Little Thunderbolt Poseलघु वज्रासन
Laghu Vajrāsana — an advanced backbend that works the quadriceps, hip flexors, spinal erectors.
5–10SECONDS HELD
One line on the timetable. Little Thunderbolt Pose is held 5–10 seconds, 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 Little Thunderbolt Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel with the knees hip-width apart, shins padded, and hold both heels as in Camel.
Press the hips forward and lift the chest into a strong arch with the thighs vertical.
Keeping the grip on the heels, lower the crown of the head slowly towards the floor behind you.
Let the thighs work eccentrically to control the descent — never drop.
Rest the crown lightly on the mat, hold briefly, then draw the hips forward and pull yourself back up.
Hold: 5–10 seconds. 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 Little Thunderbolt 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.
- Loads the quadriceps eccentrically through a long descent and then concentrically to return.
- Takes the spine into deep extension with the pelvis anchored over the knees.
- Builds the specific strength needed to enter and exit a deep backbend under control.
Little Thunderbolt Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 61 poses rated advanced. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Little Thunderbolt Pose, or change it
- Any neck injury — the crown of the head bears weight, so leave this pose out.
- Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion.
- Knee injury: the kneecaps carry the load and the knee joint is fully flexed.
- High blood pressure or glaucoma with the head below the heart and inverted.
- Shoulder injury that limits reaching back to the heels.
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 Little Thunderbolt Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeDropping the last stretch of the way and landing on the head.
FixStop practising the full descent until you can hold the halfway point for three breaths.
MistakeThe hips sliding back over the heels, which dumps the arch into the lumbar spine.
FixKeep driving the pubic bone forward so the thighs stay vertical the entire way down and up.
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. Little Thunderbolt Pose sits at code 02175, yoga, Power, 4 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
= 4 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200
= 4.90 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 | 49 | 98 | 147 | 221 | 294 |
ஆதாரம்·2024 பெரியவர்களுக்கான உடற்செயல்பாடுகளின் தொகுப்பு·code 02175 · 4 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 Little Thunderbolt Pose?
Kneel with the knees hip-width apart, shins padded, and hold both heels as in Camel. Press the hips forward and lift the chest into a strong arch with the thighs vertical. Keeping the grip on the heels, lower the crown of the head slowly towards the floor behind you. Let the thighs work eccentrically to control the descent — never drop. Rest the crown lightly on the mat, hold briefly, then draw the hips forward and pull yourself back up. Hold for 5–10 seconds.
What does Little Thunderbolt Pose work?
Primarily the quadriceps, hip flexors, spinal erectors, with the glutes, chest, shoulders assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: loads the quadriceps eccentrically through a long descent and then concentrically to return.
Who should not do Little Thunderbolt Pose?
Any neck injury — the crown of the head bears weight, so leave this pose out. Disc injury, spondylolisthesis or spinal fusion. Knee injury: the kneecaps carry the load and the knee joint is fully flexed. High blood pressure or glaucoma with the head below the heart and inverted. Shoulder injury that limits reaching back to the heels. 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 Little Thunderbolt Pose suitable for beginners?
No. Little Thunderbolt Pose is rated advanced. The shape itself is rarely the problem — arriving at it years too early is. Work through the beginner and intermediate backbends poses on this site and learn this one in person.
How many calories does Little Thunderbolt 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. Little Thunderbolt Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02175, yoga, Power, at 4 MET — about 147 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 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 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
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.
