Cross-Legged Forward Fold
अधो मुख सुखासन
Adho Mukha Sukhāsana — a beginner forward bend that works the glutes, hip abductors, spinal erectors.
How to do Cross-Legged Forward Fold
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit cross-legged on a folded blanket with the shins loosely crossed and the feet under the opposite knees.
Walk both hands forward along the floor in front of you.
Fold from the hip crease, letting the chest lower towards the floor between the knees.
Rest the forehead on a block, a bolster or stacked fists.
Hold, walk the hands back up, then swap the cross of the legs and repeat.
Hold: 1–2 minutes each side. Keep the breath moving throughout — if you are holding it, the pose is too much for today.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Cross-Legged Forward Fold does
Described mechanically — what the movement does to muscle and joint. Not a list of conditions it treats, because a pose does not treat conditions.
- Stretches the outer hips and glutes as the pelvis tips forward over externally rotated legs.
- Lengthens the low back and the broad muscles along the sides of the spine.
- Takes the shoulders into overhead flexion with the arms supported by the floor.
Cross-Legged Forward Fold is one of 22 forward bends in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses that fold the torso towards the legs, lengthening the whole back line of the body.
Who should skip Cross-Legged Forward Fold, or change it
- Knee injury — support both knees on blocks or sit on a chair instead.
- Low back or disc injury: fold only halfway and rest the forearms on a bolster.
- Recent hip replacement.
- High blood pressure or glaucoma, where a long head-down hold is not advised.
General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or managing any health condition, ask your doctor before starting a practice, and learn the pose itself from a qualified teacher who can see you move.
Common mistakes in Cross-Legged Forward Fold
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeFolding from the waist so the pelvis stays upright and only the spine rounds.
FixSit higher and lead with the hip crease; the chest travels forward before it travels down.
MistakeAlways crossing the same leg in front.
FixSwap the cross every time — the two sides stretch quite differently.
What a practice like this costs in energy
Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values per style of practice, so Cross-Legged Forward Fold is mapped to the nearest published code — 02150, yoga, Hatha, 2.5 MET — and the figures below are for a practice of that kind, not for holding this one pose.
| Time practising | 10 min | 20 min | 30 min | 45 min | 60 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
Calculated as MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 kcal per minute — the standard ACSM relationship, shown in full on the method page. Scale it to your own weight by multiplying by your weight in kilograms and dividing by 70. The whole activity dataset, including every non-yoga activity, is at BurnLab.
Questions
How do you do Cross-Legged Forward Fold?
Sit cross-legged on a folded blanket with the shins loosely crossed and the feet under the opposite knees. Walk both hands forward along the floor in front of you. Fold from the hip crease, letting the chest lower towards the floor between the knees. Rest the forehead on a block, a bolster or stacked fists. Hold, walk the hands back up, then swap the cross of the legs and repeat. Hold for 1–2 minutes each side.
What does Cross-Legged Forward Fold work?
Primarily the glutes, hip abductors, spinal erectors, with the lower back, latissimus dorsi, shoulders assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: stretches the outer hips and glutes as the pelvis tips forward over externally rotated legs.
Who should not do Cross-Legged Forward Fold?
Knee injury — support both knees on blocks or sit on a chair instead. Low back or disc injury: fold only halfway and rest the forearms on a bolster. Recent hip replacement. High blood pressure or glaucoma, where a long head-down hold is not advised. This is general information, not medical advice — if any of these apply to you, ask your doctor and learn the pose with a qualified teacher rather than from a page.
Is Cross-Legged Forward Fold suitable for beginners?
Yes. Cross-Legged Forward Fold is a beginner-level pose on this site, which means it is learnable in a first class and has a version that works for most bodies. The cautions above still apply.
How many calories does Cross-Legged Forward Fold burn?
The honest answer is that nobody has measured a single asana. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values for styles of yoga, not for individual poses. Cross-Legged Forward Fold sits closest to Compendium code 02150, yoga, Hatha, at 2.5 MET — about 92 kcal for 30 minutes of that kind of practice for a 70 kg adult. Holding one pose for a minute is a rounding error either way.
Related poses
More forward bends — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.
Asana names are traditional. Every step, benefit and caution on this page is written for YogaPath rather than reproduced from any book, studio or other library — see how this site is written. Energy figures derive from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.