. It taught me how to do Cow Pose in a new and refreshing way.
During the warm-up, the Pilates teacher cued Cow Pose. As the class assumed the position, she said two words that forever changed my life.
“Big udders.”
My first reaction? “This cue is kind of embarrassing,” I thought. But while my mind was busy judging, my body was responding dramatically to the mental image of a cow’s udders that my teacher’s words had conjured.
Without trying, I let go of tension in my lower abdominals that I didn’t even know I was carrying. That simple action created a domino effect: my stomach lowered toward the mat, more than ever before; my back arched more deeply; and I felt a broadening across my chest and a stretch in my shoulders which I knew, in theory, Cow Pose could elicit but hadn’t experienced first-hand.
The Pilates teacher went on to describe her first experience hearing the cue from her yoga teacher. She, too, had initially thought “big udders” was silly. Then she felt how transformative the words were in coaxing her body to relax more into Cow Pose—just as I had experienced.
4 Life Lessons From This Silly Cue for Cow Pose
I can’t think of a time when a more unexpected phrase has so greatly influenced my body and mind. “Big udders” allowed me to embody many lessons at once—about yoga and life:
1. The Mind Is So Powerful
Visuals go a looong way in affecting how the body experiences a pose. The fact that such a simple phrase could so drastically improve my experience in Cow Pose inspires me to explore other words that will allow me to relax and let go just as much in my life off the mat.
2. There Is Beauty in the Familiar
Just when it seems there’s nothing more to explore in the seemingly mundane aspects of yoga, something like “big udders” comes as a surprise and unveils the expanse yet undiscovered.
3. “Sucking In” My Abdominals Is No Way to Live
Years of flat-tummy propaganda has certainly ingrained itself in my psyche—and its effects are still evident on my yoga mat. Learning to completely release my abdominals in Cow Pose thanks to this unique cue is a welcome reminder that this area of my body is allowed to occupy space.
4. It’s Okay to Have Fun
A dose of humor should be welcomed on and off the mat. I’m the first to cringe at a silly cue, but this particular phrase showered me with inspiration for my practice and my life (yes, I’m still talking about big udders).
