Crocodile Pose
मकरासन
Makarāsana — a beginner restorative pose that works the lower back, neck.
How to do Crocodile Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie face down with the legs apart and the toes turned out to the sides.
Place a folded blanket under the hips if the lower back feels compressed lying flat.
Bend the elbows and stack the forearms in front so the chest is lifted a little off the mat.
Rest the forehead or the chin on the crossed forearms, whichever leaves the neck quiet.
Let the belly be heavy against the floor and feel the breath move the lower back.
Hold: 3–8 minutes. Breath: Slow abdominal breathing, feeling the back rise.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Crocodile 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.
- Supports the whole front of the body on the floor so the back muscles can stop working.
- Makes the movement of the breath in the lower back obvious, because the floor blocks the front.
- Holds the chest slightly raised on the forearms with no muscular effort from the back.
Crocodile Pose is one of 21 restorative poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Supported, low-effort poses held long, where the point is to stop working rather than to work.
Who should skip Crocodile Pose, or change it
- Pregnancy after the first trimester — lying face down is not suitable.
- Low back discomfort in prone positions: place a folded blanket under the hips or skip.
- Neck problems, since the head is turned or extended on the arms.
- Reflux, which pressure on the abdomen can aggravate.
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 Crocodile Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakePropping the chin so high that the neck is cranked back for minutes.
FixLower the forearms flat or rest the forehead down instead.
MistakeLegs held together so the lower back stays tight.
FixTake the feet wide and let the heels roll out.
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 Crocodile Pose is mapped to the nearest published code — 02170, yoga, Nadisodhana (seated, quiet practice), 2 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 | 25 | 49 | 74 | 110 | 147 |
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 Crocodile Pose?
Lie face down with the legs apart and the toes turned out to the sides. Place a folded blanket under the hips if the lower back feels compressed lying flat. Bend the elbows and stack the forearms in front so the chest is lifted a little off the mat. Rest the forehead or the chin on the crossed forearms, whichever leaves the neck quiet. Let the belly be heavy against the floor and feel the breath move the lower back. Hold for 3–8 minutes.
What does Crocodile Pose work?
Primarily the lower back, neck, with the shoulders, glutes, spinal erectors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: supports the whole front of the body on the floor so the back muscles can stop working.
Who should not do Crocodile Pose?
Pregnancy after the first trimester — lying face down is not suitable. Low back discomfort in prone positions: place a folded blanket under the hips or skip. Neck problems, since the head is turned or extended on the arms. Reflux, which pressure on the abdomen can aggravate. 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 Crocodile Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Crocodile Pose is a beginner-level pose on this site, which means it is learnable in a first class and has a version that works for most bodies. The cautions above still apply.
How many calories does Crocodile 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. Crocodile Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02170, yoga, Nadisodhana (seated, quiet practice), at 2 MET — about 74 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 restorative 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.