Lion Poseसिंहासन
Siṃhāsana — a beginner seated pose that works the neck, quadriceps, spinal erectors.
4–6ROUNDS HELD
One line on the timetable. Lion Pose is held 4–6 rounds, breathing as follows: sharp exhale through the mouth, quiet inhale through the nose — 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 Lion Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel in Vajrasana or sit cross-legged with the spine tall.
Place the palms on the knees or the floor in front and spread the fingers wide.
Inhale through the nose while lifting the chest and lengthening the spine.
Exhale forcefully through the mouth, stick the tongue out and down, and open the eyes wide.
Close the mouth, breathe normally for a round, and repeat four to six times.
Hold: 4–6 rounds. Breath: Sharp exhale through the mouth, quiet inhale through the nose.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Lion 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.
- Works the muscles of the face, jaw and front of the throat, which almost nothing else in a practice does.
- Produces a strong, complete exhale that empties the lungs further than a normal breath out.
- Holds the spine in extension with the chest broad throughout each round.
Lion Pose is one of 29 seated poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses taken on the floor, where the pelvis is the base and the spine works above it.
Who should skip Lion Pose, or change it
- Jaw injury or temporomandibular joint pain — keep the mouth only slightly open.
- Neck injury: keep the head level rather than tipping it back.
- Knee injury if kneeling — sit cross-legged or on a chair instead.
- Glaucoma or recent eye surgery, where the wide-eye action is best left out.
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 Lion Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeTipping the head back hard on the exhale.
FixKeep the chin roughly level and let the gaze do the reaching.
MistakeStraining the throat to make noise.
FixThe sound is a by-product of a long exhale, not a target.
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. Lion 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 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 Lion Pose?
Kneel in Vajrasana or sit cross-legged with the spine tall. Place the palms on the knees or the floor in front and spread the fingers wide. Inhale through the nose while lifting the chest and lengthening the spine. Exhale forcefully through the mouth, stick the tongue out and down, and open the eyes wide. Close the mouth, breathe normally for a round, and repeat four to six times. Hold for 4–6 rounds.
What does Lion Pose work?
Primarily the neck, quadriceps, spinal erectors, with the chest, shoulders, ankles assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: works the muscles of the face, jaw and front of the throat, which almost nothing else in a practice does.
Who should not do Lion Pose?
Jaw injury or temporomandibular joint pain — keep the mouth only slightly open. Neck injury: keep the head level rather than tipping it back. Knee injury if kneeling — sit cross-legged or on a chair instead. Glaucoma or recent eye surgery, where the wide-eye action is best left out. 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 Lion Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Lion Pose 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 Lion 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. Lion 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 seated poses on the wall
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 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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