Sphinx Poseसालम्ब भुजंगासन
Sālamba Bhujaṅgāsana — a beginner backbend that works the spinal erectors, chest.
1–3MINUTES HELD
One line on the timetable. Sphinx Pose is held 1–3 minutes, 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 Sphinx Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie face down and bring both forearms onto the mat, parallel to each other.
Slide the elbows until they sit directly beneath the shoulders, palms flat.
Press the forearms down and draw them back towards you without moving them, lifting the chest forward.
Keep the legs soft and the tops of the feet heavy on the floor.
Hold quietly for a long, unhurried stretch, then lower the chest and rest one cheek down.
Hold: 1–3 minutes. 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 Sphinx 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.
- Holds the thoracic and lumbar spine in a mild, sustained extension with no arm strength required.
- Lengthens the front of the abdomen and the hip flexors over a long hold.
- Trains the shoulder blades to draw down and back rather than shrug forward.
Sphinx Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Sphinx Pose, or change it
- Pregnancy from the second trimester — lying face down is unsuitable; use a seated chest opener.
- Spondylolisthesis or an irritated disc: slide the elbows further forward so the arch is shallower.
- Shoulder impingement — widen the forearms and lower the chest.
- Recent abdominal surgery.
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 Sphinx Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeLetting the chest sag between the shoulders so the shoulders swallow the neck.
FixPress the forearms firmly down and lift the sternum forward between the upper arms.
MistakeThe arch pooling in the lumbar spine because the elbows are too far back.
FixWalk the elbows forward a few centimetres until the bend feels spread along the whole spine.
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. Sphinx 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 Sphinx Pose?
Lie face down and bring both forearms onto the mat, parallel to each other. Slide the elbows until they sit directly beneath the shoulders, palms flat. Press the forearms down and draw them back towards you without moving them, lifting the chest forward. Keep the legs soft and the tops of the feet heavy on the floor. Hold quietly for a long, unhurried stretch, then lower the chest and rest one cheek down. Hold for 1–3 minutes.
What does Sphinx Pose work?
Primarily the spinal erectors, chest, with the shoulders, trapezius, glutes assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: holds the thoracic and lumbar spine in a mild, sustained extension with no arm strength required.
Who should not do Sphinx Pose?
Pregnancy from the second trimester — lying face down is unsuitable; use a seated chest opener. Spondylolisthesis or an irritated disc: slide the elbows further forward so the arch is shallower. Shoulder impingement — widen the forearms and lower the chest. 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 Sphinx Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Sphinx 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 Sphinx 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. Sphinx 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 Sphinx Pose
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 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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