Motionless Reclining Poseनिःस्पन्द भाव
Niḥspanda Bhāva — a beginner restorative pose that works the none — full release.
10–20MINUTES HELD
One line on the timetable. Motionless Reclining Pose is held 10–20 minutes, 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 Motionless Reclining Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Set a folded blanket or two against a wall and lie back with the shoulders on the blankets and the head resting on the floor or a thin pad.
Take the legs wide apart with the feet resting against the wall, or on the floor with the heels apart.
Rest the arms out at roughly forty-five degrees from the body, palms up.
Check that no joint is unsupported; add a blanket anywhere that feels like it is hanging.
Stay completely still and let the ears simply take in whatever sound is in the room.
Hold: 10–20 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 Motionless Reclining 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.
- Positions every limb wide and propped so nothing has to be held in place.
- Uses a slight raise under the shoulders to keep the chest broad while lying back.
- Provides a very long supported hold with no muscular effort required and no instruction to follow.
Motionless Reclining 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 Motionless Reclining Pose, or change it
- Pregnancy after the first trimester — take a side-lying rest instead of a long flat-supine hold.
- Reflux or breathlessness lying flat: raise the whole upper body on a slant.
- Low back discomfort with the legs long — bend the knees over a bolster.
- Long stillness is uncomfortable for some people; a shorter hold is a legitimate version.
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 Motionless Reclining Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeAdding a breathing technique or a visualisation to fill the time.
FixThe whole practice is stillness; leave the breath and the mind alone.
MistakeLying flat with nothing under the shoulders so the chest sinks.
FixSlide a folded blanket under the shoulders and let the head rest lower.
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. Motionless Reclining 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 Motionless Reclining Pose?
Set a folded blanket or two against a wall and lie back with the shoulders on the blankets and the head resting on the floor or a thin pad. Take the legs wide apart with the feet resting against the wall, or on the floor with the heels apart. Rest the arms out at roughly forty-five degrees from the body, palms up. Check that no joint is unsupported; add a blanket anywhere that feels like it is hanging. Stay completely still and let the ears simply take in whatever sound is in the room. Hold for 10–20 minutes.
What does Motionless Reclining Pose work?
Primarily the none — full release, with the none — full release assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: positions every limb wide and propped so nothing has to be held in place.
Who should not do Motionless Reclining Pose?
Pregnancy after the first trimester — take a side-lying rest instead of a long flat-supine hold. Reflux or breathlessness lying flat: raise the whole upper body on a slant. Low back discomfort with the legs long — bend the knees over a bolster. Long stillness is uncomfortable for some people; a shorter hold is a legitimate version. 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 Motionless Reclining Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Motionless Reclining 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 Motionless Reclining 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. Motionless Reclining 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.
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
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