Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Forward Bend): How to Do It Step by Step

Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Forward Bend) is a standing forward fold with the feet set wide apart and the head hanging toward the floor between them. It stretches the hamstrings and the inner thighs, and with the head below the hips it works as a gentle inversion. Because the wide stance lets the pelvis tip forward more easily than a narrow one, many people find it a friendlier fold than Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend).

Pose type: standing forward bend, mild inversion. Level: beginner to intermediate. Props: one or two blocks, a folded blanket or bolster for the head.

What Prasarita Padottanasana means

The name breaks into four parts: prasarita, spread out or expanded; pada, foot; uttana, an intense stretch (from ut, intense, and tan, to stretch); and asana, posture. Put together: the intense stretch with the feet spread wide. The pose appears in B.K.S. Iyengar's Light on Yoga and in the standing sequence of Ashtanga Vinyasa, and both systems teach more than one arm position.

How to do Prasarita Padottanasana, step by step

This is the basic form, with the hands on the floor. The arm variations come further down.

1. Stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose) facing the long side of your mat. Step or hop your feet wide apart, roughly the length of one leg. Taller people go wider.
2. Turn the toes slightly in so the outer edges of the feet are parallel to the short edges of the mat. Press the outer edges and the big toe mounds into the floor.
3. Place your hands on your hips. Lift the kneecaps by firming the fronts of the thighs, without locking the knees back.
4. Inhale and lift your chest. Lengthen from the pubic bone to the breastbone.
5. Exhale and hinge forward from the hip joints with a long, flat back. Stop when your torso is parallel to the floor and place your fingertips on the floor under your shoulders, or on blocks.
6. Inhale, look forward and lengthen the spine once more. If your back starts to round from here, stay. This half-way position is a complete pose.
7. Exhale, bend the elbows straight back, in line with the wrists, and let the crown of your head move toward the floor. Walk the hands back until they are between the feet.
8. Keep the weight over the balls of the feet rather than the heels, so the hips stay above the ankles. Draw the shoulders away from the ears.
9. Stay for five to ten slow breaths. Ashtanga holds for five, Iyengar suggests around half a minute.
10. To come out, bring the hands under the shoulders and lift to a flat back on an inhale. Put your hands on your hips, press through the feet and come up with a long spine. Pause for a breath before you step the feet together, in case the head feels light.

Arm variations: A, B, C and D

In the Ashtanga primary series the legs stay the same and only the arms change:

• A: hands flat on the floor between the feet, as in the steps above.
• B: hands stay on the hips as you fold. Harder for balance and for the back of the legs.
• C: fingers interlaced behind the back, arms falling over the head toward the floor. This one also opens the front of the shoulders.
• D: the first two fingers hook around the big toes and the elbows bend out to the sides.

In Light on Yoga the hands-on-the-floor form is Prasarita Padottanasana I, and Prasarita Padottanasana II folds with the hands on the hips or joined behind the back.

Benefits of Prasarita Padottanasana

• Back of the legs: it stretches the hamstrings and the calves. If the hamstrings are your limit, our guide to hamstrings and yoga explains why they resist.
• Inner thighs: the wide stance adds a stretch in the adductors that a narrow fold does not give.
• Legs and feet: the thighs and the arches work to hold the stance steady.
• Shoulders: variation C opens the chest and the front of the shoulders.

With the head below the heart, the pose gives some of the feel of an inversion without any weight on the head or neck. Many people find the hanging head and slow breath quieting. The older claims, that it tones the abdominal organs or cures backache, have no study behind them, and we leave them out.

Who should skip or modify it

• High blood pressure, glaucoma or recent eye surgery: stay at the half-way position with a flat back and the head level with the hips, and ask your doctor about head-down poses.
• Lower back problems: keep a flat back with the hands on blocks. Rounding the lower back under load is what tends to aggravate it.
• Hamstring strain: bend the knees a little and stay out of the deep fold until the injury has settled.
• Dizziness: come up slowly and pause before stepping the feet together.
• Pregnancy: the wide stance leaves room for the belly, but later in pregnancy keep the head up, use blocks and keep the holds short.

For more on practising without injury, read our 10 tips to avoid yoga injuries.

Common mistakes

• Feet too wide. Past a leg's length the feet start to slide and the inner knees take the strain. Narrow the stance until the feet grip.
• Weight in the heels. The hips drift back behind the feet. Shift forward until the hips sit over the ankles.
• Rounding from the waist. Hinge from the hips first. When the pelvis stops tipping, stop there and use blocks.
• Chasing the head to the floor. Reaching the floor depends on the length of your legs and torso as much as on flexibility. Put a block or blanket under the head instead.
• Toes turned out. The feet roll in and the arches collapse. Turn the toes slightly in.
• Shoulders hunched to the ears. Bend the elbows straight back and draw the shoulder blades toward the hips.

Preparatory poses

• Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog): lengthens the hamstrings and calves with the head down.
• Trikonasana (Triangle Pose): the same wide legs, with a side bend.
• Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle): works the inner thighs in a wide stance.
• Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose): prepares the adductors.
• Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend): the narrow-stance fold, good for finding the hip hinge.

In most sequences Prasarita Padottanasana sits near the end of the standing poses, once the legs are warm.

Follow-up poses

• Sirsasana (Headstand): some teachers use the wide-legged fold with the head on the floor as a step toward it.
• Upavistha Konasana (Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend): the same shape, seated.
• Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana (Standing Split): a deeper standing fold for the hamstrings.

Variations

• Half-way with blocks: flat back, hands on blocks under the shoulders. The best version for tight hamstrings or a sensitive back.
• Head supported: rest the crown on a block, bolster or folded blanket, so the neck stays soft.
• Twisted: one hand on the floor, the other arm reaching up, turning the chest to the side (Parivrtta Prasarita Padottanasana).
• Bikram version: the heels are held from the outside and the head goes to the floor. See Dandayamana Bibhaktapada Paschimottanasana.

In Ashtanga the pose is practised with the bandhas engaged, and the gaze rests on the tip of the nose. Our guide to drishti, the yoga gaze, explains the gaze points.

You can practise the pose inside the full standing sequence in the Ashtanga class Complete All the Standing Postures, 45 minutes, level 1-2, or find more in our Ashtanga classes.

Frequently asked questions

What is Prasarita Padottanasana?

Prasarita Padottanasana, or Wide-Legged Forward Bend, is a standing yoga pose in which you set the feet wide apart and fold forward from the hips, bringing the head toward the floor. It stretches the hamstrings and inner thighs and is part of the Ashtanga standing sequence.

Is Prasarita Padottanasana good for beginners?

Yes, with props. The wide stance makes the forward fold easier than with the feet together, and blocks under the hands let you keep a flat back. Beginners can stay at the half-way position and still get the stretch in the back of the legs.

How long should you hold Prasarita Padottanasana?

Ashtanga holds each version for five breaths. In Iyengar yoga the hold is around 30 seconds to a minute. Start with five slow breaths and stay longer as long as the back stays long and the head does not feel heavy.

How far apart should your feet be?

About the length of one leg, which for most adults is roughly 1 to 1.4 metres (3 to 4.5 feet). Go wider if you are tall and narrower if your feet slide or your inner knees feel strained.

Is Prasarita Padottanasana an inversion?

A mild one. The head hangs below the heart, which gives some of the effect of an inversion, but there is no weight on the head, neck or arms. That makes it a common first step before Headstand.

What is the difference between Prasarita Padottanasana A, B, C and D?

Only the arms change. In A the hands are on the floor, in B they stay on the hips, in C the fingers interlace behind the back and the arms fall forward over the head, and in D the fingers hold the big toes.