Revolved Abdomen Pose
जठर परिवर्तनासन
Jaṭhara Parivartanāsana — an intermediate twist that works the obliques, abdominals, hip flexors.
How to do Revolved Abdomen Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie on your back with the arms stretched wide at shoulder height, palms down.
Draw both knees in and then extend the legs towards the ceiling, or keep them bent to start.
Lower both legs together slowly to the right, stopping well before the left shoulder lifts.
Use the left obliques to carry the legs back up to centre rather than swinging them.
Repeat to the left, and work in slow controlled rounds rather than a long hold.
Hold: 6–10 slow rounds 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 Revolved Abdomen 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.
- Loads the obliques eccentrically as the legs lower and concentrically as they return.
- Rotates the lumbar and thoracic spine against the weight of both legs.
- Demands that the shoulders stay pinned while the pelvis turns away from them.
Revolved Abdomen Pose is one of 25 twists in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses that rotate the spine around its long axis with the pelvis anchored.
Who should skip Revolved Abdomen Pose, or change it
- Pregnancy — the loaded abdominal rotation is not appropriate.
- Disc injury or any low back condition; this is one of the most demanding twists on the lumbar spine.
- Sacroiliac instability.
- Recent abdominal surgery, hernia, or separated abdominal muscles after birth.
- Neck strain — keep the head centred rather than turning it.
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 Revolved Abdomen Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeLetting the legs fall fast so momentum does the work.
FixLower over four or five slow counts and stop the moment control goes.
MistakeOpposite shoulder peeling off the floor to gain range.
FixBend the knees and lower less far; the shoulder staying down defines your range.
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 Revolved Abdomen 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 Revolved Abdomen Pose?
Lie on your back with the arms stretched wide at shoulder height, palms down. Draw both knees in and then extend the legs towards the ceiling, or keep them bent to start. Lower both legs together slowly to the right, stopping well before the left shoulder lifts. Use the left obliques to carry the legs back up to centre rather than swinging them. Repeat to the left, and work in slow controlled rounds rather than a long hold. Hold for 6–10 slow rounds each side.
What does Revolved Abdomen Pose work?
Primarily the obliques, abdominals, hip flexors, with the spinal erectors, chest, shoulders assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: loads the obliques eccentrically as the legs lower and concentrically as they return.
Who should not do Revolved Abdomen Pose?
Pregnancy — the loaded abdominal rotation is not appropriate. Disc injury or any low back condition; this is one of the most demanding twists on the lumbar spine. Sacroiliac instability. Recent abdominal surgery, hernia, or separated abdominal muscles after birth. Neck strain — keep the head centred rather than turning it. 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 Revolved Abdomen Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Revolved Abdomen 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 twists poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Revolved Abdomen 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. Revolved Abdomen 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 Revolved Abdomen Pose
Related poses
More twists — 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.