Supported Fish Poseसालम्ब मत्स्यासन
Sālamba Matsyāsana — a beginner restorative pose that works the chest, shoulders.
5–10MINUTES HELD
One line on the timetable. Supported Fish Pose is held 5–10 minutes, with the breath moving throughout — and it takes its place inside one 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 Supported Fish Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lay a bolster lengthways on the mat and sit just in front of one short end with the knees bent.
Lie back so the bolster runs the length of the spine and the head is supported at the far end.
If the head tips back too far, add a folded blanket under it until the chin sits level with the forehead.
Let the arms fall wide to the sides, palms up, and either keep the knees bent or straighten the legs.
Stay for the full hold, then roll off the bolster to one side to come out.
Hold: 5–10 minutes. 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 Supported Fish 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.
- Props the spine along its length so the front of the chest and shoulders lengthen with no effort.
- Keeps the ribcage raised above the belly, which makes the upper ribs easy to feel moving.
- Provides a long supported hold in extension without the back muscles working at all.
Supported Fish Pose is one of 21 restorative poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Supported, low-effort poses held long, where the point is to stop working rather than to work.
Who should skip Supported Fish Pose, or change it
- Low back discomfort with the legs straight — keep the knees bent with the feet flat.
- Neck problems: never let the head hang unsupported off the end of the bolster.
- Pregnancy after the first trimester, where a well-inclined or side-lying position is safer than lying back flat.
- Reflux — a steeper incline is usually more comfortable than a flat bolster.
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 Supported Fish Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeHead dangling off the end of the bolster with the throat stretched hard.
FixMove up the bolster and add a blanket under the head.
MistakeBolster starting too high up the back so the lower back arches sharply.
FixSit right at the near end so the bolster begins at the base of the spine.
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. Supported Fish Pose sits at code 02170, yoga, Nadisodhana (seated, quiet practice), 2 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 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200
= 2.45 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 | 25 | 49 | 74 | 110 | 147 |
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02170 · 2 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 Supported Fish Pose?
Lay a bolster lengthways on the mat and sit just in front of one short end with the knees bent. Lie back so the bolster runs the length of the spine and the head is supported at the far end. If the head tips back too far, add a folded blanket under it until the chin sits level with the forehead. Let the arms fall wide to the sides, palms up, and either keep the knees bent or straighten the legs. Stay for the full hold, then roll off the bolster to one side to come out. Hold for 5–10 minutes.
What does Supported Fish Pose work?
Primarily the chest, shoulders, with the abdominals, spinal erectors, hip flexors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: props the spine along its length so the front of the chest and shoulders lengthen with no effort.
Who should not do Supported Fish Pose?
Low back discomfort with the legs straight — keep the knees bent with the feet flat. Neck problems: never let the head hang unsupported off the end of the bolster. Pregnancy after the first trimester, where a well-inclined or side-lying position is safer than lying back flat. Reflux — a steeper incline is usually more comfortable than a flat bolster. 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 Supported Fish Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Supported Fish 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 Supported Fish 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. Supported Fish Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02170, yoga, Nadisodhana (seated, quiet practice), at 2 MET — about 74 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 Supported Fish Pose
The rest of the restorative poses on the wall
More restorative 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.
