Seated Mountain Pose
पर्वतासन
Parvatāsana — a beginner seated pose that works the shoulders, spinal erectors, latissimus dorsi.
How to do Seated Mountain Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit cross-legged or in Vajrasana on a folded blanket with the spine tall.
Interlace the fingers in front of the chest and turn the palms away from you.
Inhale and raise the arms overhead until the palms face the ceiling and the elbows straighten.
Keep the front ribs drawn in so the lift comes from the upper back, not the lower.
Hold for several breaths, lower on an exhale, then repeat with the opposite finger interlace.
Hold: 30–60 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 Seated Mountain 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.
- Takes the shoulders through full overhead flexion with the pelvis anchored by the seat.
- Lengthens the side body and the muscles between the ribs from hip to fingertip.
- Trains the shoulder blades to rotate upwards rather than hitch towards the ears.
Seated Mountain Pose is one of 29 seated poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses taken on the floor, where the pelvis is the base and the spine works above it.
Who should skip Seated Mountain Pose, or change it
- Shoulder impingement or rotator cuff injury — keep the arms lower and the hands apart.
- High blood pressure with long arms-overhead holds.
- Knee injury if sitting cross-legged: sit on a chair instead.
- Low back injury, if the ribs flare and the lumbar spine arches.
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 Seated Mountain Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeFront ribs pushing forward so the arch collects in the low back.
FixExhale, soften the ribs down, and take the arms only as far back as the ribs allow.
MistakeShoulders creeping up towards the ears.
FixSeparate the hands, widen the arms, and broaden the collarbones first.
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 Seated Mountain Pose is mapped to the nearest published code — 02150, yoga, Hatha, 2.5 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 | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
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 Seated Mountain Pose?
Sit cross-legged or in Vajrasana on a folded blanket with the spine tall. Interlace the fingers in front of the chest and turn the palms away from you. Inhale and raise the arms overhead until the palms face the ceiling and the elbows straighten. Keep the front ribs drawn in so the lift comes from the upper back, not the lower. Hold for several breaths, lower on an exhale, then repeat with the opposite finger interlace. Hold for 30–60 seconds.
What does Seated Mountain Pose work?
Primarily the shoulders, spinal erectors, latissimus dorsi, with the trapezius, abdominals, intercostals assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: takes the shoulders through full overhead flexion with the pelvis anchored by the seat.
Who should not do Seated Mountain Pose?
Shoulder impingement or rotator cuff injury — keep the arms lower and the hands apart. High blood pressure with long arms-overhead holds. Knee injury if sitting cross-legged: sit on a chair instead. Low back injury, if the ribs flare and the lumbar spine arches. 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 Seated Mountain Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Seated Mountain 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 Seated Mountain 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. Seated Mountain Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02150, yoga, Hatha, at 2.5 MET — about 92 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 Seated Mountain Pose
Related poses
More seated 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.