One-Legged King Pigeon Poseएक पाद राजकपोतासन
Eka Pāda Rājakapotāsana — an intermediate backbend that works the hip flexors, quadriceps, chest.
30–60SECONDS HELD · EACH SIDE
One line on the timetable. One-Legged King Pigeon Pose is held 30–60 seconds each side, with the breath moving throughout — and it takes its place inside 2 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 One-Legged King Pigeon Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
From all fours, slide the right knee forward behind the right wrist and angle the right shin across the mat.
Extend the left leg straight back with the kneecap facing the floor, and support the right hip on a block or folded blanket.
Once the hips feel level, lift the chest and place both hands on the floor beside the hips.
Bend the back knee and reach the same-side hand back for the foot, or loop a strap around it.
Draw the foot in as the chest lifts, hold, then release the leg and change sides.
Hold: 30–60 seconds 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 King Pigeon 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.
- Stretches the hip flexors and quadriceps of the back leg while the front hip opens outward.
- Extends the thoracic spine with the pelvis anchored by the floor.
- Loads the glute of the front leg in a deeply externally rotated position.
One-Legged King Pigeon Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip One-Legged King Pigeon Pose, or change it
- Knee injury on the front leg — the angled shin puts a rotational load on the knee, so keep the shin closer to the body.
- Sacroiliac irritation, which the asymmetric pelvis readily aggravates: support the front hip well.
- Disc injury or spondylolisthesis — stay upright and skip the back-leg grip.
- Shoulder injury when reaching overhead for the foot; use a strap instead.
- Pregnancy from the second trimester, where the forward-leaning setup is uncomfortable.
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 King Pigeon Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeThe front hip hovering unsupported so the pelvis tilts and the low back takes the strain.
FixPut a block or folded blanket under the front hip until it rests without effort.
MistakeReaching for the back foot before the chest has lifted, so the bend lands entirely in the waist.
FixLift the sternum tall first; the foot comes to you only once the upper back has opened.
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 King Pigeon 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 One-Legged King Pigeon Pose?
From all fours, slide the right knee forward behind the right wrist and angle the right shin across the mat. Extend the left leg straight back with the kneecap facing the floor, and support the right hip on a block or folded blanket. Once the hips feel level, lift the chest and place both hands on the floor beside the hips. Bend the back knee and reach the same-side hand back for the foot, or loop a strap around it. Draw the foot in as the chest lifts, hold, then release the leg and change sides. Hold for 30–60 seconds each side.
What does One-Legged King Pigeon Pose work?
Primarily the hip flexors, quadriceps, chest, with the glutes, spinal erectors, shoulders assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: stretches the hip flexors and quadriceps of the back leg while the front hip opens outward.
Who should not do One-Legged King Pigeon Pose?
Knee injury on the front leg — the angled shin puts a rotational load on the knee, so keep the shin closer to the body. Sacroiliac irritation, which the asymmetric pelvis readily aggravates: support the front hip well. Disc injury or spondylolisthesis — stay upright and skip the back-leg grip. Shoulder injury when reaching overhead for the foot; use a strap instead. Pregnancy from the second trimester, where the forward-leaning setup is uncomfortable. 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 King Pigeon Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. One-Legged King Pigeon Pose is rated intermediate here: it assumes a working base of strength and range, and a teacher who has watched you move. Build up through the backbends poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does One-Legged King Pigeon 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. One-Legged King Pigeon 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.
Sequences that use One-Legged King Pigeon Pose
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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