Camel Pose
उष्ट्रासन
Uṣṭrāsana — an intermediate backbend that works the hip flexors, quadriceps, chest.
How to do Camel Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel with the knees hip-width apart and a folded blanket under the shins if the floor is hard.
Place the hands on the back of the pelvis with the fingers pointing down.
Press the hips forward over the knees and lift the breastbone upward before leaning back at all.
Keep the thighs vertical, then reach one hand at a time to the heels — or to blocks placed beside the feet.
Let the head follow the chest back only if the neck is comfortable; hold, then come up leading with the chest.
Hold: 20–30 seconds, 2 rounds. 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 Camel 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.
- Stretches the hip flexors and quadriceps under load with the pelvis pressed forward.
- Extends the thoracic spine while the arms open the front of the shoulders.
- Lengthens the whole front of the torso from the pubic bone to the throat.
Camel Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Camel Pose, or change it
- Disc injury or spondylolisthesis — practise the half version with the hands on the back and no reach.
- Neck injury: keep the chin drawn slightly in and the head upright rather than dropped back.
- Knee injury, since the whole bodyweight sits on the kneecaps — pad generously or skip.
- High blood pressure, where a deep chest-open hold with the head back is uncomfortable.
- Recent abdominal surgery.
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 Camel Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeSitting the hips back over the heels so the low back takes the entire bend.
FixDrive the hips forward until the thighs are vertical, then arch from the upper back.
MistakeThrowing the head back the moment the hands land.
FixKeep the back of the neck long and let the head go only after the chest has opened.
MistakeSqueezing the shoulder blades so hard the chest lift stalls.
FixDraw the shoulder blades down the back instead of together, and lift the sternum towards the ceiling.
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 Camel Pose 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 Camel Pose?
Kneel with the knees hip-width apart and a folded blanket under the shins if the floor is hard. Place the hands on the back of the pelvis with the fingers pointing down. Press the hips forward over the knees and lift the breastbone upward before leaning back at all. Keep the thighs vertical, then reach one hand at a time to the heels — or to blocks placed beside the feet. Let the head follow the chest back only if the neck is comfortable; hold, then come up leading with the chest. Hold for 20–30 seconds, 2 rounds.
What does Camel Pose work?
Primarily the hip flexors, quadriceps, chest, with the spinal erectors, shoulders, abdominals assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: stretches the hip flexors and quadriceps under load with the pelvis pressed forward.
Who should not do Camel Pose?
Disc injury or spondylolisthesis — practise the half version with the hands on the back and no reach. Neck injury: keep the chin drawn slightly in and the head upright rather than dropped back. Knee injury, since the whole bodyweight sits on the kneecaps — pad generously or skip. High blood pressure, where a deep chest-open hold with the head back is uncomfortable. Recent abdominal surgery. 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 Camel Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Camel Pose 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 backbends poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Camel 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. Camel Pose 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 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.