Crane Pose
बकासन
Bakāsana — an advanced balance pose that works the shoulders, abdominals, serratus anterior.
How to do Crane Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lay a folded blanket on the mat ahead of the hands before you begin.
Set the hands shoulder-width apart and squat with the knees wide outside the upper arms.
Place the inner knees high against the outer upper arms, close to the armpits.
Shift forward, lift the feet, then press the floor away and straighten the arms as much as they will go.
Draw the heels towards the seat, round the upper back, and hold with the gaze forward.
Hold: 3–8 breaths. 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 Crane 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.
- Holds body weight on straight arms, which loads the shoulder girdle far more than the bent-arm version.
- Requires deep hip flexion held by the abdominals for the length of the balance.
- Trains the shoulder blades to push wide around the ribs under full load.
Crane Pose is one of 31 balance poses in this library and one of 61 poses rated advanced. Poses held on a reduced base — one foot, two hands, or the forearms.
Who should skip Crane Pose, or change it
- Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome — both wrists carry everything here.
- Shoulder injury or recent dislocation.
- Pregnancy, since the knees compress the abdomen.
- Recent abdominal surgery or a hernia repair.
- The genuine risk is tipping forward onto the face — keep a folded blanket in front of the hands.
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 Crane Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeTrying to straighten the arms before the balance is steady.
FixHold the bent-arm crow comfortably for eight breaths first, then work the arms straight.
MistakeKnees slipping down the arms as the elbows straighten.
FixSqueeze the knees inwards against the arms and lift the heels towards the seat.
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 Crane 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 Crane Pose?
Lay a folded blanket on the mat ahead of the hands before you begin. Set the hands shoulder-width apart and squat with the knees wide outside the upper arms. Place the inner knees high against the outer upper arms, close to the armpits. Shift forward, lift the feet, then press the floor away and straighten the arms as much as they will go. Draw the heels towards the seat, round the upper back, and hold with the gaze forward. Hold for 3–8 breaths.
What does Crane Pose work?
Primarily the shoulders, abdominals, serratus anterior, with the wrists, triceps, hip flexors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: holds body weight on straight arms, which loads the shoulder girdle far more than the bent-arm version.
Who should not do Crane Pose?
Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome — both wrists carry everything here. Shoulder injury or recent dislocation. Pregnancy, since the knees compress the abdomen. Recent abdominal surgery or a hernia repair. The genuine risk is tipping forward onto the face — keep a folded blanket in front of the hands. 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 Crane Pose suitable for beginners?
No. Crane Pose is rated advanced. The shape itself is rarely the problem — arriving at it years too early is. Work through the beginner and intermediate balance poses on this site and learn this one in person.
How many calories does Crane 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. Crane 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 balance 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.