Intermediate Balance

One-Handed Arm Poseएक हस्त भुजासन

Eka Hasta Bhujāsana — an intermediate balance pose that works the shoulders, triceps, abdominals.

3–8BREATHS HELD · EACH SIDE

One line on the timetable. One-Handed Arm Pose is held 3–8 breaths 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

The arc draws over 15 seconds — the short end of the hold, at 1:1 in time. One tick per breath at ≈ 5 s.

Sanskritएक हस्त भुजासनEka Hasta Bhujāsana

EnglishOne-Handed Arm Posealso called Elephant's Trunk Pose

Hindiएक हस्त भुजासनHindi uses the Sanskrit name

DifficultyIntermediatebalance pose

Hold for3–8 breaths each sideper side where the pose has sides

Energy, 30 min147 kcal4 MET, 70 kg adult

Worksshouldersplus 5 more muscle groups

Balance · 30 / 31

How to do One-Handed Arm Pose

Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.

Sit with both legs straight out in front and the hands beside the hips.
Bend the right knee and thread the right arm under the right thigh, sliding the leg high onto the upper arm.
Place both palms flat on the floor beside the hips, fingers pointing forward, with blocks under them if needed.
Flex the left foot and press both hands down to lift the seat and the straight left leg off the mat.
Hold for a few breaths, lower with control, and change sides.

Hold: 3–8 breaths 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.

shouldersprimary

tricepsprimary

abdominalsprimary

wristssecondary

hip flexorssecondary

quadricepssecondary

What One-Handed Arm 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.

Lifts the whole body on two hands with one leg hooked over an arm and the other held straight out.
Loads the hip flexors and quadriceps of the extended leg to keep it clear of the floor.
Puts a heavy pressing load through both wrists with the arms straight.

One-Handed Arm Pose is one of 31 balance poses in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses held on a reduced base — one foot, two hands, or the forearms.

Who should skip One-Handed Arm Pose, or change it

Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome.
Shoulder injury on the side carrying the thigh.
Hamstring strain on the extended leg.
Recent abdominal surgery or a hernia repair.

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 One-Handed Arm Pose

What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".

MistakeThigh sitting near the elbow so nothing can lift.

FixUse the free hand to draw the leg as high onto the upper arm as it goes first.

MistakeExtended leg dragging on the floor.

FixFlex the foot hard and lift the thigh actively, or use blocks under the hands for extra height.

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. One-Handed Arm Pose 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 whole method, including what it cannot tell you →

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.

Energy cost of a yoga, Power practice at 4 MET, for a 70 kg adult. Compendium 02175 · JUL 2026
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 One-Handed Arm Pose?

Sit with both legs straight out in front and the hands beside the hips. Bend the right knee and thread the right arm under the right thigh, sliding the leg high onto the upper arm. Place both palms flat on the floor beside the hips, fingers pointing forward, with blocks under them if needed. Flex the left foot and press both hands down to lift the seat and the straight left leg off the mat. Hold for a few breaths, lower with control, and change sides. Hold for 3–8 breaths each side.

What does One-Handed Arm Pose work?

Primarily the shoulders, triceps, abdominals, with the wrists, hip flexors, quadriceps assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: lifts the whole body on two hands with one leg hooked over an arm and the other held straight out.

Who should not do One-Handed Arm Pose?

Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome. Shoulder injury on the side carrying the thigh. Hamstring strain on the extended leg. Recent abdominal surgery or a hernia repair. 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 One-Handed Arm Pose suitable for beginners?

Not as a first pose. One-Handed Arm 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 balance poses marked beginner first.

How many calories does One-Handed Arm 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. One-Handed Arm 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.

The rest of the balance poses on the wall

More balance poses — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.

Tree Pose● Vṛkṣāsana Beginner · balance · 20–45 seconds each side Warrior III Vīrabhadrāsana III Intermediate · balance · 20–45 seconds each side Half Moon Pose Ardha Candrāsana Intermediate · balance · 20–45 seconds each side Eagle Pose Garuḍāsana Intermediate · balance · 20–45 seconds each side Side Plank Pose (Feet Stacked) Pārśva Phalakāsana Intermediate · balance · 20–40 seconds each side Extended Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose Utthita Hasta Pādāṅguṣṭhāsana Advanced · balance · 5–15 seconds Lord of the Dance Pose Naṭarājāsana Advanced · balance · 5–15 seconds Plank Pose Phalakāsana Beginner · balance · 20–45 seconds

All 31 balance poses All intermediate poses Desk work — neck, shoulders and hips Hips Neck and shoulders The full library

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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