Spread-Leg Seated Forward Foldपाद प्रसार पश्चिमोत्तानासन
Pāda Prasāra Paścimottānāsana — an intermediate forward bend that works the hamstrings, hip adductors, obliques.
45–90SECONDS HELD · EACH SIDE
One line on the timetable. Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold is held 45–90 seconds 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 Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit on a folded blanket with the legs spread wide and the feet flexed.
Take hold of the right foot with both hands, or loop a strap around it.
Inhale and lengthen the spine, turning the chest towards the right leg.
Exhale and fold along the inside of the right leg, bringing the forehead towards the shin.
Hold for several breaths, come up, repeat on the left, then fold once down the centre.
Hold: 45–90 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 Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold 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.
- Lengthens one hamstring at a time from a wide-leg base, then both together in the centre fold.
- Stretches the inner thigh of the opposite leg as the trunk travels sideways.
- Works the side waist as the ribs turn to face the working leg.
Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold is one of 22 forward bends in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses that fold the torso towards the legs, lengthening the whole back line of the body.
Who should skip Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold, or change it
- Hamstring or adductor strain — narrow the legs and use a strap.
- Low back or disc injury: keep the trunk higher and sit on a bolster.
- Sacroiliac pain, which the side-to-side folding can aggravate.
- Recent hip replacement.
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 Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeLetting the opposite sitting bone lift as you fold sideways.
FixKeep both sitting bones weighted and reduce the reach.
MistakeBouncing between sides to gain depth.
FixHold each side still for several breaths; the range comes from time under tension.
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. Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold 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 Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold?
Sit on a folded blanket with the legs spread wide and the feet flexed. Take hold of the right foot with both hands, or loop a strap around it. Inhale and lengthen the spine, turning the chest towards the right leg. Exhale and fold along the inside of the right leg, bringing the forehead towards the shin. Hold for several breaths, come up, repeat on the left, then fold once down the centre. Hold for 45–90 seconds each side.
What does Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold work?
Primarily the hamstrings, hip adductors, obliques, with the spinal erectors, intercostals, calves assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: lengthens one hamstring at a time from a wide-leg base, then both together in the centre fold.
Who should not do Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold?
Hamstring or adductor strain — narrow the legs and use a strap. Low back or disc injury: keep the trunk higher and sit on a bolster. Sacroiliac pain, which the side-to-side folding can aggravate. Recent hip replacement. 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 Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold 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 forward bends poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold 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. Spread-Leg Seated Forward Fold 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 forward bends on the wall
More forward bends — 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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