Knees-to-Chest Pose
पवनमुक्तासन
Pavanamuktāsana — a beginner restorative pose that works the lower back, glutes.
How to do Knees-to-Chest Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie on your back with a thin folded blanket under the head and both legs long.
Bend both knees and draw them in towards the chest, holding the shins just below the knees.
If the knees are sore to hold, take hold of the backs of the thighs instead.
Let the shoulders stay down on the mat and the tailbone stay heavy rather than curling up.
Hold, then rock slowly side to side a few times before releasing the legs.
Hold: 1–3 minutes. 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 Knees-to-Chest 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.
- Rounds the lower back gently while the floor carries the whole spine.
- Lengthens the muscles either side of the lumbar spine in a passive, easy position.
- Requires almost no strength, so it works as a rest between stronger poses.
Knees-to-Chest 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 Knees-to-Chest Pose, or change it
- Pregnancy after the first trimester — the compressed knees-to-belly shape is unsuitable; rest on the side instead.
- Recent abdominal surgery or a hernia repair.
- Knee injury: hold behind the thighs rather than over the kneecaps.
- Reflux or breathlessness lying flat, where a propped incline is more comfortable.
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 Knees-to-Chest Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeLifting the head and shoulders to meet the knees.
FixLeave the head down on the blanket; this is a rest, not an abdominal exercise.
MistakeGripping the shins so hard the shoulders round off the mat.
FixHold lightly, let the arms be heavy, and keep the shoulder blades on the floor.
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 Knees-to-Chest 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 Knees-to-Chest Pose?
Lie on your back with a thin folded blanket under the head and both legs long. Bend both knees and draw them in towards the chest, holding the shins just below the knees. If the knees are sore to hold, take hold of the backs of the thighs instead. Let the shoulders stay down on the mat and the tailbone stay heavy rather than curling up. Hold, then rock slowly side to side a few times before releasing the legs. Hold for 1–3 minutes.
What does Knees-to-Chest Pose work?
Primarily the lower back, glutes, with the hip flexors, hamstrings, abdominals assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: rounds the lower back gently while the floor carries the whole spine.
Who should not do Knees-to-Chest Pose?
Pregnancy after the first trimester — the compressed knees-to-belly shape is unsuitable; rest on the side instead. Recent abdominal surgery or a hernia repair. Knee injury: hold behind the thighs rather than over the kneecaps. Reflux or breathlessness lying flat, where a propped incline is more comfortable. 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 Knees-to-Chest Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Knees-to-Chest 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 Knees-to-Chest 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. Knees-to-Chest 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.
Sequences that use Knees-to-Chest Pose
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.