Pigeon Pose
कपोतासन
Kapotāsana — an advanced backbend that works the hip flexors, chest, shoulders.
How to do Pigeon Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel with the knees hip-width apart and the shins padded, hips pressed forward over the knees.
Reach both arms overhead and start arching back, leading with the breastbone.
Lower the hands towards the floor behind you and place the crown of the head down briefly.
Walk the hands in towards the feet until the fingers can take hold of the heels or toes.
Bring the forearms down, press the elbows towards each other, and hold — then reverse the same path to come out.
Hold: 10–20 seconds. 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 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.
- Combines the deepest available hip flexor stretch with a full overhead shoulder opening.
- Extends the entire spine with the pelvis fixed over the knees.
- Demands the quadriceps work throughout to control both entry and exit.
Pigeon Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 61 poses rated advanced. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Pigeon Pose, or change it
- Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion — not appropriate under any modification.
- Neck injury, since the head passes through a loaded position on the way down.
- Shoulder impingement or a rotator cuff tear: the overhead reach into extension is exactly the aggravating position.
- Knee injury, given the fully flexed and loaded knees.
- Pregnancy, high blood pressure or glaucoma.
- Recent abdominal surgery.
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 Pigeon Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeCompressing everything into the low back because the shoulders and hips will not open.
FixSpend the practice on Camel, Supta Virasana and overhead shoulder work; the shape arrives when those do.
MistakeElbows splaying wide so the shoulders roll forward.
FixLoop a strap around the upper arms at shoulder width and press out against it to keep the shoulders open.
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 Pigeon Pose is mapped to the nearest published code — 02175, yoga, Power, 4 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 | 49 | 98 | 147 | 221 | 294 |
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 Pigeon Pose?
Kneel with the knees hip-width apart and the shins padded, hips pressed forward over the knees. Reach both arms overhead and start arching back, leading with the breastbone. Lower the hands towards the floor behind you and place the crown of the head down briefly. Walk the hands in towards the feet until the fingers can take hold of the heels or toes. Bring the forearms down, press the elbows towards each other, and hold — then reverse the same path to come out. Hold for 10–20 seconds.
What does Pigeon Pose work?
Primarily the hip flexors, chest, shoulders, with the quadriceps, spinal erectors, triceps assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: combines the deepest available hip flexor stretch with a full overhead shoulder opening.
Who should not do Pigeon Pose?
Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion — not appropriate under any modification. Neck injury, since the head passes through a loaded position on the way down. Shoulder impingement or a rotator cuff tear: the overhead reach into extension is exactly the aggravating position. Knee injury, given the fully flexed and loaded knees. Pregnancy, high blood pressure or glaucoma. Recent abdominal surgery. 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 Pigeon Pose suitable for beginners?
No. Pigeon Pose is rated advanced. The shape itself is rarely the problem — arriving at it years too early is. Work through the beginner and intermediate backbends poses on this site and learn this one in person.
How many calories does 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. Pigeon 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.
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.