Seated Wide-Legged Forward Fold
उपविष्ट कोणासन अ
Upaviṣṭha Koṇāsana A — an intermediate forward bend that works the hamstrings, hip adductors, spinal erectors.
How to do Seated Wide-Legged Forward Fold
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit on a folded blanket with the legs open into a wide V and the kneecaps facing the ceiling.
Walk the hands forward between the legs and lengthen the spine on an inhale.
Exhale and hinge from the hip crease, keeping the chest leading and the back long.
Rest the forearms, a bolster or a block under the chest wherever the fold stops.
Keep the feet flexed and the thighs pressing down, hold, then walk the hands back and close 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 Seated Wide-Legged Forward Fold 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.
- Lengthens both inner thighs and both hamstrings simultaneously in a supported fold.
- Lengthens the whole back of the spine with the pelvis fixed by the seated base.
- Loads the quadriceps to keep the knees straight and the thighs rolled outwards.
Seated Wide-Legged Forward Fold is one of 22 forward bends in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses that fold the torso towards the legs, lengthening the whole back line of the body.
Who should skip Seated Wide-Legged Forward Fold, or change it
- Adductor or groin strain — narrow the legs considerably.
- Hamstring tear.
- Low back or disc injury: sit much higher and fold far less.
- Recent hip replacement, and sacroiliac pain.
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 Wide-Legged Forward Fold
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeOpening the legs to their maximum and then rounding forward from the waist.
FixNarrow the V by a hand's width and hinge from the hip crease instead.
MistakeThighs rolling inwards as the fold deepens.
FixTurn both kneecaps back up to the ceiling; if they will not stay, come up a little.
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 Wide-Legged Forward Fold 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 Wide-Legged Forward Fold?
Sit on a folded blanket with the legs open into a wide V and the kneecaps facing the ceiling. Walk the hands forward between the legs and lengthen the spine on an inhale. Exhale and hinge from the hip crease, keeping the chest leading and the back long. Rest the forearms, a bolster or a block under the chest wherever the fold stops. Keep the feet flexed and the thighs pressing down, hold, then walk the hands back and close the legs. Hold for 1–3 minutes.
What does Seated Wide-Legged Forward Fold work?
Primarily the hamstrings, hip adductors, spinal erectors, with the calves, lower back, glutes assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: lengthens both inner thighs and both hamstrings simultaneously in a supported fold.
Who should not do Seated Wide-Legged Forward Fold?
Adductor or groin strain — narrow the legs considerably. Hamstring tear. Low back or disc injury: sit much higher and fold far less. Recent hip replacement, and sacroiliac pain. 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 Wide-Legged Forward Fold suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Seated Wide-Legged Forward Fold is rated intermediate here: it assumes a working base of strength and range, and a teacher who has watched you move. Build up through the forward bends poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Seated Wide-Legged Forward Fold 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 Wide-Legged Forward Fold 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.
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.