Gracious Pose
भद्रासन
Bhadrāsana — a beginner seated pose that works the hip adductors, ankles, spinal erectors.
How to do Gracious Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel with a folded blanket under the shins, then take the knees wide apart.
Bring the big toes towards each other behind you and let the heels separate.
Sit back between the heels, using a block or cushion under the seat if the hips do not reach.
Rest the hands on the knees and let the thighs turn outwards.
Lengthen the spine, keep the breath even, and hold.
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 Gracious 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.
- Combines deep knee flexion with hip abduction, which few seated positions do together.
- Stretches the inner thighs while the ankles hold a turned-out position on the floor.
- Gives a wide, low base that makes long upright sitting easier to sustain.
Gracious Pose is one of 29 seated poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses taken on the floor, where the pelvis is the base and the spine works above it.
Who should skip Gracious Pose, or change it
- Knee injury — the wide knees add a rotational load; skip or sit on a chair.
- Recent hip replacement, where wide abduction may be restricted.
- Ankle or foot pain: pad generously or choose Sukhasana.
- Groin strain.
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 Gracious Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeTaking the knees so wide that the inner knee pinches.
FixNarrow the knees until the sensation sits in the inner thigh, not the joint.
MistakeSlumping back because the seat is too low.
FixRaise the seat on a block until the pelvis is upright.
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 Gracious 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 Gracious Pose?
Kneel with a folded blanket under the shins, then take the knees wide apart. Bring the big toes towards each other behind you and let the heels separate. Sit back between the heels, using a block or cushion under the seat if the hips do not reach. Rest the hands on the knees and let the thighs turn outwards. Lengthen the spine, keep the breath even, and hold. Hold for 1–3 minutes.
What does Gracious Pose work?
Primarily the hip adductors, ankles, spinal erectors, with the quadriceps, feet, pelvic floor assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: combines deep knee flexion with hip abduction, which few seated positions do together.
Who should not do Gracious Pose?
Knee injury — the wide knees add a rotational load; skip or sit on a chair. Recent hip replacement, where wide abduction may be restricted. Ankle or foot pain: pad generously or choose Sukhasana. Groin strain. 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 Gracious Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Gracious 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 Gracious 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. Gracious 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 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.