Pendant Pose
लोलासन
Lolāsana — an intermediate balance pose that works the shoulders, abdominals, triceps.
How to do Pendant Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel and sit back on the heels, then cross the ankles with the shins tucked in close.
Place a block under each hand if the arms are not long enough to clear the floor.
Set the hands beside the hips, fingers forward, and press down hard.
Round the upper back, draw the knees towards the chest and lift the whole body off the mat.
Hold for a few breaths with the legs hanging, then lower and cross the ankles the other way.
Hold: 3–8 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 Pendant 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 whole body weight straight up on two hands with no leg support at all.
- Loads the abdominals and hip flexors to hold the folded legs clear of the floor.
- Trains the shoulder blades to push down and wide, which is the base of every press-up shape.
Pendant Pose is one of 31 balance poses in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses held on a reduced base — one foot, two hands, or the forearms.
Who should skip Pendant Pose, or change it
- Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Shoulder injury.
- Knee discomfort from sitting on the heels — pad the ankles or skip.
- Recent abdominal surgery or a hernia repair.
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 Pendant Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeStraining upward with a flat back so nothing leaves the floor.
FixRound the upper back strongly and draw the knees in; the lift is a curl, not a hoist.
MistakeHands too far forward or behind the hips.
FixSet the palms level with the hips and use blocks to buy height.
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 Pendant 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 Pendant Pose?
Kneel and sit back on the heels, then cross the ankles with the shins tucked in close. Place a block under each hand if the arms are not long enough to clear the floor. Set the hands beside the hips, fingers forward, and press down hard. Round the upper back, draw the knees towards the chest and lift the whole body off the mat. Hold for a few breaths with the legs hanging, then lower and cross the ankles the other way. Hold for 3–8 breaths.
What does Pendant Pose work?
Primarily the shoulders, abdominals, triceps, with the wrists, hip flexors, serratus anterior assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: lifts the whole body weight straight up on two hands with no leg support at all.
Who should not do Pendant Pose?
Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome. Shoulder injury. Knee discomfort from sitting on the heels — pad the ankles or skip. Recent abdominal surgery or a hernia repair. 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 Pendant Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Pendant 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 balance poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Pendant 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. Pendant 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.