Pigeon Poseकपोतासन
Kapotāsana — an advanced backbend that works the hip flexors, chest, shoulders.
10–20सेकंद धरून ठेवले
One line on the timetable. Pigeon Pose is held 10–20 seconds, 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 Pigeon Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel with the knees hip-width apart and the shins padded, hips pressed forward over the knees.
Reach both arms overhead and start arching back, leading with the breastbone.
Lower the hands towards the floor behind you and place the crown of the head down briefly.
Walk the hands in towards the feet until the fingers can take hold of the heels or toes.
Bring the forearms down, press the elbows towards each other, and hold — then reverse the same path to come out.
Hold: 10–20 seconds. 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 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.
- Combines the deepest available hip flexor stretch with a full overhead shoulder opening.
- Extends the entire spine with the pelvis fixed over the knees.
- Demands the quadriceps work throughout to control both entry and exit.
Pigeon Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 61 poses rated advanced. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Pigeon Pose, or change it
- Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion — not appropriate under any modification.
- Neck injury, since the head passes through a loaded position on the way down.
- Shoulder impingement or a rotator cuff tear: the overhead reach into extension is exactly the aggravating position.
- Knee injury, given the fully flexed and loaded knees.
- Pregnancy, high blood pressure or glaucoma.
- अलीकडे झालेली पोटाची शस्त्रक्रिया.
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 Pigeon Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeCompressing everything into the low back because the shoulders and hips will not open.
FixSpend the practice on Camel, Supta Virasana and overhead shoulder work; the shape arrives when those do.
MistakeElbows splaying wide so the shoulders roll forward.
FixLoop a strap around the upper arms at shoulder width and press out against it to keep the shoulders 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. 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 Pigeon Pose?
Kneel with the knees hip-width apart and the shins padded, hips pressed forward over the knees. Reach both arms overhead and start arching back, leading with the breastbone. Lower the hands towards the floor behind you and place the crown of the head down briefly. Walk the hands in towards the feet until the fingers can take hold of the heels or toes. Bring the forearms down, press the elbows towards each other, and hold — then reverse the same path to come out. Hold for 10–20 seconds.
What does Pigeon Pose work?
Primarily the hip flexors, chest, shoulders, with the quadriceps, spinal erectors, triceps assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: combines the deepest available hip flexor stretch with a full overhead shoulder opening.
Who should not do Pigeon Pose?
Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion — not appropriate under any modification. Neck injury, since the head passes through a loaded position on the way down. Shoulder impingement or a rotator cuff tear: the overhead reach into extension is exactly the aggravating position. Knee injury, given the fully flexed and loaded knees. Pregnancy, high blood pressure or glaucoma. Recent abdominal surgery. 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 Pigeon Pose suitable for beginners?
No. 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 backbends poses on this site and learn this one in person.
How many calories does 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. 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.
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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