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Also known as: Eka Pada Rajakapotasana.

Technique

  1. From Downward dog, bring the knee toward the same side wrist and settle the hips toward the floor with the outside edge of the shin on the floor.
  2. Aim for a 90 degree angle in the knee, with the shin parallel to the short end of the mat.
  3. Extend your back toes.
  4. Support some of your weight on your arms.
  5. Try to square the hips and shoulders toward the front of the mat.

Form tips

  • This creates a Hip external rotation in the front leg and a Hip extension in the back leg. Try to feel both.
  • Avoid leaning to one side and instead support the position with the arms and allow the hips to drop over time.
  • You should not feel any pain in the knee. If you do, back out of the posture and try with a smaller angle in the front knee, using props as needed (see Bent-leg pigeon or Block-support pigeon).
Logging: Work each side for the time indicated.

Muscles

Flexibility

Primary

  • Glutes

Secondary

  • Pelvis
  • Hamstrings
  • Quadriceps
  • Hip adductors

Equipment

Appears in

Flexibility
Other disciplines
Joint movements
trains stretches

Regressions

e0bz

Active pigeon

Novice
e0w7

Bent-leg pigeon

Novice
e10f

Pigeon good morning

Intermediate
e0w8

Block-support pigeon

Novice
e0vm

Sitting bound half lotus fold

Intermediate
e0xk

Lotus

Intermediate
e18w

Lotus L-sit

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.