Heron Poseक्रौञ्चासन
Krauñcāsana — an intermediate forward bend that works the hamstrings, quadriceps, abdominals.
30–60SECONDS HELD · EACH SIDE
One line on the timetable. Heron Pose is held 30–60 seconds each side, with the breath moving throughout — and no set practice here is built around it — it is held on its own.
ਸਰੋਤ·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
How to do Heron Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit with the left leg folded back beside the left hip, as in Hero Pose, and pad the seat if needed.
Bend the right knee and hold the right foot with both hands, or loop a strap around the sole.
Straighten the right leg upwards until it points towards the ceiling, or as far as it goes.
Draw the leg towards the trunk while lifting the sternum, keeping the spine long.
Hold with the shoulders down, lower the leg with control, 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 Heron 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.
- Lengthens the hamstring of the raised leg actively, against the pull of the arms.
- Holds the folded leg's quadriceps in a shortened position with the knee deeply bent.
- Loads the abdominals and spinal erectors to keep the trunk upright with one leg vertical.
Heron Pose 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 Heron Pose, or change it
- Knee injury on the folded leg — sit cross-legged or extend that leg forward instead.
- Hamstring strain on the raised leg.
- Low back injury, since the raised leg pulls the pelvis backwards.
- Ankle injury on the folded leg, and sacroiliac pain from the uneven seat.
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 Heron Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakePulling the leg in until the spine collapses backwards.
FixUse a strap, lower the leg, and rebuild with the chest lifted.
MistakeSitting off-centre on the folded side.
FixProp the opposite sitting bone up so the pelvis is level before raising the leg.
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. Heron Pose sits at code 02150, ਯੋਗਾ, ਹਠ, 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 ਮਿੰਟ | 20 ਮਿੰਟ | 30 ਮਿੰਟ | 45 ਮਿੰਟ | 60 ਮਿੰਟ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
ਸਰੋਤ·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02150 · 2.5 MET · 70 kg reference adult·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
The whole activity dataset, including everything that is not yoga, is at BurnLab.
Asked before class
How do you do Heron Pose?
Sit with the left leg folded back beside the left hip, as in Hero Pose, and pad the seat if needed. Bend the right knee and hold the right foot with both hands, or loop a strap around the sole. Straighten the right leg upwards until it points towards the ceiling, or as far as it goes. Draw the leg towards the trunk while lifting the sternum, keeping the spine long. Hold with the shoulders down, lower the leg with control, and change sides. Hold for 30–60 seconds each side.
What does Heron Pose work?
Primarily the hamstrings, quadriceps, abdominals, with the spinal erectors, calves, biceps assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: lengthens the hamstring of the raised leg actively, against the pull of the arms.
Who should not do Heron Pose?
Knee injury on the folded leg — sit cross-legged or extend that leg forward instead. Hamstring strain on the raised leg. Low back injury, since the raised leg pulls the pelvis backwards. Ankle injury on the folded leg, and sacroiliac pain from the uneven seat. 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 Heron Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Heron 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 forward bends poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Heron 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. Heron 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 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 ਅਤੇ 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.
ਸਰੋਤ·Published asana references·asana names, alignment and cautions as taught·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
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