Frog · Bhekasana

Bhekasana · 베카사나 · 개구리 자세

Intermediate Series · Nadi Shodhana (Nerve Cleansing) — Backbend Sequence

Breath: 5 · Drishti (gaze): nose tip

Prone, bend the knees, turn the hands to point forward over the feet, and press them toward the floor beside the hips as the chest lifts. Quadriceps and ankle fronts stretch intensely, so the knees' signals set the pace — ardha bhekasana, one side at a time, prepares it.

Alignment

Hands — fingers turned forward over the toes, pressing the feet down beside the hips
Feet — heels drawing toward the floor outside the hips
Knees — kept at hip width, not splaying wide
Gaze — the nose tip, the chest lifted by rising elbows

Entering the pose

Prone, bend the knees, hold the feet
Rotate the hands to point forward
Lift the chest, press the feet down

Common mistakes

The knees drifting wide of the body
Pressing through knee pain

Modifications & props

One side at a time — Ardha Bhekasana, the half frog — is the standard preliminary, opposite elbow propping the floor.
Press the foot straight toward the hip before pressing it outside the hip — the outward line waits for open knees.
A pulling pain inside the knee means release the pressure now; in this pose the knee's signals are non-negotiable.

Benefits

A deep stretch of the quadriceps
Builds suppleness around ankle and knee
The lifted chest readies the deeper backbends

Role in the sequence

Onto the back strength woken by Shalabhasana, new material is added: the front thighs and the ankles. Pressing the feet down while the chest lifts opens deeply around the knee joints — preparation for the vertical thighs Ustrasana and Kapotasana will demand. A frog by name, and one of the few prone backbends folded in left-right symmetry.

Practice notes

Bheka means frog. Lying face down and pressing the feet toward the hips makes the legs look like a frog's. Among the Intermediate backbends this is the one that deals most directly with the ankles, the knees and the quadriceps.

How the hands take the feet is the crux. Grip the top of each foot with the fingers turned to point the same way as the toes — which means rotating the wrist — and then press the sole down toward the floor. Pressing with the fingers pointing backwards twists the ankle outward and loads the inside of the knee.

Practising one side at a time is the sensible order. Taking both feet at once often overwhelms the shoulders, the chest collapses to the floor, and what remains is not a backbend but a squashed ankle. Spending months with one hand on one foot while the other forearm presses the floor to lift the chest is perfectly good practice.

Two checks: are the knees staying within hip width (letting them splay stretches the inner knee), and is the chest still opening forward and up? Release the feet the moment a knee hurts. When the quadriceps are short, forcing the foot down sends all of that force into the knee joint.

Ardha bhekasana — one side at a time — comes first.

Written by Choi Seongjin — 20 years of Ashtanga practice, currently teaching three classes a week. Last updated: 2026-09-05.

This guide is for general information and is not medical advice. If you are pregnant, injured, or have a medical condition, consult a qualified teacher or physician before practising. Disclaimer & Legal Notice

Other poses in this sequence

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