Bound Lotus Pose
बद्ध पद्मासन
Baddha Padmāsana — an advanced seated pose that works the hip adductors, shoulders, chest.
How to do Bound Lotus Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Establish a comfortable full lotus, right foot on the left thigh and left foot on the right thigh.
Reach the right arm behind the back and take hold of the right big toe.
Reach the left arm behind and take the left big toe, using a strap around the foot if the fingers do not reach.
Draw the shoulder blades towards each other and broaden the collarbones.
Sit tall, hold briefly, then release the hands before unwinding the legs and changing the leg order.
Hold: 20–45 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 Bound Lotus 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.
- Adds shoulder extension and internal rotation on top of the deep hip rotation of lotus.
- Opens the front of the chest and the front of the shoulders while the base stays fixed.
- Holds the ankles and feet in a strongly turned-out position under the weight of the thighs.
Bound Lotus Pose is one of 29 seated poses in this library and one of 61 poses rated advanced. Poses taken on the floor, where the pelvis is the base and the spine works above it.
Who should skip Bound Lotus Pose, or change it
- Any knee injury — skip; this requires a lotus that is already effortless.
- Shoulder impingement or rotator cuff injury.
- Recent hip replacement or labral repair.
- Ankle injury, and any numbness in the feet during the hold.
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 Bound Lotus Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeAttempting the bind before full lotus is comfortable on its own.
FixBuild lotus first; bound lotus adds a shoulder pull that will torque an unready knee.
MistakeWrenching the shoulders to make the fingers meet the toes.
FixUse a strap around each foot and keep the chest broad.
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 Bound Lotus Pose is mapped to the nearest published code — 02175, yoga, Power, 4 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 | 49 | 98 | 147 | 221 | 294 |
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 Bound Lotus Pose?
Establish a comfortable full lotus, right foot on the left thigh and left foot on the right thigh. Reach the right arm behind the back and take hold of the right big toe. Reach the left arm behind and take the left big toe, using a strap around the foot if the fingers do not reach. Draw the shoulder blades towards each other and broaden the collarbones. Sit tall, hold briefly, then release the hands before unwinding the legs and changing the leg order. Hold for 20–45 seconds each side.
What does Bound Lotus Pose work?
Primarily the hip adductors, shoulders, chest, with the spinal erectors, rotator cuff, ankles assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: adds shoulder extension and internal rotation on top of the deep hip rotation of lotus.
Who should not do Bound Lotus Pose?
Any knee injury — skip; this requires a lotus that is already effortless. Shoulder impingement or rotator cuff injury. Recent hip replacement or labral repair. Ankle injury, and any numbness in the feet during the hold. 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 Bound Lotus Pose suitable for beginners?
No. Bound Lotus Pose is rated advanced. The shape itself is rarely the problem — arriving at it years too early is. Work through the beginner and intermediate seated poses on this site and learn this one in person.
How many calories does Bound Lotus 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. Bound Lotus Pose 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.
Related poses
More seated poses — 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.