Bow Pose
धनुरासन
Dhanurāsana — an intermediate backbend that works the quadriceps, spinal erectors, chest.
How to do Bow Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie face down, bend both knees and take hold of the outside of each ankle.
Keep the knees roughly hip-width apart rather than letting them splay wide.
Inhale and press the shins strongly back into the hands so the chest and thighs lift together.
Keep the arms straight and passive — they are the bowstring, not the engine.
Look forward, hold with the breath moving into the upper ribs, then lower on an exhale.
Hold: 15–25 seconds, 2–3 rounds. 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 Bow 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.
- Stretches the quadriceps and hip flexors under active tension while the back extends.
- Strengthens the spinal erectors and glutes to hold the body balanced on the abdomen.
- Opens the chest and the front of the shoulders through the pull of the legs.
Bow Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Bow Pose, or change it
- Pregnancy from the second trimester onward — the entire bodyweight rests on the belly.
- Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion — take Sphinx or Half Bow instead.
- Knee injury, since the knees are deeply flexed and pulled: use a strap and less depth.
- Recent abdominal or hernia surgery.
- Shoulder injury that makes reaching back for the ankles painful — use two straps.
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 Bow Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeThe bend concentrating in the lumbar spine while the upper back stays flat.
FixPress the shins back and up rather than just up, and lead with the sternum so the thoracic spine shares the curve.
MistakeKnees splaying wide to get more height.
FixSqueeze a block between the thighs and accept a lower lift with the knees in line.
MistakeHolding the breath because the belly is compressed.
FixBreathe into the upper ribs and back, and come down as soon as the breath goes ragged.
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 Bow 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 Bow Pose?
Lie face down, bend both knees and take hold of the outside of each ankle. Keep the knees roughly hip-width apart rather than letting them splay wide. Inhale and press the shins strongly back into the hands so the chest and thighs lift together. Keep the arms straight and passive — they are the bowstring, not the engine. Look forward, hold with the breath moving into the upper ribs, then lower on an exhale. Hold for 15–25 seconds, 2–3 rounds.
What does Bow Pose work?
Primarily the quadriceps, spinal erectors, chest, with the glutes, shoulders, hip flexors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: stretches the quadriceps and hip flexors under active tension while the back extends.
Who should not do Bow Pose?
Pregnancy from the second trimester onward — the entire bodyweight rests on the belly. Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion — take Sphinx or Half Bow instead. Knee injury, since the knees are deeply flexed and pulled: use a strap and less depth. Recent abdominal or hernia surgery. Shoulder injury that makes reaching back for the ankles painful — use two straps. 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 Bow Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Bow Pose is rated intermediate here: it assumes a working base of strength and range, and a teacher who has watched you move. Build up through the backbends poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Bow 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. Bow 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 backbends — 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.