Little Thunderbolt Pose
लघु वज्रासन
Laghu Vajrāsana — an advanced backbend that works the quadriceps, hip flexors, spinal erectors.
How to do Little Thunderbolt Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel with the knees hip-width apart, shins padded, and hold both heels as in Camel.
Press the hips forward and lift the chest into a strong arch with the thighs vertical.
Keeping the grip on the heels, lower the crown of the head slowly towards the floor behind you.
Let the thighs work eccentrically to control the descent — never drop.
Rest the crown lightly on the mat, hold briefly, then draw the hips forward and pull yourself back up.
Hold: 5–10 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 Little Thunderbolt 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 quadriceps eccentrically through a long descent and then concentrically to return.
- Takes the spine into deep extension with the pelvis anchored over the knees.
- Builds the specific strength needed to enter and exit a deep backbend under control.
Little Thunderbolt 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 Little Thunderbolt Pose, or change it
- Any neck injury — the crown of the head bears weight, so leave this pose out.
- Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion.
- Knee injury: the kneecaps carry the load and the knee joint is fully flexed.
- High blood pressure or glaucoma with the head below the heart and inverted.
- Shoulder injury that limits reaching back to the heels.
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 Little Thunderbolt Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeDropping the last stretch of the way and landing on the head.
FixStop practising the full descent until you can hold the halfway point for three breaths.
MistakeThe hips sliding back over the heels, which dumps the arch into the lumbar spine.
FixKeep driving the pubic bone forward so the thighs stay vertical the entire way down and up.
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 Little Thunderbolt 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 Little Thunderbolt Pose?
Kneel with the knees hip-width apart, shins padded, and hold both heels as in Camel. Press the hips forward and lift the chest into a strong arch with the thighs vertical. Keeping the grip on the heels, lower the crown of the head slowly towards the floor behind you. Let the thighs work eccentrically to control the descent — never drop. Rest the crown lightly on the mat, hold briefly, then draw the hips forward and pull yourself back up. Hold for 5–10 seconds.
What does Little Thunderbolt Pose work?
Primarily the quadriceps, hip flexors, spinal erectors, with the glutes, chest, shoulders assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: loads the quadriceps eccentrically through a long descent and then concentrically to return.
Who should not do Little Thunderbolt Pose?
Any neck injury — the crown of the head bears weight, so leave this pose out. Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion. Knee injury: the kneecaps carry the load and the knee joint is fully flexed. High blood pressure or glaucoma with the head below the heart and inverted. Shoulder injury that limits reaching back to the heels. 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 Little Thunderbolt Pose suitable for beginners?
No. Little Thunderbolt 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 Little Thunderbolt 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. Little Thunderbolt 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.