Easy Guide to Kapotasana: The Pigeon Yoga Pose

Kapotasana is one of the main asanas of yoga that helps in eliminating our body fat. Mainly it targets the thighs, legs, and waist. Apart from this, the extremely deep back bend invigorates your body, and the chest and lungs are also strengthened by practicing it.

Kapotasana Pose is also known as Pigeon Yoga Pose. The word Kapotasana is derived from the Sanskrit language which is made up of two words in which the word Kapata (Kapot) means “pigeon” and asana means “pose or posture”. When someone does this mudra, he looks beautiful like a pigeon bird.

Pigeon pose is one of the best yoga asanas, which is a complete and good body workout. It opens up your midsection (chest), opens up the hips area, and enhances the quality of the legs and your abdominal area. Pigeon pose is especially useful for individuals who experience the side effects of tight hip flexors and foot problems.

This yoga posture is very important to keep the body healthy and relieve stress. It is very important to know the way of doing it, before doing any yoga it is very important to have complete information about it, let us know in detail the method of doing Kapotasana-

Preparatory Poses

• Bhujangasana

• Dhanurasana

• Setu Bandha

• Supta Virasana

• Virasana

• Urdhva Dhanurasana

Steps of Kapotasana (Pigeon Pose)

1. For Kapotasana, first of all, sit in Vajrasana or you can also do it by sitting in Ustrasana.

2. After sitting in Vajrasana, take a deep breath and place both your hands behind your back near the waist, or sit in Ustrasana and place both your hands on the toes.

3. Sitting in Ustrasana, tilt the upper part of the body ie your neck backward, and then slowly bend your waist backward as well.

4. Try to take both your hands behind your feet towards the ground.

5. If you have difficulty keeping your hands on the floor when you bend back, then you use Vajrasana. This will make it easier for you to keep your hands behind the ground.

6. After keeping both hands off the ground, you slowly slide both your hands towards both your feet.

7. In this position, both your hands will be bent from the elbow.

8. After staying in this posture for a few seconds, again bring your hands near the toes and hold your heels by placing them on top of the toes.

9. In this posture, you will come in the pose of a pigeon.

10. Now stay in this final pose for 30 seconds or according to your ability.

11. In the end, with the help of hands, straighten the legs and come back to your starting position.

Follow-up Poses

• Balasana

• Bharadvajasana

• Pasasana

• Adho Mukha Svanasana

Benefits of Kapotasana

• The regular practice of pigeon pose stretches the entire front of the body as well as improves body posture.

• This asana helps to stretch the deep hip flexors (psoas) and back muscles also.

• Kapotasana stimulates the organs of the abdomen and neck as well as stretches the ankles, thighs, and groins.

• It helps in healing and strengthens the hips, back pain and shoulder pain. The benefits of Kapotasana strengthen your leg muscles and relieve joint pain.

• This asana is beneficial in both low blood pressure and high blood pressure.

• This Kapotasana should be practiced regularly to prevent asthma and other respiratory diseases.

• The Kapotasana posture of yoga helps in providing you peace of mind. It is beneficial in reducing stress.

Precautions for Kapotasana

• Take the help of a trained yoga trainer to perform this yoga asana. If any position is wrong, you can be harmed.

• Never rush into this asana, because this asana is not for those people who are just starting to do yoga.

• If you have problems with ankles, knees or have any type of injury in the waist, then do not try to do this asana.

• This asana is not for pregnant women.