Low Lungeअञ्जनेयासन
Añjaneyāsana — a beginner standing pose that works the hip flexors, quadriceps, glutes.
30–60SECONDS HELD
One line on the timetable. Low Lunge is held 30–60 seconds, with the breath moving throughout — and it takes its place inside 7 of the practices posted on this site.
SOURCE·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·REVIEWED JUL 2026
How to do Low Lunge
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
From all fours or a forward fold, step one foot forward between the hands.
Lower the back knee to the mat and slide it back until the front hip feels a stretch.
Pad the back knee with a folded blanket if the floor is hard.
Lift the torso upright, arms overhead or hands on the front thigh.
Draw the front ribs down, hold, then change sides.
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 Low Lunge 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 of the back leg, which shorten with long sitting.
- Loads the front thigh and glute in a split stance.
- Opens the front of the body with the pelvis supported by the floor.
Low Lunge is one of 18 standing poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses built on the feet, where the legs carry the work and the floor is the reference point.
Who should skip Low Lunge, or change it
- Knee pain on the back knee — always pad it.
- Recent hip flexor strain.
- Low back injury: keep the arms lower and the back short of an arch.
- Ankle injury on the back foot if the toes are tucked.
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 Low Lunge
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeArching the lower back to feel a stretch that should be in the hip.
FixTuck the tailbone slightly and press the back thigh forward instead.
MistakeFront knee sliding past the ankle.
FixStep the front foot further forward until the shin is vertical.
How the energy figure on a yoga timetable is reached
- Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart, so no per-pose figure is published here — not by this site and not by anyone.
- The pose is matched to the nearest style of practice in the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Low Lunge sits at code 02150, yoga, Hatha, 2.5 MET.
- That MET value is put through the standard ACSM relationship for a stated reference adult of 70 kg.
- The result is the cost of a practice of that kind for as long as you practise — not the cost of holding this one shape.
- Scale it to yourself: the relationship is linear in body mass, so multiply by your own weight in kilograms and divide by 70.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200
= 2.5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200
= 3.06 kcal per minute
The same practice, hour by hour
Read it the way you would read a timetable: pick the length of session you actually sit down for, and that is the figure.
| Time practising | 10 min | 20 min | 30 min | 45 min | 60 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02150 · 2.5 MET · 70 kg reference adult·REVIEWED JUL 2026
The whole activity dataset, including everything that is not yoga, is at BurnLab.
Asked before class
How do you do Low Lunge?
From all fours or a forward fold, step one foot forward between the hands. Lower the back knee to the mat and slide it back until the front hip feels a stretch. Pad the back knee with a folded blanket if the floor is hard. Lift the torso upright, arms overhead or hands on the front thigh. Draw the front ribs down, hold, then change sides. Hold for 30–60 seconds.
What does Low Lunge work?
Primarily the hip flexors, quadriceps, glutes, with the spinal erectors, shoulders, abdominals assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: stretches the hip flexors of the back leg, which shorten with long sitting.
Who should not do Low Lunge?
Knee pain on the back knee — always pad it. Recent hip flexor strain. Low back injury: keep the arms lower and the back short of an arch. Ankle injury on the back foot if the toes are tucked. 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 Low Lunge suitable for beginners?
Yes. Low Lunge 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 Low Lunge 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. Low Lunge 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.
Sequences that use Low Lunge
The rest of the standing poses on the wall
More standing 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 and what it is written from. 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.
SOURCE·Published asana references·asana names, alignment and cautions as taught·REVIEWED JUL 2026
The people behind these sites
Follow the build
This site and nine others like it are built and photographed by two people: Amit Sharma — behind the build; Geeta Patel — the poses, demonstrated. New work goes up on Instagram and Facebook before it reaches a page here.
Amit Sharma
@amitsharmaofficial
Instagram
Geeta Patel
@geetapatelnz
Instagram
Geeta Patel
GeetaPatelYoga
Facebook
Following changes nothing here — every page stays open, with no account and no wall.
