Reclining Easy Pose
सुप्त सुखासन
Supta Sukhāsana — a beginner restorative pose that works the hip adductors, lower back.
How to do Reclining Easy Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lay a bolster lengthways with one short end where the base of your spine will sit, propped on a block if you want more incline.
Sit in front of the bolster and cross the shins loosely, then slide a rolled blanket under each outer knee.
Lie back along the bolster so the spine and head are supported the whole way.
Add a folded blanket under the head so the chin is level with or slightly below the forehead.
Rest the hands on the belly, stay half the hold, then uncross and recross the legs the other way.
Hold: 5–10 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 Reclining Easy 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.
- Holds an easy cross-legged hip position with the whole upper body reclined and propped.
- Supports both outer knees so the hips can open with no effort from the inner thighs.
- Provides a long supported hold with no muscular effort required at any joint.
Reclining Easy 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 Reclining Easy Pose, or change it
- Knee injury — build the supports under the knees much higher.
- Pregnancy: keep the torso well inclined rather than flat, and stop if it feels uncomfortable.
- Reflux or breathlessness lying low — raise the far end of the bolster higher.
- Recent hip replacement, where crossed legs may be restricted.
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 Reclining Easy Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeCrossing the legs tightly so the knees stay high in the air.
FixCross loosely with the shins far from the body and prop under both knees.
MistakeStaying twelve minutes with the same shin in front.
FixChange the cross at the halfway point every session.
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 Reclining Easy 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 Reclining Easy Pose?
Lay a bolster lengthways with one short end where the base of your spine will sit, propped on a block if you want more incline. Sit in front of the bolster and cross the shins loosely, then slide a rolled blanket under each outer knee. Lie back along the bolster so the spine and head are supported the whole way. Add a folded blanket under the head so the chin is level with or slightly below the forehead. Rest the hands on the belly, stay half the hold, then uncross and recross the legs the other way. Hold for 5–10 minutes.
What does Reclining Easy Pose work?
Primarily the hip adductors, lower back, with the chest, glutes, hip flexors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: holds an easy cross-legged hip position with the whole upper body reclined and propped.
Who should not do Reclining Easy Pose?
Knee injury — build the supports under the knees much higher. Pregnancy: keep the torso well inclined rather than flat, and stop if it feels uncomfortable. Reflux or breathlessness lying low — raise the far end of the bolster higher. Recent hip replacement, where crossed legs may be restricted. 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 Reclining Easy Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Reclining Easy 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 Reclining Easy 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. Reclining Easy 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.
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.