Lotus Peacock Pose
पद्म मयूरासन
Padma Mayūrāsana — an advanced balance pose that works the forearms, abdominals, shoulders.
How to do Lotus Peacock Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Build a comfortable full lotus while sitting, then come forward onto the knees with the lotus intact.
Place the palms on the mat with the fingers pointing back towards the body and the elbows drawn together.
Set the joined elbows against the abdomen below the navel and lay the folded legs over the upper arms.
Lean the chest and head forward until the knees lighten, then lift the whole lotus clear of the floor.
Hold for a few breaths, lower under control, and rebuild the lotus the other way before repeating.
Hold: 3–6 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 Lotus Peacock 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.
- Balances a folded lotus on the elbows, shortening the lever so the shape is held by placement rather than reach.
- Loads the forearms and wrists in full reversed extension under body weight.
- Requires the abdominals to keep the folded legs pressed forward over the arms.
Lotus Peacock 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 Lotus Peacock Pose, or change it
- Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Knee injury — full lotus is required and cannot be forced.
- Recent abdominal surgery, a hernia, or abdominal tenderness, since the elbows press into the belly.
- Pregnancy at any stage.
- Use a folded blanket in front: with the legs locked in lotus there is no way to step out of a forward tip.
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 Lotus Peacock Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeBuilding the lotus by pulling the foot until the knee protests.
FixSkip this pose until the lotus sits comfortably on its own.
MistakeHead staying back so the balance never tips forward.
FixLet the head and chest travel well forward of the hands; that is what raises the legs.
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 Lotus Peacock 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 Lotus Peacock Pose?
Build a comfortable full lotus while sitting, then come forward onto the knees with the lotus intact. Place the palms on the mat with the fingers pointing back towards the body and the elbows drawn together. Set the joined elbows against the abdomen below the navel and lay the folded legs over the upper arms. Lean the chest and head forward until the knees lighten, then lift the whole lotus clear of the floor. Hold for a few breaths, lower under control, and rebuild the lotus the other way before repeating. Hold for 3–6 breaths.
What does Lotus Peacock Pose work?
Primarily the forearms, abdominals, shoulders, with the wrists, triceps, hip flexors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: balances a folded lotus on the elbows, shortening the lever so the shape is held by placement rather than reach.
Who should not do Lotus Peacock Pose?
Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome. Knee injury — full lotus is required and cannot be forced. Recent abdominal surgery, a hernia, or abdominal tenderness, since the elbows press into the belly. Pregnancy at any stage. Use a folded blanket in front: with the legs locked in lotus there is no way to step out of a forward tip. 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 Lotus Peacock Pose suitable for beginners?
No. Lotus Peacock 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 Lotus Peacock 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. Lotus Peacock 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.