Lord of the Dance Pose
नटराजासन
Naṭarājāsana — an advanced balance pose that works the quadriceps, hip flexors, spinal erectors.
How to do Lord of the Dance Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Stand tall and shift your weight onto the left foot.
Bend the right knee and take hold of the inner right ankle or foot behind you.
Press the lifted foot back into the hand while reaching the opposite arm forward.
Hinge the torso slightly forward as the lifted thigh rises behind you.
Hold with a steady gaze, come out slowly, and change sides.
Hold: 5–15 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 Lord of the Dance 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.
- Stretches the hip flexors and quadriceps of the lifted leg under active tension.
- Extends the thoracic spine while balancing on one foot.
- Trains the standing ankle and outer hip through a moving backbend.
Lord of the Dance 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 Lord of the Dance Pose, or change it
- Low back injury — this is a backbend on one leg.
- Knee injury on the lifted leg.
- Balance loss or vertigo: use a wall for the front hand.
- Shoulder injury if reaching overhead for the foot.
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 Lord of the Dance Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeLifted hip rolling open so the low back takes the whole bend.
FixLevel the hips and lift less; the chest reaches forward as the leg goes back.
MistakeGrabbing the foot from overhead too early.
FixHold the ankle from the inside first, for months if needed.
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 Lord of the Dance 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 Lord of the Dance Pose?
Stand tall and shift your weight onto the left foot. Bend the right knee and take hold of the inner right ankle or foot behind you. Press the lifted foot back into the hand while reaching the opposite arm forward. Hinge the torso slightly forward as the lifted thigh rises behind you. Hold with a steady gaze, come out slowly, and change sides. Hold for 5–15 seconds.
What does Lord of the Dance Pose work?
Primarily the quadriceps, hip flexors, spinal erectors, with the shoulders, chest, gluteus medius assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: stretches the hip flexors and quadriceps of the lifted leg under active tension.
Who should not do Lord of the Dance Pose?
Low back injury — this is a backbend on one leg. Knee injury on the lifted leg. Balance loss or vertigo: use a wall for the front hand. Shoulder injury if reaching overhead for the foot. 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 Lord of the Dance Pose suitable for beginners?
No. Lord of the Dance 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 Lord of the Dance 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. Lord of the Dance 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.
Sequences that use Lord of the Dance Pose
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.