Pigeon Pose For Beginners
Updated: Feb 19
Pigeon Pose, also known as Eka Pada (Raja) Kapotasana, is a beautiful pose. Once you perfect it, you can progress to Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (one-legged king pigeon) pose, which is a lovely backbend.
It’s best if you perfect the alignment of the pigeon pose to start with and then take your time to work your way up towards the other more challenging form of the asana. Here, I am going to share with you the eight benefits of this posture, the precautions that you must take while doing the asana and a step-by-step guide to get into the posture.
Eight Benefits of Pigeon Pose
There are eight benefits of doing a deep hip opener asana like the pigeon pose. It ...
Improves hip mobility.
Helps relieve back pain.
Helps relieve sciatica.
Stimulates the abdominal organs.
Supports digestion.
Stimulates the reproductive area.
Encourages better circulation, especially in the lower body and spine.
Improves spinal flexibility.
Pigeon Pose Contraindications
Don't attempt this asana if you have any of the following conditions.
Knee pain or injury
Ankle pain or injury
Sacroiliac injury
A Step-by-step Guide to the Pigeon Pose (for a tutorial video click here)
Step One
Get on your hands and knees.
Place your knees under your hips and your wrists under your shoulders.
Step Two
Slide the right knee up towards the right wrist.
Step Three
Keep the right knee in line with the right wrist.
Slide your right foot and ankle gently across towards the line joining your left knee and left wrist. Just take the foot across to a comfortable position.
Step Four
Tuck the toes of the left foot and ease the left leg back.
Make sure that the left foot, ankle and leg remain directly behind the left hip.
Allow the hips to sink towards the floor as the left leg moves back.
Important - Both the hips should move equally down to the ground.
To come out of the posture, you have to follow the same steps in reverse order. You can then do the same posture with the right side. You can also use blocks for more comfort.
Step-by-step Video Guide
For more details on the complete pose, using blocks and some tips, please watch my step-by-step video guide to the pigeon pose given below. I hope you enjoy and benefit from it!
