Flapping Fish Poseमत्स्य क्रीडासन
Matsya Krīḍāsana — a beginner restorative pose that works the lower back, hip flexors.
3–6MINUTES HELD · EACH SIDE
One line on the timetable. Flapping Fish Pose is held 3–6 minutes 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 Flapping Fish Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie face down and turn the head to the right, resting the cheek on the mat.
Bend the left knee out to the side and draw it up towards the left ribs.
Slide a folded blanket or a small pillow under the bent knee so the leg is supported, not hanging.
Interlace the fingers loosely and rest the head on the backs of the hands, or place the arms wherever they are heavy.
Stay for half the hold, then swap the head and the knee to the other side.
Hold: 3–6 minutes 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 Flapping Fish 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.
- Gives a mild asymmetric position with the whole front of the body resting on the floor.
- Opens the hip of the bent leg outward while a prop takes the weight of the thigh.
- Requires no effort at all once the props are placed, so it holds well for long periods.
Flapping Fish Pose is one of 21 restorative poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Supported, low-effort poses held long, where the point is to stop working rather than to work.
Who should skip Flapping Fish Pose, or change it
- Pregnancy after the first trimester — face-down positions are unsuitable; use a side-lying rest.
- Low back discomfort in prone poses, which the bent knee can increase.
- Neck problems from a long turned-head hold: change sides halfway and keep the turn small.
- Knee or hip injury on the bent side.
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 Flapping Fish Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeBent knee hanging with nothing under it, so the hip grips for the whole hold.
FixBuild the support up under the knee until the leg is genuinely heavy.
MistakeStaying twenty minutes with the head turned one way.
FixSplit the hold evenly and change sides in the middle.
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. Flapping Fish Pose sits at code 02170, yoga, Nadisodhana (seated, quiet practice), 2 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 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200
= 2.45 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 | 25 | 49 | 74 | 110 | 147 |
ਸਰੋਤ·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02170 · 2 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 Flapping Fish Pose?
Lie face down and turn the head to the right, resting the cheek on the mat. Bend the left knee out to the side and draw it up towards the left ribs. Slide a folded blanket or a small pillow under the bent knee so the leg is supported, not hanging. Interlace the fingers loosely and rest the head on the backs of the hands, or place the arms wherever they are heavy. Stay for half the hold, then swap the head and the knee to the other side. Hold for 3–6 minutes each side.
What does Flapping Fish Pose work?
Primarily the lower back, hip flexors, with the glutes, hip adductors, neck assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: gives a mild asymmetric position with the whole front of the body resting on the floor.
Who should not do Flapping Fish Pose?
Pregnancy after the first trimester — face-down positions are unsuitable; use a side-lying rest. Low back discomfort in prone poses, which the bent knee can increase. Neck problems from a long turned-head hold: change sides halfway and keep the turn small. Knee or hip injury on the bent side. 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 Flapping Fish Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Flapping Fish Pose is a beginner-level pose on this site, which means it is learnable in a first class and has a version that works for most bodies. The cautions above still apply.
How many calories does Flapping Fish 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. Flapping Fish Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02170, yoga, Nadisodhana (seated, quiet practice), at 2 MET — about 74 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 restorative poses on the wall
More restorative poses — 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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