Yogic Seal Pose
योगमुद्रासन
Yogamudrāsana — an intermediate seated pose that works the spinal erectors, shoulders, hip adductors.
How to do Yogic Seal Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit in a cross-legged seat, half lotus or full lotus on a folded blanket.
Take both arms behind the back and clasp one wrist with the opposite hand.
Inhale and lengthen the spine, drawing the shoulder blades towards each other.
Exhale and fold forward from the hip crease, letting the arms lift away from the back.
Rest the forehead on the floor, a block or a bolster, hold, then rise on an inhale.
Hold: 30–60 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 Yogic Seal 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.
- Combines a forward hip fold with the shoulders held in extension and internal rotation behind the back.
- Lengthens the whole back line of the spine from the pelvis to the base of the skull.
- Stretches the front of the shoulders and the chest as the clasped arms lift.
Yogic Seal Pose is one of 29 seated poses in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses taken on the floor, where the pelvis is the base and the spine works above it.
Who should skip Yogic Seal Pose, or change it
- Shoulder injury — release the clasp and rest the hands on the floor.
- Knee injury if using a lotus base: sit cross-legged instead.
- Low back or disc injury: fold far less and support the forehead high.
- High blood pressure or glaucoma, where holding the head low is not advised.
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 Yogic Seal Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeLifting the arms high before the trunk has folded.
FixFold from the hip first and let the arms rise only as the chest lowers.
MistakeRounding hard from the waist to reach the floor.
FixSupport the forehead on a bolster and keep the fold coming from the hips.
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 Yogic Seal 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 Yogic Seal Pose?
Sit in a cross-legged seat, half lotus or full lotus on a folded blanket. Take both arms behind the back and clasp one wrist with the opposite hand. Inhale and lengthen the spine, drawing the shoulder blades towards each other. Exhale and fold forward from the hip crease, letting the arms lift away from the back. Rest the forehead on the floor, a block or a bolster, hold, then rise on an inhale. Hold for 30–60 seconds.
What does Yogic Seal Pose work?
Primarily the spinal erectors, shoulders, hip adductors, with the chest, lower back, hamstrings assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: combines a forward hip fold with the shoulders held in extension and internal rotation behind the back.
Who should not do Yogic Seal Pose?
Shoulder injury — release the clasp and rest the hands on the floor. Knee injury if using a lotus base: sit cross-legged instead. Low back or disc injury: fold far less and support the forehead high. High blood pressure or glaucoma, where holding the head low is not advised. 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 Yogic Seal Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Yogic Seal 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 seated poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Yogic Seal 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. Yogic Seal 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 seated 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.