Womb Poseगर्भासन
Garbhāsana — a beginner restorative pose that works the lower back, glutes.
3–8MINUTES HELD · EACH SIDE
One line on the timetable. Womb Pose is held 3–8 minutes each side, with the breath moving throughout — and no set practice here is built around it — it is held on its own.
ஆதாரம்·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·மறுபரிசீலனை ஜூலை 2026
How to do Womb Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie on your right side and draw both knees up towards the chest.
Place a firm pillow or a folded blanket between the knees so the top hip does not drop forward.
Slide a folded blanket under the head so the neck stays level with the spine, not tipped down.
Let the bottom arm rest forward on the floor and the top arm rest along the side or on a small cushion.
Stay for half the hold, then roll through and curl up on the other side.
Hold: 3–8 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 Womb 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.
- Curls the spine into a long, fully supported rounding with the floor taking all the weight.
- Props both the head and the top knee so the shoulders and hips stay stacked with no effort.
- Provides a long supported hold that works when lying flat on the back is not an option.
Womb 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 Womb Pose, or change it
- Shoulder pain on the underneath side — add height under the head and roll slightly further back.
- Neck problems: the blanket under the head must fill the whole gap to the shoulder.
- Late pregnancy, where the left side is usually the more comfortable one to settle on.
- Hip discomfort with the knees deeply drawn up — straighten the legs a little.
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 Womb Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeNo support between the knees, so the top hip rolls forward and twists the lower back.
FixWedge a pillow between the knees and ankles.
MistakeHead resting straight on the mat so the neck side-bends for the whole hold.
FixBuild the head support up to the height of the shoulder.
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. Womb 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 நிமிடம் | 20 நிமிடம் | 30 நிமிடம் | 45 நிமிடம் | 60 நிமிடம் |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| கலோரிகள் | 25 | 49 | 74 | 110 | 147 |
ஆதாரம்·2024 பெரியவர்களுக்கான உடற்செயல்பாடுகளின் தொகுப்பு·code 02170 · 2 MET · 70 kg reference adult·மறுபரிசீலனை ஜூலை 2026
The whole activity dataset, including everything that is not yoga, is at BurnLab.
Asked before class
How do you do Womb Pose?
Lie on your right side and draw both knees up towards the chest. Place a firm pillow or a folded blanket between the knees so the top hip does not drop forward. Slide a folded blanket under the head so the neck stays level with the spine, not tipped down. Let the bottom arm rest forward on the floor and the top arm rest along the side or on a small cushion. Stay for half the hold, then roll through and curl up on the other side. Hold for 3–8 minutes each side.
What does Womb Pose work?
Primarily the lower back, glutes, with the neck, hip flexors, spinal erectors assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: curls the spine into a long, fully supported rounding with the floor taking all the weight.
Who should not do Womb Pose?
Shoulder pain on the underneath side — add height under the head and roll slightly further back. Neck problems: the blanket under the head must fill the whole gap to the shoulder. Late pregnancy, where the left side is usually the more comfortable one to settle on. Hip discomfort with the knees deeply drawn up — straighten the legs a little. 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 Womb Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Womb 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 Womb 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. Womb 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 மற்றும் 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.
ஆதாரம்·Published asana references·asana names, alignment and cautions as taught·மறுபரிசீலனை ஜூலை 2026
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