Easy Seated Twistपरिवृत्त सुखासन

Sit cross-legged on a folded blanket high enough that both knees rest below the hips. Set the left hand on the right knee and the right hand lightly on the floor behind you. Inhale and lengthen from the sitting bones to the crown. Exhale and turn the ribs to the right, keeping both shoulders level. Hold for several breaths, return to centre, and repeat to the left. Hold for 5–8 breaths each side.

Primarily the obliques, spinal erectors, with the shoulders, abdominals, glutes assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: rotates the spine from the simplest stable seat, so nothing distracts from the turn itself.

Pregnancy — keep the rotation gentle and open, turning the ribs without pressing the belly. Disc injury: stay well within a pain-free range. Sacroiliac irritation from sitting cross-legged — raise the seat higher. Recent abdominal surgery. Knee or hip pain in the crossed position; sit on a chair and twist there instead. 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.

Yes. Easy Seated Twist 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.

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. Easy Seated Twist 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.