Womb Pose
गर्भासन
Garbhāsana — a beginner restorative pose that works the lower back, glutes.
How to do Womb Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie on your right side and draw both knees up towards the chest.
Place a firm pillow or a folded blanket between the knees so the top hip does not drop forward.
Slide a folded blanket under the head so the neck stays level with the spine, not tipped down.
Let the bottom arm rest forward on the floor and the top arm rest along the side or on a small cushion.
Stay for half the hold, then roll through and curl up on the other side.
Hold: 3–8 minutes 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 Womb 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.
- Curls the spine into a long, fully supported rounding with the floor taking all the weight.
- Props both the head and the top knee so the shoulders and hips stay stacked with no effort.
- Provides a long supported hold that works when lying flat on the back is not an option.
Womb Pose is one of 21 restorative poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Supported, low-effort poses held long, where the point is to stop working rather than to work.
Who should skip Womb Pose, or change it
- Shoulder pain on the underneath side — add height under the head and roll slightly further back.
- Neck problems: the blanket under the head must fill the whole gap to the shoulder.
- Late pregnancy, where the left side is usually the more comfortable one to settle on.
- Hip discomfort with the knees deeply drawn up — straighten the legs a little.
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 Womb Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeNo support between the knees, so the top hip rolls forward and twists the lower back.
FixWedge a pillow between the knees and ankles.
MistakeHead resting straight on the mat so the neck side-bends for the whole hold.
FixBuild the head support up to the height of the shoulder.
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 Womb Pose is mapped to the nearest published code — 02170, yoga, Nadisodhana (seated, quiet practice), 2 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 | 25 | 49 | 74 | 110 | 147 |
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 Womb Pose?
Lie on your right side and draw both knees up towards the chest. Place a firm pillow or a folded blanket between the knees so the top hip does not drop forward. Slide a folded blanket under the head so the neck stays level with the spine, not tipped down. Let the bottom arm rest forward on the floor and the top arm rest along the side or on a small cushion. Stay for half the hold, then roll through and curl up on the other side. Hold for 3–8 minutes each side.
What does Womb Pose work?
Primarily the lower back, glutes, with the neck, hip flexors, spinal erectors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: curls the spine into a long, fully supported rounding with the floor taking all the weight.
Who should not do Womb Pose?
Shoulder pain on the underneath side — add height under the head and roll slightly further back. Neck problems: the blanket under the head must fill the whole gap to the shoulder. Late pregnancy, where the left side is usually the more comfortable one to settle on. Hip discomfort with the knees deeply drawn up — straighten the legs a little. 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 Womb Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Womb 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 Womb 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. Womb Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02170, yoga, Nadisodhana (seated, quiet practice), at 2 MET — about 74 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 restorative 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.