Thread the Needle Poseपरिवृत्त बालासन
Parivṛtta Bālāsana — a beginner twist that works the obliques, rhomboids, spinal erectors.
60–90SECONDS HELD · EACH SIDE
One line on the timetable. Thread the Needle Pose is held 60–90 seconds each side, with the breath moving throughout — and it takes its place inside one of the practices posted on this site.
ਸਰੋਤ·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
How to do Thread the Needle Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Start on all fours with the knees under the hips and the hands under the shoulders.
Slide the right arm along the floor under the chest and out to the left, palm facing up.
Let the right shoulder and the side of the head rest on the mat or on a folded blanket.
Walk the left hand forward, or reach it overhead, and let the chest turn towards the left.
Breathe slowly for the hold, press back up, and repeat on the other side.
Hold: 60–90 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 Thread the Needle 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.
- Rotates the upper back with the pelvis supported on the knees, so the lumbar spine stays quiet.
- Stretches across the back of the threaded shoulder and between the shoulder blades.
- Gives a repeatable upper-back rotation that needs no strength to hold.
Thread the Needle Pose is one of 25 twists in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses that rotate the spine around its long axis with the pelvis anchored.
Who should skip Thread the Needle Pose, or change it
- Pregnancy — comfortable for many, but widen the knees and keep the pressure off the belly.
- Disc injury: keep the rotation modest and stop at any arm or leg symptom.
- Sacroiliac irritation, which kneeling asymmetrically can provoke.
- Recent abdominal surgery.
- Shoulder injury on the threaded side, and neck pain if the head bears weight — prop it.
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 Thread the Needle Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeDumping the head onto the mat so the neck takes the load.
FixSupport the head and shoulder on a folded blanket so the weight sits on the shoulder.
MistakeHips sliding away from over the knees.
FixKeep the hips stacked above the knees so the twist stays in the upper back.
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. Thread the Needle 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 Thread the Needle Pose?
Start on all fours with the knees under the hips and the hands under the shoulders. Slide the right arm along the floor under the chest and out to the left, palm facing up. Let the right shoulder and the side of the head rest on the mat or on a folded blanket. Walk the left hand forward, or reach it overhead, and let the chest turn towards the left. Breathe slowly for the hold, press back up, and repeat on the other side. Hold for 60–90 seconds each side.
What does Thread the Needle Pose work?
Primarily the obliques, rhomboids, spinal erectors, with the shoulders, trapezius, chest assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: rotates the upper back with the pelvis supported on the knees, so the lumbar spine stays quiet.
Who should not do Thread the Needle Pose?
Pregnancy — comfortable for many, but widen the knees and keep the pressure off the belly. Disc injury: keep the rotation modest and stop at any arm or leg symptom. Sacroiliac irritation, which kneeling asymmetrically can provoke. Recent abdominal surgery. Shoulder injury on the threaded side, and neck pain if the head bears weight — prop it. 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 Thread the Needle Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Thread the Needle 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 Thread the Needle 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. Thread the Needle 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.
Sequences that use Thread the Needle Pose
The rest of the twists on the wall
More twists — 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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