Marichi's Pose B
मरीच्यासन द्वितीय
Marīcyāsana B — an advanced twist that works the hip flexors, spinal erectors, shoulders.
How to do Marichi's Pose B
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit and fold the left leg into half lotus, drawing the left foot high onto the right thigh.
Bend the right knee and plant the right foot flat on the floor in front of the right sitting bone.
Wrap the right arm around the outside of the right shin and reach the left arm behind the back to clasp.
Lengthen the spine, then fold forward towards the floor with the chest leading.
Hold with the breath steady, come up slowly, and repeat on the second side.
Hold: 30–60 seconds each side. 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 Marichi's Pose B 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.
- Holds one hip in deep external rotation while the other flexes fully under the torso.
- Binds the shoulders behind the body, which pulls the chest open as the trunk folds.
- Loads the deep hip flexors of the standing-foot leg in a very closed position.
Marichi's Pose B is one of 25 twists in this library and one of 61 poses rated advanced. Poses that rotate the spine around its long axis with the pelvis anchored.
Who should skip Marichi's Pose B, or change it
- Pregnancy — avoid; the fold and bind compress the abdomen completely.
- Knee injury of any kind: half lotus loads the knee in rotation.
- Disc injury or any low back pain that flexion aggravates.
- Sacroiliac instability.
- Recent abdominal or hernia surgery, and shoulder injury on either side.
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 Marichi's Pose B
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakePulling the half-lotus foot into place with the hands while the knee complains.
FixStop at a cross-legged position; the knee is not the joint that should be opening.
MistakeDiving the head to the floor before the bind is stable.
FixBuild the clasp sitting upright first, then lower only as far as the spine stays long.
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 Marichi's Pose B 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 Marichi's Pose B?
Sit and fold the left leg into half lotus, drawing the left foot high onto the right thigh. Bend the right knee and plant the right foot flat on the floor in front of the right sitting bone. Wrap the right arm around the outside of the right shin and reach the left arm behind the back to clasp. Lengthen the spine, then fold forward towards the floor with the chest leading. Hold with the breath steady, come up slowly, and repeat on the second side. Hold for 30–60 seconds each side.
What does Marichi's Pose B work?
Primarily the hip flexors, spinal erectors, shoulders, with the obliques, chest, quadriceps assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: holds one hip in deep external rotation while the other flexes fully under the torso.
Who should not do Marichi's Pose B?
Pregnancy — avoid; the fold and bind compress the abdomen completely. Knee injury of any kind: half lotus loads the knee in rotation. Disc injury or any low back pain that flexion aggravates. Sacroiliac instability. Recent abdominal or hernia surgery, and shoulder injury on either side. 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 Marichi's Pose B suitable for beginners?
No. Marichi's Pose B is rated advanced. The shape itself is rarely the problem — arriving at it years too early is. Work through the beginner and intermediate twists poses on this site and learn this one in person.
How many calories does Marichi's Pose B 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. Marichi's Pose B 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 twists — 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.