Flying Pigeon Poseगालवासन
Gālavāsana — an advanced balance pose that works the shoulders, abdominals, glutes.
3–6BREATHS HELD · EACH SIDE
One line on the timetable. Flying Pigeon Pose is held 3–6 breaths each side, with the breath moving throughout — and no set practice here is built around it — it is held on its own.
स्रोत·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
How to do Flying Pigeon Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Place a folded blanket ahead of where your hands will go, then stand and cross the right ankle above the left knee in a figure four.
Sit the hips back and flex the right foot hard so the ankle can hook onto the arm.
Fold forward, plant both hands shoulder-width apart, and hook the right shin across both upper arms with the foot wrapped past the far arm.
Bend the elbows, lean the chest forward until the standing foot lightens, then lift it off.
Extend the back leg straight behind you, hold, then lower and change sides.
Hold: 3–6 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 Flying 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.
- Balances on two arms with one shin hooked across them, so the shape is held by the hooked foot as much as by strength.
- Loads the outer hip of the crossed leg in deep external rotation under weight.
- Requires the glutes and back to hold the rear leg horizontal for the whole hold.
Flying Pigeon Pose 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 Flying Pigeon Pose, or change it
- Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Knee injury on the crossed leg, which is in deep external rotation.
- Shoulder injury.
- Pregnancy and recent abdominal surgery.
- A forward tip lands on the face — always have a folded blanket in front 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 Flying Pigeon Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeFoot resting loosely on the arm so it slips at the first shift.
FixFlex the foot strongly and hook the toes past the outer edge of the far arm.
MistakeBack leg hanging down and dragging the shape backwards.
FixReach the back foot up to hip height and squeeze that glute.
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. Flying Pigeon Pose sits at code 02175, योग, पॉवर, 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 मिनिटे | 20 मिनिटे | 30 मिनिटे | 45 मिनिटे | 60 मिनिटे |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 49 | 98 | 147 | 221 | 294 |
स्रोत·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02175 · 4 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 Flying Pigeon Pose?
Place a folded blanket ahead of where your hands will go, then stand and cross the right ankle above the left knee in a figure four. Sit the hips back and flex the right foot hard so the ankle can hook onto the arm. Fold forward, plant both hands shoulder-width apart, and hook the right shin across both upper arms with the foot wrapped past the far arm. Bend the elbows, lean the chest forward until the standing foot lightens, then lift it off. Extend the back leg straight behind you, hold, then lower and change sides. Hold for 3–6 breaths each side.
What does Flying Pigeon Pose work?
Primarily the shoulders, abdominals, glutes, with the triceps, wrists, hip flexors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: balances on two arms with one shin hooked across them, so the shape is held by the hooked foot as much as by strength.
Who should not do Flying Pigeon Pose?
Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome. Knee injury on the crossed leg, which is in deep external rotation. Shoulder injury. Pregnancy and recent abdominal surgery. A forward tip lands on the face — always have a folded blanket in front 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 Flying Pigeon Pose suitable for beginners?
No. Flying Pigeon Pose 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 Flying 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. Flying Pigeon 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.
भिंतीवरील उरलेली तोलाची आसने
आणखी तोलाची आसने — प्रथम त्याच पातळीवरची, नंतर उरलेल्या गटातील.
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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