Legs-Up-the-Wall Poseविपरीत करणी
Viparīta Karaṇī — a beginner inversion that works the hamstrings.
5–10MINUTES HELD
One line on the timetable. Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose is held 5–10 minutes, breathing as follows: quiet, unforced breathing; let the exhale lengthen on its own — 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 Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit sideways with one hip touching a wall and the knees bent.
Swing the legs up the wall as you lower the back to the floor, wriggling the hips close.
Slide a folded blanket under the pelvis if you want the hips slightly higher than the chest.
Let the arms rest wide and the legs stay soft — they do not need to be straight.
Stay for several minutes, then bend the knees, roll to one side and sit up slowly.
Hold: 5–10 minutes. Breath: Quiet, unforced breathing; let the exhale lengthen on its own.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Legs-Up-the-Wall 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.
- Reverses the usual direction of the legs with the whole spine supported by the floor.
- Lengthens the hamstrings passively with no effort from the legs.
- Holds the shape entirely on props, so nothing has to be held up for the duration.
Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose is one of 20 inversions in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses where the head sits below the heart. The group that needs the most care and the most teaching.
Who should skip Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose, or change it
- Glaucoma or raised eye pressure, and uncontrolled high blood pressure — even a mild inversion changes head position.
- Neck injury: keep the neck neutral on the floor and use no pillow under the head that lifts the chin.
- Pregnancy — the flat-on-the-back position is often not comfortable after the first trimester; side-lying is a better choice.
- Menstruation: many traditions omit inversions then, which is a personal choice rather than a medical rule.
- Recent ear infection, and any tingling in the legs — bend the knees or come down.
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 Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeForcing the sitting bones hard against the wall with tight hamstrings.
FixSlide the hips a hand's width away from the wall so the low back can rest.
MistakeStacking the pelvis so high on props that the neck takes the load.
FixLower the support until the throat feels soft and open.
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. Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose 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 Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose?
Sit sideways with one hip touching a wall and the knees bent. Swing the legs up the wall as you lower the back to the floor, wriggling the hips close. Slide a folded blanket under the pelvis if you want the hips slightly higher than the chest. Let the arms rest wide and the legs stay soft — they do not need to be straight. Stay for several minutes, then bend the knees, roll to one side and sit up slowly. Hold for 5–10 minutes.
What does Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose work?
Primarily the hamstrings, with the hip flexors, spinal erectors, abdominals assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: reverses the usual direction of the legs with the whole spine supported by the floor.
Who should not do Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose?
Glaucoma or raised eye pressure, and uncontrolled high blood pressure — even a mild inversion changes head position. Neck injury: keep the neck neutral on the floor and use no pillow under the head that lifts the chin. Pregnancy — the flat-on-the-back position is often not comfortable after the first trimester; side-lying is a better choice. Menstruation: many traditions omit inversions then, which is a personal choice rather than a medical rule. Recent ear infection, and any tingling in the legs — bend the knees or come down. 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 Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Legs-Up-the-Wall 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 Legs-Up-the-Wall 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. Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose 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.
Sequences that use Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose
The rest of the inversions on the wall
More inversions — 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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