Dolphin Poseअर्ध पिञ्छ मयूरासन
Ardha Piñcha Mayūrāsana — an intermediate inversion that works the shoulders, hamstrings, abdominals.
30–60SECONDS HELD
One line on the timetable. Dolphin Pose is held 30–60 seconds, with the breath moving throughout — and no set practice here is built around it — it is held on its own.
SOURCE·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·REVIEWED JUL 2026
How to do Dolphin Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel and set the forearms on the mat, shoulder-width apart, with the elbows under the shoulders.
Keep the forearms parallel, or clasp the hands with the little fingers pressing down.
Tuck the toes and lift the hips up and back into an inverted V on the forearms.
Press the forearms down and slide the shoulders away from the ears.
Walk the feet a little closer with the knees bent, hold, then lower the knees to come out.
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 Dolphin 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.
- Loads the shoulders overhead under body weight without involving the wrists.
- Builds the shoulder and upper-back strength that forearm balance and headstand later require.
- Lengthens the hamstrings while the trunk works to stay long.
Dolphin Pose is one of 20 inversions in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses where the head sits below the heart. The group that needs the most care and the most teaching.
Who should skip Dolphin Pose, or change it
- Glaucoma or raised eye pressure, and uncontrolled high blood pressure — the head is below the heart.
- Neck or cervical spine injury: the head should hover freely, never take weight.
- Pregnancy — this is not the time to begin an inversion practice; continuing an established one is a decision for you and your doctor.
- Menstruation: many traditions omit inversions during a period; treat that as a personal choice, not a medical rule.
- Recent ear infection, shoulder impingement, or any elbow injury — and learn the forearm inversions that follow with a qualified teacher rather than from a page.
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 Dolphin Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeElbows sliding wider than the shoulders under load.
FixLoop a strap around the upper arms at shoulder width and press out into it.
MistakeShoulders collapsing towards the ears with the upper back sagging.
FixPush the forearms down hard and lift the shoulders away from the head.
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. Dolphin Pose sits at code 02175, yoga, Power, 4 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
= 4 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200
= 4.90 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 | 49 | 98 | 147 | 221 | 294 |
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02175 · 4 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 Dolphin Pose?
Kneel and set the forearms on the mat, shoulder-width apart, with the elbows under the shoulders. Keep the forearms parallel, or clasp the hands with the little fingers pressing down. Tuck the toes and lift the hips up and back into an inverted V on the forearms. Press the forearms down and slide the shoulders away from the ears. Walk the feet a little closer with the knees bent, hold, then lower the knees to come out. Hold for 30–60 seconds.
What does Dolphin Pose work?
Primarily the shoulders, hamstrings, abdominals, with the triceps, spinal erectors, calves assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: loads the shoulders overhead under body weight without involving the wrists.
Who should not do Dolphin Pose?
Glaucoma or raised eye pressure, and uncontrolled high blood pressure — the head is below the heart. Neck or cervical spine injury: the head should hover freely, never take weight. Pregnancy — this is not the time to begin an inversion practice; continuing an established one is a decision for you and your doctor. Menstruation: many traditions omit inversions during a period; treat that as a personal choice, not a medical rule. Recent ear infection, shoulder impingement, or any elbow injury — and learn the forearm inversions that follow with a qualified teacher rather than from a page. 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 Dolphin Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Dolphin 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 inversions poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Dolphin 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. Dolphin Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02175, yoga, Power, at 4 MET — about 147 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.
The rest of the inversions on the wall
More inversions — 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
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