Wide Angle Standing Forward Bend (Prasarita Padottanasana): Steps And Props
Prasarita padottanasana: the short version
Stand with your legs wide apart, fold forward, and let your head hang down between your feet. That is Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide Angle Standing Forward Bend), and it is a resting pose that many students find settling. It also stretches the backs of the legs and the inner thighs. You do not need to reach the floor to get something from it. Rest your head on a chair or blocks, keep your back long, and take it step by step.
This note in short form
- What it is: a wide-legged standing forward bend with the feet parallel and the legs straight.
- A quick test: widen your legs slowly. Can you keep the feet pointing forward?
- The beginner way: look forward with a long spine first, then rest the head on a chair or blocks.
- The rule: keep the weight in your legs, not on your head or arms.
- Time: up to a minute, breathing evenly.
- The advanced version: hands in prayer behind the back. It is much stronger. Leave it until a teacher says so.
- Next step: learn it in class, in the studio or LIVE online. Your first class is free if you’re new.
Back to our Poses And Practice notes, and our Stiffness And Flexibility notes.
What is the wide angle standing forward bend?
It is a standing pose with the feet wide apart and parallel, the legs straight, and the body folded forward and down between them. Chris Lalor describes it as a resting pose for everyone. It works the inner leg muscles (the inner thighs), and it stretches the hamstrings (the muscles down the back of the thigh), calves, hips and lower back. It also tones the abdominal wall, or core.
Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. It is sometimes called modern classical yoga, and it’s the style we teach at Flametree.
In the Iyengar way the forward bend is learned after the standing poses, with supports, so the legs do the work. Our note on why the order of poses matters explains why.
Kim in the wide angle standing forward bend with her hands on blocks. The back stays long and the legs stay straight.
How do you know if the pose is for you?
Try a quick test. Slowly widen your legs, and see if you can keep your feet pointing forward. Then see if you can get your legs about as far apart as the length of one of your own legs.
In class we help you take the legs much wider than that, a little more over time. Even a small amount of this pose slowly builds and stretches the inner leg muscles. Many stiff students (and stiff men especially) find it useful for the legs, hips and lower back. Our note on yoga for stiff guys says more.
How do beginners start prasarita padottanasana?
Beginners learn it in stages, and the pose is done with props. The full pose, with the head on the floor, comes later. Work through these stages, one at a time.
- Take your legs wide apart with the feet parallel. Place your hands on your hips.
- Press your legs firm and lift your kneecaps up.
- Breathe in, and make the spine slightly concave (a gentle inward curve, with the chest forward). Keep looking forward. This helps you extend the spine so you can go lower.
- Breathe out and fold forward as far as you can with the spine long. Rest your head on a chair seat or on blocks, so you get part of the way down.
- Over time, take the head down to rest on blocks. Two blocks stacked on their longest ends make a higher rest, and a pile of books works too.
Do not round the back to get lower. Go only as far as you can with the spine long, and let the legs stay strong.
What does the full pose look like?
Once the stages are easy, you fold with the spine long and rest your head on the floor or on blocks. The hands stay on the floor in line with the feet, the legs stay straight, and the weight stays in your legs rather than your arms or head. In particular, do not throw the weight of the body onto the head.
Kim in the full pose, with the head down and the legs straight. This is the later stage, not the first one.
How long should you stay?
Stay up to a minute, breathing evenly, deeply and calmly. In a restorative version, where blocks or a chair fully support you, you can stay longer. To come up, breathe in and rise with a concave spine, then rest.
What is the more advanced version?
Wide Angle Standing Forward Bend 2 puts the hands in prayer position behind the back. This version is advanced, because it makes the stretch in the legs much stronger. Leave it until your teacher shows you, and until the first version feels easy and steady.
Chris in the advanced version, with the hands in prayer behind the back. The stretch in the legs is much stronger.
Which poses sit close to it?
The seated version is Upavistha Konasana, which has its own note on Upavistha Konasana. Seated forward bends are covered in our seated forward bend note. For other standing poses that work the legs, see our notes on Triangle Pose and Warrior 2.
Because the head is below the heart, take care if you have high blood pressure, an eye condition or a neck problem. Talk to your yoga teacher, your yoga therapist, and your doctor if you wish, about the right version for you. If you feel faint, come up slowly.
Practise this at Flametree
Your first class is free if you’re new to Flametree. New students, and anyone who has been away three months or more, can also get a half price 10 class pass with 2 extra classes free, to use online, in the studio, or both. We teach in the studio at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin and LIVE online. For the studio, just come along. For an online class, click the class time you want and we email you the link to join.
- Beginners: see the half price 10 class pass for new and lapsed students
- Not a beginner: see the half price 10 class pass for new and lapsed students
- The timetable, including online classes
Can’t make a class? Practise at home with our video courses.
Questions people ask about prasarita padottanasana
What is prasarita padottanasana?
Prasarita Padottanasana is Wide Angle Standing Forward Bend. You stand with the legs wide apart and parallel, keep them straight, and fold forward and down. It is a resting pose that stretches the backs of the legs, the inner thighs and the lower back.
How wide should my legs be in wide angle standing forward bend?
Start with your feet about as far apart as the length of one of your legs, with the feet pointing forward. In class we help you move the legs wider than that, gradually. Any amount of this pose helps build and stretch the inner leg muscles.
Can beginners do prasarita padottanasana?
Yes, in stages. Beginners take the legs wide, make the spine slightly concave while still looking forward, then fold and rest the head on a chair or blocks. Over time the head goes lower, for example onto two stacked blocks. The full pose with the head on the floor comes later.
What props help in prasarita padottanasana?
A chair, blocks, or a pile of books. A support under the head lets you stay longer while the legs stay firm, and blocks under the hands can help keep the back long. Two blocks stacked on their longest ends make a higher rest.
How long should you hold prasarita padottanasana?
Up to about a minute, breathing evenly, deeply and calmly. In a restorative version with full support you can stay longer. Come up on an in-breath with the spine concave.
What is the difference between this and the seated wide angle pose?
Prasarita Padottanasana is standing, with the head towards the floor between the feet. The seated version, Upavistha Konasana, has the legs wide on the floor. They stretch the same muscles, but the seated one is a separate pose, with its own note.
Is the prayer hands version of prasarita padottanasana advanced?
Yes. With the hands in prayer position behind the back, the stretch in the legs becomes much stronger. Leave it until your teacher shows you, and until the first version is steady.
Where can I learn prasarita padottanasana in Darwin?
Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga in the studio at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin and LIVE online, with chairs and blocks for the standing forward bends. Your first class is free if you’re new to Flametree.
Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin NT, teaching Iyengar yoga in the studio and LIVE online. This note is general information, not medical advice.
Sources
- Flametree teaching notes by Chris Lalor, Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher, on Prasarita Padottanasana (Flametree Facebook page, 2024).
- Britannica: B.K.S. Iyengar, Indian yoga teacher (1918 to 2014).
- Pose shape reference: the Level One practice chart used in Flametree teacher training.
