Intermediate Twists

Revolved Head-to-Knee Poseपरिवृत्त जानु शीर्षासन

Parivṛtta Jānu Śīrṣāsana — an intermediate twist that works the obliques, hip adductors, intercostals.

30–60SECONDS HELD · EACH SIDE

One line on the timetable. Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose is held 30–60 seconds each side, 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

The arc draws over 30 seconds — the short end of the hold, at 1:1 in time. One tick per breath at ≈ 5 s.

Sanskritपरिवृत्त जानु शीर्षासनParivṛtta Jānu Śīrṣāsana

EnglishRevolved Head-to-Knee Pose

Hindiपरिवृत्त जानु शीर्षासनHindi uses the Sanskrit name

DifficultyIntermediatetwist

Hold for30–60 seconds each sideper side where the pose has sides

Energy, 30 min92 kcal2.5 MET, 70 kg adult

Worksobliquesplus 5 more muscle groups

Twists · 16 / 25

How to do Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose

Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.

Sit with the right leg stretched out to the side and the left knee bent, left sole against the inner right thigh.
Sit up on a folded blanket so the pelvis can stay upright rather than rolling back.
Side bend towards the right leg, resting the right forearm on the floor or on a block inside the leg.
Turn the chest up towards the ceiling and sweep the left arm over the ear towards the right foot.
Keep both sitting bones down, hold, then come up on an inhale and change sides.

Hold: 30–60 seconds each side. 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.

obliquesprimary

hip adductorsprimary

intercostalsprimary

hamstringssecondary

shoulderssecondary

latissimus dorsisecondary

What Revolved Head-to-Knee 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.

Lengthens the entire top side from the hip to the fingertips while the trunk rotates upward.
Stretches the inner thigh and hamstring of the extended leg.
Opens the ribcage on the top side, which widens the breath into the upper ribs.

Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose is one of 25 twists in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses that rotate the spine around its long axis with the pelvis anchored.

Who should skip Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose, or change it

Pregnancy — keep the rotation open and shallow, or leave the pose out.
Disc injury, since side bending plus rotation is a demanding combination for the lumbar spine.
Sacroiliac irritation from the wide, uneven leg position.
Recent abdominal surgery.
Shoulder injury on the overhead arm — keep that hand on the hip.

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 Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose

What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".

MistakeCollapsing forward over the leg so the pose becomes a forward bend.

FixRoll the top shoulder back and keep the chest turning towards the ceiling.

MistakeThe bottom hip lifting off the floor to reach further.

FixProp the seat higher and shorten the reach until both sitting bones stay down.

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. Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose 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 whole method, including what it cannot tell you →

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.

Energy cost of a yoga, Hatha practice at 2.5 MET, for a 70 kg adult. Compendium 02150 · JUL 2026
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 Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose?

Sit with the right leg stretched out to the side and the left knee bent, left sole against the inner right thigh. Sit up on a folded blanket so the pelvis can stay upright rather than rolling back. Side bend towards the right leg, resting the right forearm on the floor or on a block inside the leg. Turn the chest up towards the ceiling and sweep the left arm over the ear towards the right foot. Keep both sitting bones down, hold, then come up on an inhale and change sides. Hold for 30–60 seconds each side.

What does Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose work?

Primarily the obliques, hip adductors, intercostals, with the hamstrings, shoulders, latissimus dorsi assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: lengthens the entire top side from the hip to the fingertips while the trunk rotates upward.

Who should not do Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose?

Pregnancy — keep the rotation open and shallow, or leave the pose out. Disc injury, since side bending plus rotation is a demanding combination for the lumbar spine. Sacroiliac irritation from the wide, uneven leg position. Recent abdominal surgery. Shoulder injury on the overhead arm — keep that hand on the hip. 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 Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose suitable for beginners?

Not as a first pose. Revolved Head-to-Knee 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 twists poses marked beginner first.

How many calories does Revolved Head-to-Knee 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. Revolved Head-to-Knee 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.

The rest of the twists on the wall

More twists — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.

Revolved Triangle Pose Parivṛtta Trikoṇāsana Intermediate · twists · 30–60 seconds each side Half Lord of the Fishes Pose Ardha Matsyendrāsana Intermediate · twists · 30–60 seconds each side Marichi's Pose A Marīcyāsana A Intermediate · twists · 30–60 seconds each side Bharadvaja's Twist II Bharadvājāsana II Intermediate · twists · 30–60 seconds each side Revolved Side Angle Pose Parivṛtta Pārśvakoṇāsana Advanced · twists · 30–60 seconds each side Standing Spinal Twist Kaṭicakrāsana Beginner · twists · 6–10 rounds each side Simple Seated Twist Vakrāsana Beginner · twists · 30–60 seconds each side Half Lord of the Fishes Pose II Ardha Matsyendrāsana II Advanced · twists · 30–60 seconds each side

All 25 twists All intermediate poses Hips Hamstrings The back and spine The full library

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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