One-Legged Sage Pose Iएक पाद कौण्डिन्यासन प्रथम
Eka Pāda Kauṇḍinyāsana I — an advanced balance pose that works the obliques, triceps, shoulders.
3–5BREATHS HELD · EACH SIDE
One line on the timetable. One-Legged Sage Pose I is held 3–5 breaths 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
How to do One-Legged Sage Pose I
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Set a folded blanket ahead of the hands, then come into a deep twisted lunge with the left elbow outside the right thigh.
Place both hands flat on the mat to the right, shoulder-width apart, and keep the twist.
Rest the outer right thigh high across the left upper arm and bend both elbows towards a low plank.
Shift the chest forward and float the back foot off the mat.
Extend the front leg forward and the back leg straight behind, hold, then lower and change sides.
Hold: 3–5 breaths 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.
What One-Legged Sage Pose I 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.
- Splits the legs in opposite directions while both arms carry the weight.
- Holds a deep spinal rotation under full body-weight load.
- Loads the triceps heavily, since the elbows stay bent throughout.
One-Legged Sage Pose I is one of 31 balance poses in this library and one of 61 poses rated advanced. Poses held on a reduced base — one foot, two hands, or the forearms.
Who should skip One-Legged Sage Pose I, or change it
- Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Shoulder or elbow injury.
- Hamstring strain on the front leg.
- Pregnancy — a deep closed twist with the abdomen compressed is unsuitable.
- The face is low and forward here; keep a folded blanket ahead of the hands.
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 One-Legged Sage Pose I
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeTrying to shoot the legs out before the chest has moved forward.
FixShift the shoulders well past the wrists first, then extend.
MistakeBack leg dropping towards the floor.
FixPoint the back foot and reach it back and slightly up, level with the hips.
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. One-Legged Sage Pose I 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 One-Legged Sage Pose I?
Set a folded blanket ahead of the hands, then come into a deep twisted lunge with the left elbow outside the right thigh. Place both hands flat on the mat to the right, shoulder-width apart, and keep the twist. Rest the outer right thigh high across the left upper arm and bend both elbows towards a low plank. Shift the chest forward and float the back foot off the mat. Extend the front leg forward and the back leg straight behind, hold, then lower and change sides. Hold for 3–5 breaths each side.
What does One-Legged Sage Pose I work?
Primarily the obliques, triceps, shoulders, with the abdominals, wrists, hamstrings assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: splits the legs in opposite directions while both arms carry the weight.
Who should not do One-Legged Sage Pose I?
Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome. Shoulder or elbow injury. Hamstring strain on the front leg. Pregnancy — a deep closed twist with the abdomen compressed is unsuitable. The face is low and forward here; keep a folded blanket ahead of the hands. 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 One-Legged Sage Pose I suitable for beginners?
No. One-Legged Sage Pose I is rated advanced. The shape itself is rarely the problem — arriving at it years too early is. Work through the beginner and intermediate balance poses on this site and learn this one in person.
How many calories does One-Legged Sage Pose I 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. One-Legged Sage Pose I 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 balance poses on the wall
More balance 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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