Reclining Hero Poseसुप्त वीरासन
Supta Vīrāsana — an intermediate backbend that works the quadriceps, hip flexors, chest.
1–3MINUTES HELD
One line on the timetable. Reclining Hero Pose is held 1–3 minutes, 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 Reclining Hero Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Kneel with the knees together and the feet just outside the hips, shins flat and toes pointing back.
Sit down between the heels, using a block or folded blanket under the seat if the hips do not reach the floor.
Lean back onto the hands, then the forearms, checking that the knees stay together and quiet.
If the knees stay comfortable, lower onto a bolster placed lengthwise behind you, or all the way to the mat.
Take the arms overhead or out to the sides, hold, then press onto the forearms and rise the way you came.
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 Reclining Hero 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.
- Stretches the quadriceps and hip flexors with the knees fully flexed.
- Extends the thoracic spine passively over the floor or a bolster.
- Lengthens the front of the ankles and shins as the feet rest turned back.
Reclining Hero Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Reclining Hero Pose, or change it
- Knee injury or meniscus damage — this pose loads the knee joint at end-range, so sit up on blocks or leave it out.
- Disc injury or spondylolisthesis: keep a bolster under the spine so the arch stays shallow.
- Ankle injury, since the fronts of the ankles are pressed flat.
- Sacroiliac irritation when the knees drift apart.
- Later pregnancy, where extended time lying back is not advised.
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 Reclining Hero Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeKnees lifting and drifting apart as the torso goes back.
FixRaise the seat on blocks and stop leaning back at the point the knees stay down and together.
MistakeRibs flaring and the arch pooling in the low back.
FixSupport the spine on a bolster and draw the front ribs in until the curve spreads through the mid-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. Reclining Hero Pose sits at code 02150, யோகா, ஹத, 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 நிமிடம் | 20 நிமிடம் | 30 நிமிடம் | 45 நிமிடம் | 60 நிமிடம் |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| கலோரிகள் | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
ஆதாரம்·2024 பெரியவர்களுக்கான உடற்செயல்பாடுகளின் தொகுப்பு·code 02150 · 2.5 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 Reclining Hero Pose?
Kneel with the knees together and the feet just outside the hips, shins flat and toes pointing back. Sit down between the heels, using a block or folded blanket under the seat if the hips do not reach the floor. Lean back onto the hands, then the forearms, checking that the knees stay together and quiet. If the knees stay comfortable, lower onto a bolster placed lengthwise behind you, or all the way to the mat. Take the arms overhead or out to the sides, hold, then press onto the forearms and rise the way you came. Hold for 1–3 minutes.
What does Reclining Hero Pose work?
Primarily the quadriceps, hip flexors, chest, with the spinal erectors, shoulders, abdominals assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: stretches the quadriceps and hip flexors with the knees fully flexed.
Who should not do Reclining Hero Pose?
Knee injury or meniscus damage — this pose loads the knee joint at end-range, so sit up on blocks or leave it out. Disc injury or spondylolisthesis: keep a bolster under the spine so the arch stays shallow. Ankle injury, since the fronts of the ankles are pressed flat. Sacroiliac irritation when the knees drift apart. Later pregnancy, where extended time lying back is not advised. 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 Reclining Hero Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Reclining Hero Pose is rated intermediate here: it assumes a working base of strength and range, and a teacher who has watched you move. Build up through the backbends poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Reclining Hero 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. Reclining Hero 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.
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
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