BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Yoga Cat vs Cow Pose

In my yoga class, the instructor seems to call the pose where you're on all fours and your back is curved "down" (like your stomach is moving towards the floor) a "Cat" pose. Then she calls the one where you then arch your back up towards the sky an "extended cat" or something like that. Maybe Active Cat?

I always thought cat pose was the arched back one, and cow pose was the belly down one?

She also does a "rocket cat" where you sway your cat around in a circle

Cat Pose and Cow Pose are counter to each other, and it's good that they should flow into each other as part of your routine. In Cow your spine is curving down (making a valley of your lower back) as your head is reaching up; In Cat your spine is curving up (making a mountain of your lower back) as your head is extending down. They both start in Table Pose (all fours).

Sometimes names for asanas getting handed down from the person you first learned from, or they are just made up by instructors who think it's a better name for the pose, but the moves are the same no matter. Rocket Cat is putting a slight twist (literally) on the Cat Pose, which is a simple and gentle way for your instructor to include twists in her routines, which are necessary.

Hats off to you Lisa, you're doing a great job with your yoga!

Stay healthy,

Nancy Welker
BellaOnline Yoga Editor

OK so it does sound like what you call cow, she calls cat, and then what you call cat she's calling arching cat. I'll have to ask her about that sometime (in a gentle non-judgmental way of course ).

She does a rolling sequence where we start in extended child, roll up to sort of a table but leaning on our forearms, pushing up to "cow" (what she calls cat, with the valley) and then arching up to "cat" (what she calls arching cat) and then folding back into extended child.

From my understanding the only canon asana names are the Sanskrit ones like chatarunga, savansa and tadasana. So what an instructor uses will depend on her training lineage I guess.

I found that when studying plant taxonomy. Common names are easy to use, but are slippery. There are many common names for the same plant, and many different plants with the same common name, for example. They simply are not canon nomenclature.

I think in part she's trying to create positive mental images and she probably worries that many women do not want to think about looking like "a cow". Probably the same reason she doesn't use the words "corpse pose"

Ah, corpse pose...I do it well.

I agree that it can be off-putting when one finds that there are some yoga teachers not using Sanskrit titles for their poses, and alarming when one finds that there are different approaches to yoga to go along with the odd namings. Many teachers.

It can be helpful, though. After about a year with my first and always teacher, I visited another class. I was thrilled that there was a room walled in mirrors. I learned to place my hips just so in Warrior. It was wonderful. The way she described the poses was the same as my teacher, but she skipped many of the poses that we do regularly and her instructions were skimpy. So much for the mirrors. When I talked about this in class, my friends said that seeing a good pose trains us to go back to it, but watching can also take away the feeling.

The next time I went to a strange teacher, her approach to the process was entirely different. I was able to do tree pose with no hesitation following her very detailed instructions. She was able somehow to "teach" balance. She uses all the words: Sanskrit, English, and sometimes canine to describe the movements.

My take-home is that all my teachers have something to share (as do I), and some don't even say "downward dog", but pay attention to how you feel as you follow the instructions. I like to be surprised by finding myself in a familiar position arrived at from a different starting point. It keeps me alert and aware, and sometimes I go past a difficult pose and find myself in it with a different approach.

It is difficult for a person who has lived without movement to describe how it is done. Also, it is difficult for yoga teachers to describe movement to people unfamiliar with the concept. But it happens, happily.

No matter I think, the name of the poses. It's the quality of the instruction. If you find that a teacher is talking you into comfortable stretches and you want to go to her classes, stick with her.

Namaste!

I do think it's good to try different teachers and see how each one helps you out!

My sword class is trying to switch to my yoga class night and I'm pondering it. I really like this yoga class. But I also like the sword class. Unfortunately both of them are one night only which feels a bit unfair!

I suppose I can do yoga at home, which is what I was doing up until this summer.