Rooster Pose
कुक्कुटासन
Kukkuṭāsana — an advanced balance pose that works the shoulders, triceps, abdominals.
How to do Rooster Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit in a comfortable full lotus with both feet high on the opposite thighs.
Thread the right hand down through the gap between the right calf and thigh, then the left hand on the left side.
Work each arm through until the forearms are clear and the palms can sit flat on the floor.
Spread the fingers, press down hard and lift the whole lotus off the mat.
Hold with the chest lifted for a few breaths, then lower and change which leg is on top.
Hold: 3–6 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 Rooster 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.
- Lifts the entire body on the hands from a seated position, loading the shoulders and triceps directly.
- Requires the hip flexors and abdominals to hold the folded legs up and clear of the floor.
- Puts the wrists and forearms under a straight-down pressing load.
Rooster Pose is one of 31 balance poses in this library and one of 61 poses rated advanced. Poses held on a reduced base — one foot, two hands, or the forearms.
Who should skip Rooster Pose, or change it
- Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Knee injury — threading the arms through a lotus puts sideways pressure on the joint.
- Shoulder or elbow injury.
- Pregnancy and 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 Rooster Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeForcing the arms through a tight lotus and levering the knees.
FixStop if the knee speaks at all; the arms only fit when the lotus is genuinely easy.
MistakeShoulders hunching up to the ears on the lift.
FixPush the floor away and let the collarbones stay broad.
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 Rooster 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 Rooster Pose?
Sit in a comfortable full lotus with both feet high on the opposite thighs. Thread the right hand down through the gap between the right calf and thigh, then the left hand on the left side. Work each arm through until the forearms are clear and the palms can sit flat on the floor. Spread the fingers, press down hard and lift the whole lotus off the mat. Hold with the chest lifted for a few breaths, then lower and change which leg is on top. Hold for 3–6 breaths.
What does Rooster Pose work?
Primarily the shoulders, triceps, abdominals, with the wrists, forearms, hip flexors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: lifts the entire body on the hands from a seated position, loading the shoulders and triceps directly.
Who should not do Rooster Pose?
Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome. Knee injury — threading the arms through a lotus puts sideways pressure on the joint. Shoulder or elbow injury. Pregnancy and 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 Rooster Pose suitable for beginners?
No. Rooster Pose is rated advanced. The shape itself is rarely the problem — arriving at it years too early is. Work through the beginner and intermediate balance poses on this site and learn this one in person.
How many calories does Rooster 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. Rooster 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 balance 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.