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Also known as: Kukkutasana progression.

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Technique

  1. From a seated position with legs extended in front, take lotus with the right leg first.
  2. Bring the hands to the sides of your legs, under the shoulders and lift up.

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Form tips

  • Flex the spine, protract the shoulders and press against the floor to lift the knees as high as you can.
Logging: Work each side for the time indicated.
Risks
  • The lotus pose requires a significant degree of external rotation in the hip joints. If the hips are tight, the body may attempt to compensate by putting pressure on the knee joints, which can lead to meniscus tears and ligament strains.
  • This arm balance puts pressure on the wrists, which are bent to a 90° position. Wrists get stronger over time, but stop if you feel any sudden, acute pain.

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Muscles

Strength

Primary

  • Rotator cuff
  • Back
  • Shoulders
  • Triceps
  • Serratus anterior
  • Chest

Secondary

  • Forearms
  • Pelvis
  • Quadriceps
  • Abs
  • Obliques
  • Hip adductors
Flexibility

Secondary

  • Glutes
  • Pelvis
  • Hamstrings
  • Teres minor
  • Teres major
  • Posterior deltoid
  • Middle trapezius
  • Latissimus dorsi
  • Rhomboid major
  • Triceps brachii (long head)
  • Triceps brachii (medial head)
  • Triceps brachii (lateral head)
  • Lower trapezius
  • Serratus anterior
  • Pectoralis minor

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Equipment

Ground (hands or body)
Ground (hands or body)

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Appears in

Other disciplines
Joint movements
Elbowextension
Shoulderdepressionextension backward
trains stretches

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Progressions

e19g

Lotus V-sit

Advanced

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Regressions

e19h

Block-assisted Lotus L-sit

Novice
e18v

Rooster Pose

Advanced
e0xk

Lotus

Intermediate
e0xl

Half lotus

Novice
e0vk

Supported half lotus

Beginner
e0v7

Lotus fish pose

Intermediate
Want to log this exercise? Open it in Calistree. Text and images are used under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; the video plays from the original source.