Half Bound Lotus Forward Bendअर्ध बद्ध पद्म पश्चिमोत्तानासन
Ardha Baddha Padma Paścimottānāsana — an advanced forward bend that works the hamstrings, hip adductors, shoulders.
30–60SECONDS HELD · EACH SIDE
One line on the timetable. Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend is held 30–60 seconds each side, with the breath moving throughout — and no set practice here is built around it — it is held on its own.
SOURCE·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·REVIEWED JUL 2026
How to do Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit in Dandasana on a folded blanket with both legs straight.
Bend the right knee, cradle the shin, and place the right foot high on the left thigh in half lotus.
Reach the right arm behind the back and take hold of the right big toe, or use a strap around the foot.
Inhale to lengthen, then fold forward over the straight left leg from the hip crease.
Take the left hand to the left foot, hold, then release and repeat on the other side.
Hold: 30–60 seconds 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 Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend 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.
- Combines deep external rotation in one hip with a hamstring stretch in the other leg.
- Puts the binding shoulder into extension and internal rotation while the chest stays broad.
- Loads the ankle of the lotus leg in a strongly turned-out position under the fold.
Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend is one of 22 forward bends in this library and one of 61 poses rated advanced. Poses that fold the torso towards the legs, lengthening the whole back line of the body.
Who should skip Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend, or change it
- Knee injury — skip; the bind pulls directly through a bent, rotated knee.
- Shoulder impingement, or any inability to reach the toe without wrenching: use a strap.
- Hamstring strain on the straight leg.
- Recent hip replacement, and pregnancy, where the bind compresses the abdomen.
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 Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeBinding first and folding second, so the shoulder drags the knee round.
FixSet a comfortable half lotus, then bind, then fold — in that order, or not at all.
MistakeRounding the spine hard to reach the front foot.
FixUse a strap around the front foot and keep the fold coming from the hip.
How the energy figure on a yoga timetable is reached
- Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart, so no per-pose figure is published here — not by this site and not by anyone.
- The pose is matched to the nearest style of practice in the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend sits at code 02175, yoga, Power, 4 MET.
- That MET value is put through the standard ACSM relationship for a stated reference adult of 70 kg.
- The result is the cost of a practice of that kind for as long as you practise — not the cost of holding this one shape.
- Scale it to yourself: the relationship is linear in body mass, so multiply by your own weight in kilograms and divide by 70.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200
= 4 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200
= 4.90 kcal per minute
The same practice, hour by hour
Read it the way you would read a timetable: pick the length of session you actually sit down for, and that is the figure.
| Time practising | 10 min | 20 min | 30 min | 45 min | 60 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 49 | 98 | 147 | 221 | 294 |
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02175 · 4 MET · 70 kg reference adult·REVIEWED JUL 2026
The whole activity dataset, including everything that is not yoga, is at BurnLab.
Asked before class
How do you do Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend?
Sit in Dandasana on a folded blanket with both legs straight. Bend the right knee, cradle the shin, and place the right foot high on the left thigh in half lotus. Reach the right arm behind the back and take hold of the right big toe, or use a strap around the foot. Inhale to lengthen, then fold forward over the straight left leg from the hip crease. Take the left hand to the left foot, hold, then release and repeat on the other side. Hold for 30–60 seconds each side.
What does Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend work?
Primarily the hamstrings, hip adductors, shoulders, with the spinal erectors, chest, ankles assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: combines deep external rotation in one hip with a hamstring stretch in the other leg.
Who should not do Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend?
Knee injury — skip; the bind pulls directly through a bent, rotated knee. Shoulder impingement, or any inability to reach the toe without wrenching: use a strap. Hamstring strain on the straight leg. Recent hip replacement, and pregnancy, where the bind compresses the abdomen. 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 Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend suitable for beginners?
No. Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend is rated advanced. The shape itself is rarely the problem — arriving at it years too early is. Work through the beginner and intermediate forward bends poses on this site and learn this one in person.
How many calories does Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend 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. Half Bound Lotus Forward Bend sits closest to Compendium code 02175, yoga, Power, at 4 MET — about 147 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.
The rest of the forward bends on the wall
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 and what it is written from. 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.
SOURCE·Published asana references·asana names, alignment and cautions as taught·REVIEWED JUL 2026
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