Downward-Facing Hero Pose
अधो मुख वीरासन
Adho Mukha Vīrāsana — a beginner forward bend that works the spinal erectors, latissimus dorsi, quadriceps.
How to do Downward-Facing Hero Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel with the knees about hip-width apart and the big toes touching behind you.
Sit the hips back towards the heels, using a folded blanket between the seat and the heels if there is a gap.
Walk the hands forward along the floor and stretch the arms out in front, palms down.
Lower the forehead to the floor, a block or a bolster, whichever arrives first.
Press the hands down and lengthen the side ribs away from the hips, then hold and breathe into the back.
Hold: 1–3 minutes. 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 Downward-Facing Hero Pose 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.
- Lengthens the spine and the broad back muscles as the hips travel away from the hands.
- Holds the quadriceps and ankles in the deep flexion of a kneeling seat.
- Takes the shoulders into overhead flexion with the floor giving feedback to the palms.
Downward-Facing Hero Pose 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 Downward-Facing Hero Pose, or change it
- Knee injury or meniscus repair — place a rolled blanket behind the knees or skip.
- Ankle injury: roll a towel under the ankles.
- Pregnancy, where the knees need to be wide so the belly has room.
- Shoulder impingement — take the arms wider or rest them alongside the body.
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 Downward-Facing Hero Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeHips floating well above the heels so the fold never settles.
FixPut a bolster on the heels and sit on it; the shape needs a floor to release into.
MistakeShoulders bunching towards the ears with the arms stretched forward.
FixWiden the hands and draw the shoulder blades down the back.
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 Downward-Facing Hero Pose 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 Downward-Facing Hero Pose?
Kneel with the knees about hip-width apart and the big toes touching behind you. Sit the hips back towards the heels, using a folded blanket between the seat and the heels if there is a gap. Walk the hands forward along the floor and stretch the arms out in front, palms down. Lower the forehead to the floor, a block or a bolster, whichever arrives first. Press the hands down and lengthen the side ribs away from the hips, then hold and breathe into the back. Hold for 1–3 minutes.
What does Downward-Facing Hero Pose work?
Primarily the spinal erectors, latissimus dorsi, quadriceps, with the shoulders, ankles, lower back assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: lengthens the spine and the broad back muscles as the hips travel away from the hands.
Who should not do Downward-Facing Hero Pose?
Knee injury or meniscus repair — place a rolled blanket behind the knees or skip. Ankle injury: roll a towel under the ankles. Pregnancy, where the knees need to be wide so the belly has room. Shoulder impingement — take the arms wider or rest them alongside the body. 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 Downward-Facing Hero Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Downward-Facing Hero Pose 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 Downward-Facing Hero Pose 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. Downward-Facing Hero Pose 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.