Sleeping Tortoise Pose
सुप्त कूर्मासन
Supta Kūrmāsana — an advanced forward bend that works the hip adductors, glutes, spinal erectors.
How to do Sleeping Tortoise Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Begin in Tortoise Pose with both arms threaded under the thighs and the legs wide.
Bend the knees slightly and walk both hands round behind the back, clasping one wrist with the other hand.
Cross the right ankle over the left in front of the head, or as close to the head as they reach.
Let the head rest down and the shoulders stay under the thighs.
Hold for a few slow breaths, then release the ankles first and the hands second.
Hold: 20–45 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 Sleeping Tortoise 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 both hips through extreme flexion combined with external rotation.
- Holds the spine in full flexion with the arms bound behind the back.
- Lengthens the outer hips and glutes strongly under the weight of the crossed legs.
Sleeping Tortoise Pose is one of 22 forward bends in this library and one of 61 poses rated advanced. Poses that fold the torso towards the legs, lengthening the whole back line of the body.
Who should skip Sleeping Tortoise Pose, or change it
- Neck or cervical disc injury — the legs cross over the head; skip entirely.
- Low back or disc injury, and any spinal fusion.
- Shoulder injury, since the bind pulls the arms behind under load.
- Pregnancy, recent abdominal surgery, and recent hip replacement.
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 Sleeping Tortoise Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeCrossing the ankles before the hands are bound.
FixBind the hands first while the legs are still wide; the ankles come last.
MistakeHolding the breath because the chest is compressed.
FixBreathe into the back ribs and shorten the hold rather than forcing the shape.
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 Sleeping Tortoise 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 Sleeping Tortoise Pose?
Begin in Tortoise Pose with both arms threaded under the thighs and the legs wide. Bend the knees slightly and walk both hands round behind the back, clasping one wrist with the other hand. Cross the right ankle over the left in front of the head, or as close to the head as they reach. Let the head rest down and the shoulders stay under the thighs. Hold for a few slow breaths, then release the ankles first and the hands second. Hold for 20–45 seconds.
What does Sleeping Tortoise Pose work?
Primarily the hip adductors, glutes, spinal erectors, with the hamstrings, shoulders, neck assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: takes both hips through extreme flexion combined with external rotation.
Who should not do Sleeping Tortoise Pose?
Neck or cervical disc injury — the legs cross over the head; skip entirely. Low back or disc injury, and any spinal fusion. Shoulder injury, since the bind pulls the arms behind under load. Pregnancy, recent abdominal surgery, and recent hip replacement. 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 Sleeping Tortoise Pose suitable for beginners?
No. Sleeping Tortoise Pose is rated advanced. The shape itself is rarely the problem — arriving at it years too early is. Work through the beginner and intermediate forward bends poses on this site and learn this one in person.
How many calories does Sleeping Tortoise 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. Sleeping Tortoise 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 forward bends — 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.