Wide-Angle Seated Poseउपविष्ट कोणासन
Upaviṣṭha Koṇāsana — a beginner seated pose that works the hip adductors, hamstrings, spinal erectors.
1–2MINUTES HELD
One line on the timetable. Wide-Angle Seated Pose is held 1–2 minutes, with the breath moving throughout — and it takes its place inside 2 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 Wide-Angle Seated Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit on a folded blanket and open the legs into a wide V, as wide as they go while the pelvis stays upright.
Turn the kneecaps and the toes straight up towards the ceiling, not rolled inwards.
Press the backs of the thighs down and firm the quadriceps so the knees stay straight.
Place the fingertips on the floor behind the hips and lift up through the spine.
Hold upright without folding, breathing evenly, then draw the legs together with the hands.
Hold: 1–2 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 Wide-Angle Seated 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 both inner thighs at length with the pelvis upright and the knees straight.
- Loads the spinal erectors to keep the trunk vertical over a wide, low base.
- Trains the quadriceps to hold knee extension while the hips are widely abducted.
Wide-Angle Seated Pose is one of 29 seated poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses taken on the floor, where the pelvis is the base and the spine works above it.
Who should skip Wide-Angle Seated Pose, or change it
- Adductor or groin strain — narrow the legs considerably.
- Hamstring tear.
- Low back injury: sit higher on a bolster and keep the hands behind for support.
- Recent hip replacement, where wide abduction may be restricted.
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 Wide-Angle Seated Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeOpening the legs so wide that the pelvis rolls back and the spine slumps.
FixNarrow the V until the pelvis can sit upright on its own.
MistakeLetting the knees and toes roll inwards.
FixTurn both kneecaps to the ceiling; the stretch must come from the hip, not the knee.
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. Wide-Angle Seated 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 Wide-Angle Seated Pose?
Sit on a folded blanket and open the legs into a wide V, as wide as they go while the pelvis stays upright. Turn the kneecaps and the toes straight up towards the ceiling, not rolled inwards. Press the backs of the thighs down and firm the quadriceps so the knees stay straight. Place the fingertips on the floor behind the hips and lift up through the spine. Hold upright without folding, breathing evenly, then draw the legs together with the hands. Hold for 1–2 minutes.
What does Wide-Angle Seated Pose work?
Primarily the hip adductors, hamstrings, spinal erectors, with the quadriceps, lower back, abdominals assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: holds both inner thighs at length with the pelvis upright and the knees straight.
Who should not do Wide-Angle Seated Pose?
Adductor or groin strain — narrow the legs considerably. Hamstring tear. Low back injury: sit higher on a bolster and keep the hands behind for support. Recent hip replacement, where wide abduction may be restricted. 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 Wide-Angle Seated Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Wide-Angle Seated 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 Wide-Angle Seated 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. Wide-Angle Seated 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 Wide-Angle Seated Pose
The rest of the seated poses on the wall
More seated 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
The people behind these sites
Follow the build
This site and nine others like it are built and photographed by two people: Amit Sharma — behind the build; Geeta Patel — the poses, demonstrated. New work goes up on Instagram and Facebook before it reaches a page here.
Amit Sharma
@amitsharmaofficial
Instagram
Geeta Patel
@geetapatelnz
Instagram
Geeta Patel
GeetaPatelYoga
Facebook
Following changes nothing here — every page stays open, with no account and no wall.
