Raised Arms Pose
हस्त उत्तानासन
Hasta Uttānāsana — a beginner backbend that works the spinal erectors, shoulders, chest.
How to do Raised Arms Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Stand tall with the feet hip-width apart.
Inhale and sweep the arms wide and overhead.
Lift the sternum and take a small backward arch from the upper back, not the waist.
Keep the glutes firm and the tailbone lengthening down so the low back does not pinch.
Hold for a breath or two, then come upright.
Hold: 2–3 breaths. 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 Raised Arms 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.
- Extends the thoracic spine, which sitting keeps rounded all day.
- Opens the chest and the front of the shoulders.
- Lengthens the abdominal wall in a controlled, standing position.
Raised Arms Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Raised Arms Pose, or change it
- Low back injury — keep the arch very small or skip.
- Shoulder impingement: keep the arms wider.
- High blood pressure and vertigo, since the head drops back.
- Neck injury — keep the gaze forward.
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 Raised Arms Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeDropping the head back hard the moment the arms lift.
FixLead with the sternum and let the head follow only a little.
MistakeBending from the low back so it pinches.
FixFirm the glutes, lengthen the tailbone, and arch from between the shoulder blades.
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 Raised Arms 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 Raised Arms Pose?
Stand tall with the feet hip-width apart. Inhale and sweep the arms wide and overhead. Lift the sternum and take a small backward arch from the upper back, not the waist. Keep the glutes firm and the tailbone lengthening down so the low back does not pinch. Hold for a breath or two, then come upright. Hold for 2–3 breaths.
What does Raised Arms Pose work?
Primarily the spinal erectors, shoulders, chest, with the abdominals, hip flexors, trapezius assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: extends the thoracic spine, which sitting keeps rounded all day.
Who should not do Raised Arms Pose?
Low back injury — keep the arch very small or skip. Shoulder impingement: keep the arms wider. High blood pressure and vertigo, since the head drops back. Neck injury — keep the gaze forward. 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 Raised Arms Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Raised Arms 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 Raised Arms 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. Raised Arms 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.