King Pigeon (kneeling) · Kapotasana A·B

Kapotasana A·B · 카포타사나 · 비둘기 자세

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

Breath: 5×2 · Drishti (gaze): nose tip

Kneeling tall with the hips pressed forward, arch back and walk the hands to the heels, lowering the elbows (A), then straighten the arms to fingertips (B). The series' deepest backbend — the real practice is keeping a thin, unbroken breath under pressure.

Alignment

Hands — A: reaching overhead to the heels, elbows lowering to the floor · B: arms straight to the ankles
Feet — insteps and shins pressing hard into the floor
Knees — held at hip width throughout
Gaze — the nose tip; the chest opens first, the low back last

Entering the pose

Kneel tall, arms up, hips pressing forward
Arch back, walk the hands toward the feet
Lower the elbows, hold the heels, breathe

Common mistakes

Collapsing into the lower back unprepared
The breath stopping — keep it thin but alive

Modifications & props

Walking the hands down a wall behind you — wall kapota — is the standard preparation; the hands have nowhere to slip.
Bridge the distance by holding blocks instead of the feet, or a strap looped at the heels.
For this pose above all, a teacher's hands beat solitude — it is taught exactly that way, daily, in Mysore.

Benefits

Opens shoulders, chest, hips, spine to their fullest
Trains keeping the breath alive under pressure
The summit of front-body mobility

Role in the sequence

The summit of the entire Intermediate series. Kneeling, descending backward to catch the heels (A), then straightening the arms to the floor (B) — a backbend that exists only when shoulders, chest, hip fronts, and spine open maximally at once. Every backbend before it was a stair toward this single shape, treated in the Mysore tradition as Intermediate's defining gate. Past it, the series turns entirely from backbends to the leg-behind-head chapter.

Practice notes

Kapota means pigeon, from the puffed chest of the bird, and this is generally counted the pose in the Intermediate Series that deals most with fear. Kneeling upright, you arch back until both hands catch the feet, and the fact that you cannot see the floor on the way back is what makes the body stiffen.

A rests the hands on the feet; B walks the wrists down to the ankles for a deeper grip. Five breaths each. What has to open here is not the lower back but the shoulders, the thoracic spine and the front of the hips. When the shoulders are locked, the body folds the lumbar spine in place of the thoracic spine that refuses to move.

The wall is the safe approach. Kneeling with your back to a wall, hands walking down it a little further each time over several months, both reduces the fear of travelling backwards and genuinely opens the shoulders. While the hands cannot reach the feet, stand two blocks beside them and land there instead.

Two checks: have the thighs tipped forward past the knees (hips travelling forward simply compresses the lower back), and are the elbows staying shoulder-width rather than splaying? Always follow this pose with a short neutral shape to let the lower back settle.

Alone, go only as far as wall-supported descents; the rest belongs with a teacher.

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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