King Pigeon Pose
राजकपोतासन
Rājakapotāsana — an advanced backbend that works the hip flexors, chest, spinal erectors.
How to do King Pigeon Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie face down and bend both knees so the shins come vertical, feet towards the ceiling.
Place the hands beside the ribs and press up, lifting the chest high while the thighs stay down.
Walk the hands slightly back and keep raising the sternum until the head drops back towards the feet.
Continue only if the feet and head are genuinely close; work with a wall behind you when learning.
Hold for a breath or two, then lower the chest slowly and rest face down.
Hold: 5–10 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 King Pigeon 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.
- Produces the deepest prone spinal extension in the standard repertoire.
- Stretches the hip flexors and abdominal wall with the thighs pinned to the floor.
- Loads the shoulders and arms while the back muscles hold a maximal arch.
King Pigeon Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 61 poses rated advanced. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip King Pigeon Pose, or change it
- Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion — not appropriate.
- Pregnancy at any stage.
- Neck injury, since the head travels into full extension under load.
- Shoulder impingement and wrist injury, both loaded heavily in this shape.
- Recent abdominal surgery.
- High blood pressure or glaucoma.
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 King Pigeon Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeForcing the head towards the feet by hinging hard at one segment of the low back.
FixWork the shape against a wall so the arch is distributed, and stop far short of contact.
MistakeAttempting it cold as a party trick.
FixBuild with Bhujangasana, Ushtrasana and Urdhva Dhanurasana over months before the full shape is even reasonable.
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 King Pigeon 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 King Pigeon Pose?
Lie face down and bend both knees so the shins come vertical, feet towards the ceiling. Place the hands beside the ribs and press up, lifting the chest high while the thighs stay down. Walk the hands slightly back and keep raising the sternum until the head drops back towards the feet. Continue only if the feet and head are genuinely close; work with a wall behind you when learning. Hold for a breath or two, then lower the chest slowly and rest face down. Hold for 5–10 seconds.
What does King Pigeon Pose work?
Primarily the hip flexors, chest, spinal erectors, with the quadriceps, shoulders, glutes assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: produces the deepest prone spinal extension in the standard repertoire.
Who should not do King Pigeon Pose?
Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion — not appropriate. Pregnancy at any stage. Neck injury, since the head travels into full extension under load. Shoulder impingement and wrist injury, both loaded heavily in this shape. Recent abdominal surgery. High blood pressure or glaucoma. 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 King Pigeon Pose suitable for beginners?
No. King Pigeon Pose is rated advanced. The shape itself is rarely the problem — arriving at it years too early is. Work through the beginner and intermediate backbends poses on this site and learn this one in person.
How many calories does King Pigeon 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. King Pigeon 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 backbends — 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.