Cow Poseबितिलासन
Bitilāsana — a beginner backbend that works the spinal erectors, chest.
8–12ROUNDS HELD
One line on the timetable. Cow Pose is held 8–12 rounds with cat, breathing as follows: inhale into cow, exhale into cat — and it takes its place inside 5 of the practices posted on this site.
स्रोत·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
How to do Cow Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Come to all fours with the wrists under the shoulders and the knees under the hips, shins padded.
Spread the fingers and press evenly through the whole hand.
Inhale and tip the tailbone up, letting the belly lower and the chest move forward between the arms.
Let the shoulder blades slide down the back rather than squeezing together.
Lift the gaze only slightly, hold for the inhale, then move into Cat on the exhale.
Hold: 8–12 rounds with Cat. Breath: Inhale into Cow, exhale into Cat.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Cow 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.
- Moves the spine into extension segment by segment with no load on it.
- Warms the spinal erectors before deeper backbends.
- Opens the chest and the front of the shoulders in a supported four-point position.
Cow Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Cow Pose, or change it
- Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome — come onto the fists or the forearms.
- Knee injury: pad the shins with a folded blanket or take the movement seated on a chair.
- Disc injury, where a very small range is safer than a full arch.
- Neck injury — keep the gaze down and do not lift the chin.
- Late pregnancy: keep the belly-drop small and the movement gentle.
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 Cow Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeDropping the belly hard so the whole movement happens at the waist.
FixStart the arch from the tailbone and roll it forward so every segment contributes.
MistakeThrowing the head back at the top of the inhale.
FixKeep the back of the neck long and lift the gaze only to the front edge of the mat.
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. Cow Pose sits at code 02150, योग, हठ, 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 मिनिटे | 20 मिनिटे | 30 मिनिटे | 45 मिनिटे | 60 मिनिटे |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
स्रोत·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02150 · 2.5 MET · 70 kg reference adult·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
The whole activity dataset, including everything that is not yoga, is at BurnLab.
Asked before class
How do you do Cow Pose?
Come to all fours with the wrists under the shoulders and the knees under the hips, shins padded. Spread the fingers and press evenly through the whole hand. Inhale and tip the tailbone up, letting the belly lower and the chest move forward between the arms. Let the shoulder blades slide down the back rather than squeezing together. Lift the gaze only slightly, hold for the inhale, then move into Cat on the exhale. Hold for 8–12 rounds with cat.
What does Cow Pose work?
Primarily the spinal erectors, chest, with the abdominals, shoulders, glutes assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: moves the spine into extension segment by segment with no load on it.
Who should not do Cow Pose?
Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome — come onto the fists or the forearms. Knee injury: pad the shins with a folded blanket or take the movement seated on a chair. Disc injury, where a very small range is safer than a full arch. Neck injury — keep the gaze down and do not lift the chin. Late pregnancy: keep the belly-drop small and the movement gentle. 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 Cow Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Cow 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 Cow 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. Cow 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 backbends on the wall
More backbends — 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 आणि 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.
स्रोत·Published asana references·asana names, alignment and cautions as taught·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
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