One-Legged King Pigeon Pose
एक पाद राजकपोतासन
Eka Pāda Rājakapotāsana — an intermediate backbend that works the hip flexors, quadriceps, chest.
How to do One-Legged King Pigeon Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
From all fours, slide the right knee forward behind the right wrist and angle the right shin across the mat.
Extend the left leg straight back with the kneecap facing the floor, and support the right hip on a block or folded blanket.
Once the hips feel level, lift the chest and place both hands on the floor beside the hips.
Bend the back knee and reach the same-side hand back for the foot, or loop a strap around it.
Draw the foot in as the chest lifts, hold, then release the leg and change sides.
Hold: 30–60 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 One-Legged King Pigeon 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 hip flexors and quadriceps of the back leg while the front hip opens outward.
- Extends the thoracic spine with the pelvis anchored by the floor.
- Loads the glute of the front leg in a deeply externally rotated position.
One-Legged King Pigeon 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 One-Legged King Pigeon Pose, or change it
- Knee injury on the front leg — the angled shin puts a rotational load on the knee, so keep the shin closer to the body.
- Sacroiliac irritation, which the asymmetric pelvis readily aggravates: support the front hip well.
- Disc injury or spondylolisthesis — stay upright and skip the back-leg grip.
- Shoulder injury when reaching overhead for the foot; use a strap instead.
- Pregnancy from the second trimester, where the forward-leaning setup is uncomfortable.
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-Legged King Pigeon Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeThe front hip hovering unsupported so the pelvis tilts and the low back takes the strain.
FixPut a block or folded blanket under the front hip until it rests without effort.
MistakeReaching for the back foot before the chest has lifted, so the bend lands entirely in the waist.
FixLift the sternum tall first; the foot comes to you only once the upper back has opened.
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 One-Legged King Pigeon 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 One-Legged King Pigeon Pose?
From all fours, slide the right knee forward behind the right wrist and angle the right shin across the mat. Extend the left leg straight back with the kneecap facing the floor, and support the right hip on a block or folded blanket. Once the hips feel level, lift the chest and place both hands on the floor beside the hips. Bend the back knee and reach the same-side hand back for the foot, or loop a strap around it. Draw the foot in as the chest lifts, hold, then release the leg and change sides. Hold for 30–60 seconds each side.
What does One-Legged King Pigeon Pose work?
Primarily the hip flexors, quadriceps, chest, with the glutes, spinal erectors, shoulders assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: stretches the hip flexors and quadriceps of the back leg while the front hip opens outward.
Who should not do One-Legged King Pigeon Pose?
Knee injury on the front leg — the angled shin puts a rotational load on the knee, so keep the shin closer to the body. Sacroiliac irritation, which the asymmetric pelvis readily aggravates: support the front hip well. Disc injury or spondylolisthesis — stay upright and skip the back-leg grip. Shoulder injury when reaching overhead for the foot; use a strap instead. Pregnancy from the second trimester, where the forward-leaning setup is uncomfortable. 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-Legged King Pigeon Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. One-Legged King Pigeon 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 One-Legged King Pigeon 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-Legged King Pigeon 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.
Sequences that use One-Legged King Pigeon Pose
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.